No one should be shocked since the EU forced Job’s Mob to stop treating iPhones like a locked church collection box and allow third-party app shops to pinch some of its takings. Sensor Tower figures show the App Store’s year-on-year spending growth slid to six per cent in November compared with 12 per cent in July. Goldman Sachs dug into the numbers and noted that growth was nine per cent in October before sinking further in November, which is a rough look for a service Apple likes to present as bulletproof.

Games, the App Store’s biggest cash cow at 44 per cent of total spend, fell by two per cent year on year in November after managing three per cent growth in October. That alone would rattle most companies, although Job’s Mob has long believed its gaming revenue was untouchable.

The App Store’s top four money pits, the US, Japan, the UK and Canada, which make up about 52 per cent of spending, all saw sequential declines. Even the faithful seem to be wandering.

Job’s Mob will still brag about its broader services division since iCloud+, AppleCare+, Apple Music and Apple Pay continue to do the heavy lifting. None of that hides the fact that its app shop is slowing both annually and month by month.

The cause is hardly mysterious. Brussels slapped the outfit with a gatekeeper label under the Digital Markets Act, so Apple had to let EU users install alternative app stores. The heavens did not fall, and developers suddenly had options that did not involve paying tribute to Cupertino.

Of course, if Apple were the super company that the Tame Apple Press bragged about, it could have easily competed against its rivals. However, this does not appear to be the case, and Apple fanboys are legging it out of the walled garden as fast as their croc-shod feet will take them.

Since March 2024, developers enrolled in a tweaked programme also pay a smaller cut of their revenue to Job’s Mob. That means Apple now watches money leak from both ends while insisting everything is fine.

Taken together, these changes are draining the App Store’s growth, and there is little reason to think Jobs’ Mob can reverse the trend. The EU wanted competition, and it got it, while Apple is learning what happens when a monopoly finally meets sunlight.