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recently, the topic of "apple tax" has attracted widespread attention. the so-called "apple tax" refers to the channel share, which is reflected in the fact that when users use the apple mobile phone app store to purchase digital content such as apps, apple will withhold part of the transaction amount as commission, and then transfer the remaining funds to the corresponding app developers, with the commission ratio ranging from 15% to 30%.due to the existence of "apple tax", the profit margins of app developers have 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 thatthe high commission rate has restricted the business development of many small developers and content providers.。

public data shows thatchina's "apple tax rate" is the highest in the world, charging 30% and 15% commissions to standard enterprises and small enterprises 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. the eu's decision stems from a lawsuit filed by swedish music streaming service platform spotify against apple in 2019, which targeted the 30% commission imposed by apple on its app store. in its ruling, the eu determined that apple's restrictions constituted unfair trading conditions. in 2021, apple has already faced similar antitrust charges and penalties in the netherlands. the netherlands consumer and markets authority investigated apple's practices in its app store and found that it abused its market dominance and imposed unreasonable restrictions on dating app developers in the dutch app store. the dutch government requires apple to make rectifications within a limited time, otherwise it will face a fine of 5 million euros per week."unfair trading conditions" is not a common ruling in antitrust cases. apple has been sued over this issue one after another. it can be said that it is all due to the "apple tax".。

a woman uses an apple phone in front of the european commission headquarters in brussels, belgium. photo by meng dingbo (xinhua)

faced with the huge fines frequently issued by the european union, apple had to make concessions. 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 lowered the maximum 30% commission that apple has charged developers since the launch of the apple app store in 2008.

at present,app developers in the eu market only need to pay apple a 17% commission, and after 1 year, for most developers and subscribers,this proportion will further drop to 10%.apple said the reform would allow more than 99% of app developers in the european union to pay apple less.

in addition, under the continued pressure of a four-year antitrust investigation, apple reached a settlement with the european commission this year and agreed to open its "touch and pay" mobile payment system to competitors, which means that apple will allow application developers to access its near-field communication technology to build payment applications for other mobile wallet providers, increasing consumers' choices in mobile payments. it is no exaggeration to say thatthe 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 heavy pressure of severe penalties from the eu.。

the eu adheres to the principle of rule supremacy in the development of the digital economy, and provides a strict and standardized legal and policy environment for digital technology companies from various countries to operate in europe with high standards and laws and regulations that emphasize implementation. the eu is highly concerned about the impact of emerging digital technology giants on the boundaries of traditional ethics and norms, and follows a strict tone in legislation and law enforcement, with a clear preference for the former over regulation. the digital markets act is an important antitrust measure issued by the eu against technology giants. its core goal is to end the monopoly of large platforms and ensure that consumers have more choices. according to the bill, technology giants including apple and google's parent company may face fines of up to 10% of the company's global revenue if they violate the bill. if they violate it repeatedly, this proportion can rise to 20%. the bill specifically requires that the applications of these technology giants be "interoperable" with competitors, which means that these companies need to open application program interfaces so that users can decide for themselves which applications to pre-install on their devices.

apple grew up in the american technological optimism environment, and was deeply influenced by the "winner takes all" mentality. it is relatively insensitive to antitrust and anti-unfair competition. its successive fines in the european market and its compromise under heavy fines reflect that the eu, as a market rule maker, will never tolerate monopoly market behavior. this is conducive to preventing the disorderly activities of market players from harming the interests of users and affecting the development of the industry. from this perspective, the eu's experience in using strict laws to manage giants is inspiring and instructive for other countries and regions.

liang tong, reporter of economic daily

original title: why the eu is taking a tough approach to regulating the "apple tax"

(source: economic daily)

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