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Apple told WeChat and other Chinese social apps to disable “tip” functions,
- pmontra 9y agoNon paywalled article at https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/18/apple-chinese-chat-apps-disable-tip-functions/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/18/apple-chinese-chat-apps...
- MiddleEndian 9y agoAs a former MacRumors regular, I find it interesting to see that the even the Mac fans there are not in favor of Apple's decision, with a notable exception being a user who mentioned that without the app store, the apps would be nothing. WeChat is huge in China. It's used for everything. It's bigger than Apple's or Google's app stores. I expect (and hope for) Apple to lose this battle.
- addicted 9y agoMacRumor regulars have turned quite sour on Apple. Don't get me wrong. It's still a pro Apple site with a pro Apple fan base, but it has a very strong contingent of Mac fans, many of who've been around since well before OSX, who feel, justifiably, completely neglected by Apple. Despite the fact that one could make a strong argument that these Mac fans are the reason Apple existed long enough to even make the iPod in the first place.
- jeff_petersen 9y ago> Despite the fact that one could make a strong argument that these Mac fans are the reason Apple existed long enough to even make the iPod in the first place. There's an interesting pop poli-sci book called The Dictator's Handbook (which despite the name draws examples from corporations and small-town governments in addition to actual dictatorships) which examines how people come to power. It generally works out to keeping the "essential" group happy. At one point the users you mention were "essentials" but they have been supplanted by other users. Apple no longer needs to pander to them, so they don't.
- valuearb 9y agoNo one has time to post on MacRumors unless they are super pissed off. These posters are representative of little to nothing.
- stevehawk 9y agoI'm pretty sure the one guy that was on Apple's side misunderstood the issue. He seemed to think WeChat was taking the tips and not that it was a person to person transfer.
- cefstat 9y agoTwo things. First, it is really troubling if Apple wants to impose a tax on transactions between app users. Tipping is used often in China (for example, in the form of "red envelopes" at Chinese New Year) and a 30% cut for Apple is simply incomprehensible and downright immoral. Second, the day that WeChat gets out of the App Store is the day that Apple becomes irrelevant in China. If the story is true, I am afraid somebody at Apple has not thought this thing through.
- valuearb 9y agoApple doesn't charge for person to person transfers, or buying physical goods. They only charge if you are selling digital products (apps, features, content) through the App Store. Just those things that cost Apple to store and transfer.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- valuearb 9y ago"We don't charge anything as the platform, but Apple gets 30 percent for doing nothing," one of the executives reportedly fumed." Uh, Apple's servers hosted and distributed hundreds of millions of copies of your apps. For free. Apple is clearly doing the right thing here. They can't charge developers 30% to sell apps and content through their platform, then allow one developer to skirt the rule by calling it "tipping". Tencent can just man up and pay the thirty percent like the rest of us have to do.
- pmontra 9y agoThe difference is that if Tencent pulls WeChat from the appstore, Chinese people will (grudgingly) leave the iPhone for some Android model. They need WeChat more than any other app. Actually Tencent could ask Apple money for continuing their app on their platform.
- Oletros 9y ago> Apple is clearly doing the right thing here. They can't charge developers 30% to sell apps and content through their platform, then allow one developer to skirt the rule by calling it "tipping". Tencent can just man up and pay the thirty percent like the rest of us have to do. I think you're confused and you don't know what the case is about. By the way, I didn't knew that Apple Developer Program was free? Guess what it is included in the yearly price.
- valuearb 9y ago$99 a year is about as close to free as you can. And I know exactly what it's about. No one is getting "tips" without providing services or content through the app.
- Oletros 9y ago> And I know exactly what it's about. No one is getting "tips" without providing services or content through the app. So, you would be glad to pay 30% of your banking transactions to Apple, isn't? Because this case is exactly the same as Paypal, banking applications or booking applications
- Grazester 9y agoI wonder how long the iphone would last in China without WeChat if they were to ever decide to just not publish their app in the app store because of this.
- saurik 9y agohttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/tencent-s-wechat-abolishes-tipping-feature-on-apple-iphones https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/tencent-s... April 19: "Tencent's WeChat Abolishes Tipping Feature on Apple iPhones" "Tencent Holdings Ltd. is shutting down a popular feature on WeChat that allows iPhone users to tip emoji and content creators to comply with Apple Inc.’s policy on in-app purchases."
- ksec 9y agoI dont quite understand why Apple requires 30% cut here. There are many other payment services App that allow you to transfer money from one person to another. And those are free from the 30% tax. So why does tipping requires 30% cut? ( Both are totally different to In-App Purchase )
- Veratyr 9y agoBecause Apple wants a 30% cut and is big enough to force developers to accept it.
- valuearb 9y agoBecause 30% has always been a screaming deal for developers too. I'm old enough to remember when Ingram MicroD took 50%, and out of our half we had to pay for shipping, packaging, disk duplication, and pay them and stores to promote our products.
- Veratyr 9y agoIf it was a "screaming deal" for developers, it'd be popular based on merit alone and Apple wouldn't need to disallow other payment methods, yet they do.
- valuearb 9y agoYea, that doesn't make sense. If I charge 30% to host foodcarts at my concert event, cart owners will agree only if it's a good deal. If someone else decides to tear open a hole in the fence and sneak their cart in, it doesn't mean it wasn't a good deal, it means they were cheating scumbags. In Apples case they've paid developers tens of billions, at least 2x as much as all other mobile app stores combined, and never lacks for new apps from their developers. Their devs clearly think App Store access is worth 30%. Tencent should man up and pay the 30% to Apple, and send the 70% to the Tippees.
- Oletros 9y ago
- mankash666 9y agoChina seems the perfect place to call Apple's B.S. policies out. The government isn't afraid of confronting a global powerhouse if it threatens domestic companies with unfair trade practices. And Apple's whole running of the app store approval and payments policy and process is nothing but unfair.
- IBM 9y agoI'd bet on Apple having more leverage with the government than Tencent just because Apple indirectly employs millions of workers.
- captainmuon 9y agoActually, I'd think the Chinese government has quite some leverage over Apple, too, since all their products are manufactured by Foxconn etc.. I wonder what negotiations and power struggles are going on behind the scenes?
- chickenbane 9y agoPlease, China doesn't give a shit about the Apple's app store and payment policy. It's a relationship; Apple does shit for China, (e.g., I'm sure the app store in China is heavily censored), China complies with some Apple pushback. They only disabled the functionality on iPhones, so the only reason they implemented it was on Apple's demand.
- valuearb 9y agoIn what way are their policies unfair?
- typednothing 9y agoWith IPhone's market share of just 9% in China, WeChat should drop support for the IPhone.
- captainmuon 9y agoThey probably have the resources to buy or develop a jailbreak. If not software then maybe even hardware via the connector, and have it installed in all those little telefone shops in China.