Markets & Business
Apple eyes third-party AI apps as a new services revenue lever
Apple signaled on its earnings call that it may look to third-party apps and AI partnerships to boost services revenue, as App Store commissions face regulatory pressure in multiple markets.
Apple’s services business is at record levels, but the engine behind it — the App Store — is under growing strain from regulation and a slump in mobile gaming. On Monday’s earnings call, the company signaled it may try to lift services revenue through third-party apps, without saying exactly how. Discussing how AI might eventually contribute to revenue growth, chief financial officer Kevan Parekh said: “We feel AI offers a compelling reason for customers to upgrade and switch in order to get the latest capabilities, and we also feel there’s opportunities across third-party apps and partnerships as well as first-party opportunities.” He didn’t spell out what those third-party opportunities might look like, but Reuters reported the same day that investors are speculating Apple could take a cut of revenue from third-party AI agents distributed through the App Store.
The pressure on that business is real: third-party estimates from August pointed to an 18% drop in U.S. App Store commission revenue, with further declines in Brazil and Japan tied to new regulation in those markets. Apple has long kept tight control over in-app payments, taking a cut of every App Store transaction, but an Epic Games lawsuit forced it to let apps redirect users to outside payment systems, and other legal fights worldwide have chipped away at the business since.
Parekh told analysts the App Store’s September-quarter performance matched a year earlier, with a record number of paid subscriptions and double-digit growth in third-party-app subscriptions offsetting continued weakness in mobile gaming. He guided services growth to 8% to 9% for the December quarter, citing third-party licensing headwinds and an added half-point drag from foreign exchange. Apple had not responded to TechCrunch’s request for comment as of publication.
Why it matters
Apple is signaling a pivot from defending App Store commissions to extracting new revenue from the AI apps running on top of its platform — a bet that AI distribution, not just app-store tolls, becomes the next services growth lever.