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in early september 2017,ma huateng, liu chiping, zhang xiaolong and other core tencent management members collectively visited apple ceo tim cook.and give a chinese paper-cut as a gift.

caption: in september 2017, ma huateng and other tencent executives visited apple ceo tim cook in the united states

neither party has given an official explanation. but a few months ago, the two companies were involved in a dispute over the "apple tax": wechat announced that it would shut down the "appreciation" function on the ios version of wechat public platform after long negotiations failed due to apple's demand for a 30% commission. the two giants collided head-on, and there were countless spectators.

but as ma huateng led a team to visit apple, the two giants called off their conflict and embarked on the path of reconciliation.

shortly after ma huateng and others met with cook, apple adjusted its rules to allow users to give monetary gifts, also known as "rewards"; apple did not take a commission, but third parties were not allowed to take a commission either. in january of the following year, tencent restored the "reward" function.

in the following seven years, tencent and apple generally maintained a good cooperative relationship, and wechat pay was allowed to enter the app store. seven years later, with the upcoming release of iphone 16, online rumors against apple have reappeared, and one of the "evidence" is the "apple tax."

recently, some netizens claimed that the new version of iphone operating system may not be able to use wechat, and users will be faced with the choice between iphone and wechat, and reminded not to update ios. this sensational rumor quickly became a hot topic on weibo and other platforms.

however, based on information from various sources, the claim that "iphone may not be able to use wechat" is untenable. apple's official customer service staff said that wechat can be used normally on iphones and users do not need to worry. several other insiders said that the screenshots on the internet are pure rumors.

but,the "apple tax" that triggered this wave of rumors is still a long-term problem that tencent needs to take seriously.

according to the rules set by apple, when users of apple products such as iphone and ipad purchase virtual goods (such as game props and live broadcast reward gifts) within the app, apple will deduct a certain fee from the transaction amount. this is the so-called "apple tax."

in may and june this year, apple put pressure on tencent and bytedance to take measures to prevent mini-program operators from directing users to external payment systems to circumvent the 30% apple tax. if tencent and bytedance do not fix the loopholes, apple's app store will refuse to list and update wechat and tiktok.

according to reports,tencent agreed to plug the loophole in an update to wechat in early july.during an earnings call in mid-august, tencent’s chief strategy officer michelle revealed that the company was in discussions with apple regarding mini-games on the ios platform, hoping to “achieve this goal on economically sustainable and fair terms.”

if the report is true, tencent has no objection to plugging the payment redirection loophole of small games. however, it still has differences with apple: apple requires tencent to disable the chat function inside small games because developers may use this function to guide users to other platforms for payment; tencent believes that this move may damage the gaming experience and does not agree to this request.

although the possibility is very small, there is indeed a possibility that tencent and apple may fail to reach an agreement and even "turn the table".but based on previous experience, when facing challenges from heavyweight players in the ecosystem, apple tends to make partial compromises rather than completely fall out.

epic, the gaming giant that owns fortnite and unreal engine, launched a strong challenge against apple in 2020, one of the reasons being its unwillingness to pay the "apple tax". after the court battle, the two sides finally reached a settlement, and fortnite was partially restored on the app store after four years. game developers can also introduce third-party payment methods to players via email.

seven years ago, tencent launched an attack on apple's "enclosed garden", and both sides finally took a step back. today, tencent and apple are in turmoil again, but there is a high probability that they will still shake hands and make peace. after all, compared with the small game market worth only tens of billions of yuan, the two giants cannot afford to lose each other.

but,tencent, which has long been subject to the world's highest "tax rate" of 30%, may have reached the time to challenge the "apple tax".

apple certainly cannot afford to lose wechat, and tencent cannot give up the huge iphone user base. over the years, tencent's flagship games such as "honor of kings" and "game for peace" have been making a lot of money while paying commissions to apple. iphone users with strong spending power are crucial.

however, gaming, the foundation of tencent, has just emerged from a two-year stagflation phase and has begun to resume growth; if a more favorable commission rate can be obtained through negotiations, even if it is only reduced by one or two percentage points, it will bring rich returns to tencent.

on the other hand, apple is facing pressure from regulators in various countries in the global market. its ecological walls and payment barriers have already been breached in the eu, japan, south korea and other places. if tencent takes this "apple tax" incident as an opportunity to go with the trend, it may not be impossible.prompt apple to make greater concessions, thereby gaining a greater advantage in a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship.

the last time tencent challenged the "apple tax", it was determined to do so. however, a few months later, tencent's core management visited the us and the two sides shook hands and made peace. apart from this dispute, overall, in the more than ten years since the iphone entered the chinese market on a large scale, tencent and apple have not been rivals, but have achieved mutual success.

in september 2010, the chinese version of iphone 4 was officially released. although the hardware configuration and industrial design were excellent, this phone also had obvious shortcomings such as high price and poor signal quality. the bigger problem was that at that time, iphone lacked a "killer app" that everyone in china must have, so sales staff had to use games such as "talking tom cat" as a selling point.

