apple and tencent are in turmoil again. the industry has suffered from the "apple tax" for a long time.
2024-09-03
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recently, apple and tencent have been in dispute again.
on september 2, there were rumors that wechat might not support iphone 16. in addition, once the iphone is upgraded to ios 18.2, users will not be able to use wechat.
the leak of this rumor is related to the escalation of the "apple tax" dispute between apple and tencent. according to foreign media reports, apple has recently increased its pressure on companies such as tencent, requiring these companies to cooperate in plugging payment loopholes in apps such as wechat. it is understood that developers can use similar loopholes to bypass the apple ecosystem and divert users to external payment systems to evade the 30% commission fee that apple usually charges. this 30% commission fee is what everyone commonly calls the "apple tax."
image source: visual china
a similar plot was staged 7 years ago
in fact, apple and tencent have been arguing for years over the issue of "apple tax". on april 19 and 20, 2017, the wechat team sent two push notifications through its official account "wechat pie" for two consecutive days, namely "regret notice" and "re-notice", both related to the closure of the ios version of the wechat public platform appreciation function. as for the reason for the closure, wechat said at the time, "on june 13, 2016, apple updated the 3.1.1 clause, which more strictly required that apps should not contain buttons, external links or other calls to action that guide customers to use non-iap (in-app purchase) mechanisms for purchases. after long-term communication and coordination with apple, we finally chose to make the current adjustments to the ios version of wechat's appreciation function with regret."
since then, the dispute between apple and tencent over the "apple tax" has been officially made public.
apple users may know more or less about the "apple tax". for example, if you recharge an app for 10 yuan, android users will get 10 yuan, while apple users will only get 7 yuan. the missing 3 yuan is the so-called "apple tax". apple stipulates that every time a user recharges a paid transaction, the developer needs to pay apple 30% of the service fee. this behavior has made many companies dissatisfied. after all, no one can be happy if so much money is taken away for nothing.
according to industry insiders, the "fight" between apple and tencent this time is largely aimed at the booming mini-game market. in the mini-game market, it has become an industry practice for developers to bypass apple's payment system and "apple tax" in various ways. for example, in wechat mini-games, users can go through the game's own customer service center entrance and enter the customer service conversation page to recharge, thereby bypassing apple's own payment system. it is reported that in the first half of 2024, wechat mini-games earned more than 12 billion yuan, so apple is jealous and wants to get a piece of the pie.
image source: visual china
both sides responded to the rumors
regarding the recent dispute between apple and tencent, tencent management stated in a recent earnings call that there are some misunderstandings about the nature of the current situation, which is that tencent is not currently commercializing small games on ios through in-app purchases (bypassing payment), and relevant discussions are ongoing.
in addition, a media reporter called the official hotlines of tencent and apple regarding the recent rumor that wechat may not support iphone 16. a tencent staff member said: "we have not received this news for the time being." apple's technical consultant for china said that third-party comments about whether ios systems or apple devices can use wechat, including whether wechat can continue to be listed and downloaded in the apple app store, need to be communicated and discussed between apple and tencent to determine the future situation. the technical consultant mentioned that in order to list software on the apple store, developers may need to pay apple a certain fee before they can list or download it.
"app developers put their software on the apple app store. when the software reaches a certain number of downloads, every time a user downloads the software, the developer has to pay apple a certain fee." apple's china technical consultant said that apple is currently actively communicating with tencent. as wechat is a popular software, both parties will make certain arrangements for their own benefits, so there is no need to worry for the time being. "as for whether wechat can be downloaded and used in the future, everyone is concerned about whether it can be downloaded and used. we need to wait for the official notification. we cannot make any judgment on third-party information, and the above explanation is for reference only." the technical consultant said.
image source: visual china
industry insiders: apple needs to have a lower profile
regarding apple's recent pressure on tencent and other companies, developers and game manufacturers generally stated that the industry has suffered from the "apple tax" for a long time.
huang yimeng, ceo of x.d. network, commented on a social media platform: “although apple has not dared to directly remove wechat and tiktok from its app store, it can block new version updates and not allow them to pass the review. this is the evil of a closed platform. as long as users are not given the right to freely install software, the platform can always hold the app to extort taxes. today it can ask for 30%, tomorrow it can ask for 50%. everything is decided by the closed platform itself.”
chen dongsong, secretary of the board of directors of mingchen health (002919.sz), an a-share listed company for small games, said that apple asked tencent to cooperate in blocking wechat's ecological services from bypassing apple's in-app purchases, and the actual reason was that they could not reach an agreement on the revenue sharing behind the scenes. "as a channel party, apple's commission is indeed high for suppliers. as a developer, from a cost perspective, we hope to reduce the corresponding fees."
some experts believe that the relationship between apple and tencent is not an either-or relationship. whether it is insisting on the iap mechanism or prohibiting hot updates, it shows that apple insists on the "rules" of the ecosystem that it has formulated and dominated. therefore, the competitive relationship between apple and tencent is likely to exist for a long time, but will move towards reconciliation in the future.
in addition, many industry insiders believe that no matter what the outcome of the dispute between apple and domestic platforms is, apple needs to adopt a lower profile and a more localized strategy, and its hardware sales and ecological coverage need to match. how to convince people to pay is still an important issue facing apple.
information sources: the paper, cailianshe, beijing business daily, beijing news
