Apple Pressures ByteDance and Tencent Over IAP
Apple is putting pressure on Tencent and ByteDance to make significant changes to two of China’s most popular apps in order to remove loopholes that circumvent Apple’s typical 30% commission, Bloomberg reports.
The loopholes are linked to mini-apps that allow users of Tencent’s social-messaging app WeChat and ByteDance’s short-video app Douyin to play games, hail taxis, and make online purchases without leaving the app.
Apple reportedly told both companies they need to prevent mini-app creators from including links to outside payment systems that circumvent its commission system.
They also want to ban in-app chats because they would make it possible to send payment links.
Apple divides “Super Apps” into several categories that it restricts differently, to force each to stay in its lane and not expand into a source of real competition to Apple: games with user generated content; apps containing mini apps; stores (EU only); and web browsers.
Games with user generated content are taxed and limited by ambiguous rules that require user content to not add functionality not in the base game, a hopelessly vague notion that would prohibit Roblox, if fully enforced.
The Super App junk fee change isn’t written in the terms. It’s a reinterpretation of a long standing policy described in Bloomberg and dozens of other publications today. (See Kodak-Newcal on the risks of acknowledging a significant adverse change in terms.)
Previously:
- DMA Compliance: Initial Acquisition and Store Services Fees
- Allowing iOS Game Emulators and Mini Apps
- Roblox in the App Store
- WeChat’s Apps Within an App
- New App Store Review Guidelines: Gifts, Face ID, ARKit
- Apple Wants 30% of Tips From Chinese Chat Apps
Update (2024-08-15): Chance Miller:
Speaking to investors this week, Tencent’s Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell said that the company is in talks to enable in-app purchase support, but there are questions about whether the two sides will come to terms:
“We want to make it available on terms that we think are economically sustainable, that are also fair. And so that’s a discussion that’s underway, and we hope that the discussion leads to a positive outcome,” Mitchell said. “But in the event that discussion doesn’t progress, then the current status quo continues.”
Today’s comments from Mitchell mark the first time that Tencent has acknowledged its talks with Apple.
I guess “current status quo” refers to the current version of the app, since Apple won’t let them update it.
Update (2024-09-09): Tim Hardwick:
Apple has approved an update to WeChat for the upcoming iPhone 16, signaling a potential thaw in relations between the tech giant and Tencent, the Chinese company behind the massively popular messaging app. The development, reported by Bloomberg, comes as Tencent and Apple continue negotiations over revenue-sharing agreements for WeChat’s mini-games ecosystem.
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"Apple reportedly told both companies they need to prevent mini-app creators from including links to outside payment systems that circumvent its commission system."
Alternative headline: Apple wants 30% of China's gross domestic product.
"They also want to ban in-app chats because they would make it possible to send payment links."
LOL. Apparently, nobody from Apple has ever been to China.
Think of it this way, how unfair is it for the rest of the world, when Bytedance and Tencent WeChat to dodge 30% put cut and Apple took a blind eye to it.
Apple tripling down on anti-competitive behavior leads me to believe the rot is unfixable and they probably need to be broken up like AT&T during the Reagan administration
Someone should do a Der Untergang version where Tim Cook as Hitler desperately tries to defend apples service revenue
@Ksec Just like Roblox, right? Don't they get to sell games within their app and get charged a whopping 0%? Weird how that works.
@ Nathan RETRO
Roblox pays 26% of its revenue to Apple/Google for payment processing
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25242851
Apple earns close to $1 million per day from 'Roblox' game alone
https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/222150/apple-earns-close-to-1-million-per-day-from-roblox-game-alone
I'd be interested to know what leverage Apple thinks it has over Tencent. The day iPhones stop running QQ is the day iPhone sales in China stop altogether.
