Recently, the topic of "apple tax" has attracted attention.
The so-called "Apple tax" refers to channel sharing, which means that in the Apple App Store, game users can earn profits from recharging through a commission. Generally speaking, the commission rate is 15% to 30% of digital content consumption. Whenever users pay to download apps through the Apple App Store or purchase digital goods or services within the app, Apple will withhold a portion of the transaction amount as commission and transfer the remaining funds to the corresponding app developers.
According to Sensor Tower data, the global revenue from the "Apple Tax" will reach approximately 160.8 billion yuan in 2023, with the Chinese market contributing over 40 billion yuan.
Photo by journalist Zhang Jian
The 'Apple Tax Rate' in the Chinese market is the highest in the world
According to the Economic Daily, public data shows that the "Apple tax rate" in the Chinese market is the highest globally, charging commissions of 30% and 15% to standard and small businesses, respectively. In the United States, the proportion of the two is 27% and 12% respectively, in the European Union it is 17% and 10%, and in South Korea it is 26% and 11%. The high "Apple tax" has caused strong dissatisfaction among app developers worldwide. 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 of 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 Spotify against Apple in 2019, which was aimed at the 30% commission charged by Apple on its app store. The EU has determined in its ruling that Apple's restrictions constitute unfair trade conditions. In 2021, Apple faced similar antitrust charges and penalties in the Netherlands. The Dutch Consumer and Market Authority investigated Apple's practices in its app store and found that it abused its dominant market position by imposing unreasonable restrictions on dating app developers in the Dutch app store. The Dutch government requires Apple to rectify within a time limit, otherwise it will face a weekly fine of 5 million euros. Unfair trading conditions "are not commonly used rulings in antitrust cases, and Apple has been sued on this issue one after another, which can be said to be caused by the" Apple Tax ".
Faced with the frequent heavy fines imposed by the European Union, Apple had to make compromises and concessions. In January of this year, Apple announced that it would implement significant updates to its operating system, browser, and app store in the EU region to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act. The updated content includes allowing customers to download software from outside the Apple App Store for the first time, allowing people to use other payment systems, and freely choosing the default web browser. The update also lowered the commission that Apple has imposed on developers up to 30% since the launch of the Apple App Store in 2008.
At present, application developers in the EU market only need to pay a commission of 17% to Apple, and in one year, this proportion will further decrease to 10% for most developers and subscribers. Apple stated that this reform will result in over 99% of app developers in the European Union paying lower fees to Apple.
Multiple platforms confirm the existence of a 30% 'Apple tax'! Apple customer service: Suggest recharging on the computer end
Recently, some netizens also found that if they want to top up on the Tiktok platform to give gifts to the anchors, they can only buy 7 diamonds for an Apple phone for 1 yuan, and 10 diamonds for an Android phone for 1 yuan. An Apple phone user said, "I've been using it for so long and still haven't realized it." "I used to think that one piece was seven diamonds
According to Upstream News, on September 3rd, reporters experienced multiple video apps and discovered this phenomenon, and their customer service confirmed that there was a 30% commission from Apple. Although Apple customer service did not directly reply with "Apple tax", it is recommended that consumers can recharge through the computer.
The reporter chose the same live broadcast anchor in Tiktok Android and Apple. When recharging and rewarding, there was a situation where Android bought 10 diamonds for 1 yuan and Apple bought 7 diamonds for 1 yuan. In station B, there is an option to buy 10 batteries for 1 yuan (a reward item similar to Tiktok diamonds) on the Android side, while there is no option to buy 10 batteries for 1 yuan on the Apple side, only the option to buy 7 batteries for 6 yuan.
Why are there differences between Android phones and Apple phones when it comes to recharging? On the 3rd, the upstream news reporter also asked about Tiktok, and the customer service staff said: "Apple will charge a 30% service charge."
Will the tips received by the anchor be different on Apple and Android devices? The customer service representative said, "Recharging and tipping the host does not have any impact. It's just that if you recharge on the Apple app, there may be a situation where it depends on how much money you tip
The customer service staff of Station B told the upstream news reporter: "The rate of recharging the iOS (Apple System) store is 1:7, but you can choose to recharge the battery on the WeChat official account, and you can enjoy a ratio of 1:10." In terms of the income of the anchor, the customer service said that the income of different clients is really different. "For the ordinary anchor who has not joined the guild, the gift income rewarded on the web side and Android iOS side is 50%. The corresponding income of the big navigation anchor rewarded on the web side and Android side (that is, the" big navigation "function of Station B, equivalent to the paid VIP of the anchor) will be 50%, and the income of the big navigation anchor rewarded on the iOS side is 25%."
On the afternoon of September 3rd, a reporter from Upstream News called Apple's official customer service to inquire about the situation. The customer said, "Apple is just a payment platform, and the prices in the app are determined by the developers. Some options are also set by them, and we cannot modify them
For the 30% commission, the customer service representative said that they are not very familiar with the commission ratio of the partner, and it is mainly communicated by the relevant business departments. "If you want to recharge, you can consider recharging through some PC or other methods, which may result in greater profits
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