but just four months later, wechat 1.0 was launched for public testing, with the ios version being the first to go live. this groundbreaking mobile software quickly replaced text messages and phone calls, heralding the era of china's mobile internet.

just like whatsapp, a similar product in overseas markets,the rapid popularity of wechat has helped iphone break through the public impression of being a "high-end toy".become the iconic hardware of mobile internet.

in 2011, apple sold about 10 million iphones in china. over the next decade, annual iphone sales gradually increased, reaching over 50 million units at its peak. as of 2022, apple has sold a total of about 380 million iphones in china.

on the other hand, the iphone created the mobile gaming industry, and tencent is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this wave.

before the iphone was born, mobile games developed slowly. in addition to software and hardware limitations, piracy was rampant and it was difficult to make money. however, in addition to its powerful performance, the iphone also uses a closed ios system, and the app store provides purchase scenarios, making it possible for mobile games to make big money for the first time.

but for tencent,the greater significance of the iphone lies in that it provides a fertile ground for the transition from pc games to mobile games.

tencent games started with pc games, but in the early days of its development, its advantages over established companies such as netease, shanda, and the9 were not as great as they are today. it was not until the iphone came to china that the trend of mobile games became obvious, and the entire industry faced a reshuffle; players of all sizes were making mobile games, and tencent became the winner of the mobile game era with its two major mobile ecosystems, wechat and qq.

in 2011, when the iphone was first introduced to china, tencent's online game revenue was about 15.8 billion yuan, leading netease by less than 10 billion yuan; by 2023, tencent's game revenue was close to 180 billion yuan, and netease's revenue also increased to 81.6 billion yuan, but the gap widened to about 100 billion yuan.

tencent's mobile games such as "honor of kings" are very popular, and apple has benefited greatly from it. according to the 30% commission rate, apple can get billions or even tens of billions of returns from tencent's various games every year, and the related investment is almost negligible. according to statistics from the third-party data statistics agency sensor tower, in 2023, apple collected more than 40 billion yuan in commissions in china, a large part of which came from large internet companies such as tencent.

without the iphone, tencent's value as a gaming company would be greatly reduced; at the same time, apple could not afford to lose wechat and wechat games.it is unlikely that the two companies will come to blows over payment issues for mini-games;even if an agreement cannot be reached, the interests of both parties in maintaining the status quo far outweigh those of a breakup.

over the past seven years, apple has been quite "tolerant" of tencent.

for example, wechat mini programs were launched in early 2017, allowing users to use third-party services without installing apps. this has replaced the app store and its ecosystem to a certain extent, but apple did not shut it out. today, wechat mini programs have grown into a towering tree.

in addition, shortly before ma huateng's "group" visit to cook, apple's app store announced its integration with wechat pay. this move was certainly considered to meet regulatory requirements, but objectively it also brought a large number of payment users to tencent.

however, facing today's apple,tencent should perhaps demand more benefits from its old friends while maintaining cooperation.

the key issue is, of course, the "apple tax." like other domestic internet companies, tencent bears apple's 15% to 30% commission rate, which is higher than major global markets. in the united states, this ratio is about 12% to 27%; in europe, it is as low as 10% to 17%.

the fact that overseas companies are able to pay less "apple tax" is the result of proactive efforts and years of struggle.

take epic as an example. since 2020, it has never stopped resisting the "apple tax" and has gone to court with apple many times. in january this year, apple told the court that it would change the app store terms, and developers would be able to more easily guide users to use third-party payment.

but people soon discovered that apple had not fully fulfilled this promise, and app developers still faced many obstacles in linking other payment systems. two months later, more companies were involved in the incident. microsoft, meta, x and online dating platform match group jointly submitted documents to the court, claiming that apple had clearly violated the previous ban.

tiktok is also doing this in secret. in may this year, some users noticed that tiktok was testing a web recharge function on a small scale, thereby bypassing the app store in-app recharge system and evading apple's commission.

the participation of giants such as microsoft and meta has made the "empire strikes back" provoked by epic even more exciting. musk, the founder of tesla and the person who controls the x platform, also joined in the fun, posting a photo on social media, suggesting that he would rather go to war than pay the 30% "apple tax".

as for domestic internet companies, apart from tencent which has managed to break free from the "apple tax" to a certain extent, mihoyo, which has risen rapidly in recent years, has also made some achievements but has failed to make a breakthrough.

last august, mihoyo tried to open a payment function in its own game community app "mihoyo club" and alipay to avoid the "apple tax". after apple noticed this move, mihoyo club app was removed from the app store and the payment function was removed before it was restored; the alipay mini program "mihoyo payment center" also quickly ceased operations.

however, since the beginning of this year, apple has faced increasing regulatory pressure in the global market, especially in the european union, and has been forced to make major concessions. several doors have been opened to its ecosystem, which has been closed for many years.this provides a new opportunity for tencent and other companies to adjust their interests with apple.

