Apple’s recent changes to the App Store in response to regulatory and legal pressure will have minimal financial impact on the company, analysts say.
Patrick Seitz for Investor’s Business Daily:
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty estimates that the App Store changes announced over the last couple of weeks would lower Apple’s earnings per share by 1% to 2% in a worst-case scenario.
“We see the recent App Store announcements as having minimal financial impact to Apple,” she said in a note to clients Wednesday. However, Huberty did lower her revenue forecast for the App Store, citing slower near-term engagement. But stronger advertising revenue largely will offset that trend, she said…
Even if consumers are offered alternate payment methods for digital content, they’re likely to stick with Apple’s App Store services out of convenience, analysts say. “Our belief is the vast majority of users will stay within the Apple payment and app ecosystem because it’s more secure and easier,” Loup Ventures managing partner Gene Munster and analyst David Stokman said in a blog post.
MacDailyNews Take: Of course, these are minor changes in the grand scheme of things. In related news, U.S. lawmakers are barreling ahead with legislation to change the way Apple Inc. runs its App Store, unconvinced by the company’s recent moves to address antitrust complaints from developers and regulators around the world.