As 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.
Two 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.
Apple 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.
Do you really think WeChat pays Apple for the file transfers for hundreds of millions of copies of WeChat to customer iPhones every month (when you include updates). Essentially at least 100 Megabytes times 100 to 200 million a month.
It's entirely relevant. That 30% pays the costs of the app store, and bandwidth is probably the biggest cost of running the app store.
Please show me where Apple says the $99 I pay every year pays for their Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Operating costs of running the app store and getting me customers.
I'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.
MacRumor 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.
> 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.
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.