in the eu market, after apple was fined 1.84 billion euros, it finally made adjustments in accordance with the requirements of local regulators. specific measures include: opening up "side loading" of applications, that is, allowing users to download apps from third-party app stores; opening up nfc (near field communication technology) payment functions to third-party app developers for free; and adopting a lower commission rate and relaxing the rules for developers to display links in their apps.

to adapt to these changes, apple's management has undergone a major change. fisher, who has been with the company for 21 years and has served as vice president of the app store since 2010, will leave in october this year, and his team will be split into two, responsible for the app store and alternative app distribution respectively.

the counterattack from silicon valley giants, the growing regulatory pressure, and personnel changes may all prompt apple to make greater concessions in the face of new demands from old friends.

as mentioned before, tencent does not need to part ways with apple over mini-games; however, in the face of favorable external conditions,tencent might as well propose an "apple tax" plan with more reasonable rates and wider coverage, so as to keep more revenue and profits in its own pocket.

platforms that have successfully launched high-quality dramas have received positive feedback from the market.

behind the "apple tax" dispute is a direct collision between the two major ecosystems of apple and tencent.

with the help of iphone and app store, apple has spent more than ten years building the world's largest software and hardware integrated ecosystem.

according to a report by research firm ccs insight, by the end of 2023, the global iphone ownership will reach 1.3 billion. in february this year, cook revealed that despite the decline in quarterly sales,iphone ownership in china has reached an all-time high.

the huge number of iphone fans makes it difficult for mobile internet practitioners to bypass apple and find alternative ways. apple previously disclosed that the total number of online apps in the app store in 2023 will reach 1.87 million, with more than 42 million registered developers. the average weekly visitor number of this app store is 735 million, and the average weekly app download volume is 788 million.

one of the consensuses in the domestic internet industry is thathow a product performs on the iphone often determines its performance throughout its entire life cycle.external observers often try to spy on an app’s revenue through the ios side.

take games as an example. mihoyo has never announced the actual revenue of games such as genshin impact, but whether new versions and new characters can top the global app store charts after release has become a common measure of success for fans. one of the signs of the recent decline in the popularity of genshin impact is that its app store ranking is no longer as glorious as it used to be.

on the other hand, although there is no hardware support, tencent, which owns the super app wechat, also has an ecological strength that is no less than that of apple.

as of the second quarter of this year, the combined mau (monthly active users) of wechat and wechat reached 1.37 billion. according to data from market research firm questmobile, as of november 2023, the mau of wechat mini programs will be 920 million.

it is not difficult to see that the number of wechat users is not inferior to that of iphone, and the size of mini programs is not inferior to that of app store. it is hard to imagine a mobile phone that cannot use wechat, even iphone.

for tencent, which owns the wechat ecosystem, smaller companies with less strength find it difficult to compete.

not long ago, when tencent was promoting the mobile game "dnf", in order to circumvent the high channel costs, it kicked out the "hardcore alliance" formed by domestic android phone manufacturers; but afterwards, xiaomi, ov and others did not take countermeasures, let alone remove wechat. tencent's "hard power" is evident.

but when facing apple, tencent cannot be as flexible and do whatever it wants as it does with android manufacturers.

in the past few years, apple has made many concessions under external pressure, including adjusting the commission ratio and allowing sideloading. but when apple chooses to confront head-on, its means are very decisive, and it will not be soft even when facing international giants with hundreds of millions of users.

spotify, an online music platform, has 600 million maus and 246 million paying users, which means it needs to pay a large commission to apple every year. since 2019, spotify has challenged apple's tax in various ways and has won some victories with the support of regulators in the european union and other places, prompting apple to adjust its policy.

but not long ago, spotify said that the new version of its ios app that it had just submitted was rejected by apple. the company believes that apple is "trying to punish developers with new fees."

if tencent challenges apple, it may face similar challenges.as spotify has experienced, apple has the willingness and ability to suspend updates for any app.it is unlikely that they will be as cautious and indecisive as android manufacturers.

however, spotify is not an ecosystem-level application like wechat. apple cannot lower the iron curtain on wechat unless it has no other choice. moreover, tencent has no objection to the "apple tax" on its mobile game business, which accounts for a larger proportion. the focus of the dispute between the two parties is nothing more than small games with much smaller scale.

seven years ago, tencent's first challenge to apple ended with ma huateng and his team visiting cook and the two sides shaking hands and making peace. seven years later, tencent has a new opportunity to challenge, and apple's closed garden has been opened up in many ways. if tencent launches a well-planned and appropriately powerful offensive, apple may make greater concessions, and the heavy "apple tax" on the chinese internet will also be alleviated.

references:

alphabet list, "bypassing huami, ov, tencent cannot bypass the "apple tax""

yicai global, "the head of apple's app store will resign, and apple continues to face global regulatory pressure"

drive china, "ma huateng and many executives visit cook, the "apple tax" incident may end here"

ifanr, "app store has been around for ten years. do you still remember the first app you downloaded?"

jiemian news, "apple denies rumor that "iphone 16 does not support wechat", what are tencent and apple fighting about? "