Regulators opened a formal inquiry this week into the fee structures used by the two dominant mobile app stores, focusing specifically on whether small developers pay disproportionately more relative to the platform costs they generate.
The inquiry follows a wave of complaints from independent developers who argue that recent fee-tier changes, marketed as relief for small businesses, actually narrowed eligibility compared to previous programs.
Both platform operators say their fee structures already offer some of the lowest rates in the industry for smaller developers and have pledged to cooperate fully with the inquiry.
A preliminary report is expected within four months, though any resulting policy changes would likely take considerably longer to implement given the scale of both platforms' developer ecosystems.