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recently, the topic of "apple tax" has attracted attention. the so-called "apple tax" refers to the channel share. when users use the apple mobile phone application store (app store) to purchase digital content such as app, apple will withhold part of the transaction amount as commission, and then transfer the remaining funds to the corresponding app developer, with the commission ratio ranging from 15% to 30%. due to the existence of "apple tax", the profit space of app developers has been greatly compressed.

the industry has not yet reached a consensus on whether the "apple tax" constitutes a commercial monopoly. supporters believe that it is reasonable to a certain extent because apple provides a safe and stable platform and invests a lot of resources to maintain the quality and security of mobile applications. opponents say that the excessively high commission rate makes many small developers and content providers feel that their business development is restricted.

public data shows that the "apple tax rate" in the chinese market is the highest in the world, charging 30% and 15% commissions to standard enterprises and small businesses respectively. in the united states, the ratios are 27% and 12% respectively, in the european union they are 17% and 10%, and in south korea they are 26% and 11%. the high "apple tax" has caused strong dissatisfaction among app developers around the world. in many countries and regions around the world, apple has been subject to antitrust investigations and lawsuits, with the european union being the most typical example.

in march this year, the european union fined apple 1.84 billion euros for abusing its dominant position in the music streaming app distribution market. previously, apple has faced similar antitrust charges and penalties in europe many times.

the frequent huge fines forced apple to compromise. in january this year, apple announced that in order to comply with the eu digital markets act, it would implement major updates to its operating system, browser and app store in the eu. the updates include allowing customers to download software from outside the apple app store for the first time, allowing people to use other payment systems, and freely choose the default web browser. the update also abandoned the 30% commission that apple had levied on developers since the launch of the apple app store in 2008.

currently, app developers in the eu market only need to pay apple a 17% commission, and after one year, this ratio will be further reduced to 10% for most developers and subscribers.

the reason why apple is the most restrained in the eu market, has the least exclusive monopoly behavior and implements the lowest "apple tax" is largely the result of the eu's severe penalties and pressure.

apple grew up in the american environment of technological optimism and was deeply influenced by the "winner takes all" mentality. it is relatively less sensitive to antitrust and anti-unfair competition. the eu has taken a heavy hand in regulating market monopoly, and apple has compromised under heavy penalties, which is conducive to preventing the disorderly activities of market players from harming user interests and affecting industry development. from this perspective, the eu's experience in using strict laws to regulate giants is inspiring and instructive for other countries and regions.