Wen/Jincuodao Channel Apple was scolded again.
In recent days, Apple has made a lot of big moves, not only releasing the thinnest iPad in history, but also revealing a lot of news about the need to install AI for iOS, as if it was going to get rid of its previous shame and return to the top position in the technology circle.
But a long-standing operation has once again pushed Apple to the forefront of the storm.
Not long ago, under the pressure of the government, Apple adjusted the market in the United States, Europe and other markets, Proportional drawing of Apple Store.
For example, in the United States and South Korea, it has dropped to 26%, and even in the European Union, it has dropped to 17%.
But in the Chinese market, the Apple tax still remains high at 30%, which is not only the highest in the world, but also without any preferential treatment.
To put it simply, for every amount of money that Apple users in China charge on the Apple platform, whether it's downloading paid apps or recharging cards, Apple will draw 30%.
In 2023, Apple's "Apple tax" revenue in China alone will reach more than 40 billion yuan.
Why should Apple treat the Chinese market differently?
Scratch the phone a few times
Apple has made hundreds of billions more in China
Apple tax seems to be far away from ordinary people, but every Apple user is inevitably cut.
The most significant difference is that Apple and Android systems have "different prices for the same function".
For example, last year's popular "earthquake early warning" function, when the Android system is free, The iOS system costs ten yuan.
Many netizens also found that the iOS system is a little more expensive than the Android system when they call the Internet for car hailing.
What's more, taking a taxi with the iOS system will make it easier to reach more expensive comfortable models, even the platform's preferential red packets, IOS is less than Android.
Not only are taxi fares different QQ and other common social software, The price of iOS members is a few yuan more expensive than that of Android.
The owner of Zhihu complained that he had received some rewards for his hard updated answers, and was deducted 30% by Apple as soon as he came up.
Zhihu user: @ No Night And webcast is the "hardest hit area" with different prices.
The live broadcast involves high frequency consumption actions such as rewards, and the transaction volume generated by a live broadcast is very considerable.
However, on the common live broadcast platforms such as Tiger Teeth, Tiaoyin and Fasthand, many netizens found that the live broadcast virtual currency that can be bought on the iOS platform for the same amount of money is only about 70% of that of Android.
The number one player who used Apple's mobile phone to brush rockets crazily may have been secretly pocketed a lot of money by Apple.
A staff member of the live broadcast platform revealed that 30 of the more than 100 yuan gifts were transferred by Apple, and the remaining 70 anchors could take more than 30. The remaining fees paid for the platform, leaving little profit.
The 30 yuan allocated by Apple is taken as a percentage, commonly known as "apple tax".
If you purchase an APP or virtual service in an APP in iOS, you will be rewarded as long as the payment is made through the Apple Store.
In the Chinese market, large teams with an annual turnover of more than $1 million will be drawn 30% by Apple, while small developers will be drawn 15%.
The development team naturally didn't want to bear the extra cost, so the situation of "iOS is more expensive than Android" appeared.
Many Apple users have found out this and started to try their best to escape this attack.
For example, many users will buy members on the PC or Android client, and then go back to the iPad to watch videos, not to save these few dollars, but to make Apple unhappy.
Don't underestimate these few dollars. Apple tax has become one of the main sources of income for Apple.
According to the financial report released by Apple in 2023, Apple's revenue in the "service business" is $85.2 billion, accounting for 22% of the total revenue, which can enable Musk to launch 520 rockets.
Some people say, Although the Apple Store charges a lot of fees, it has a good audit. Many rogue plug-ins have been blocked.
According to the data of relevant institutions, the gross profit rate of Apple tax related income is as high as 70.9%, and the cost is horribly low.
In other words, Apple doesn't pay much service cost at all, and hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue will be poured in every year.
The whirling dart soon pierced the apple that wanted to make money.
"Double label" apple, can't be loaded anymore
It is not uncommon for a platform to draw high scores. At least Apple is not the only one.
For example, Steam, the game platform, has achieved 30% of the total revenue, while some app store platforms on Android platforms have achieved 50% - 70% of the total revenue.
But the reason why Apple tax is annoying is that developers have no choice.
On Microsoft, Android and other platforms, software vendors can choose different kinds of app stores to go on the shelves, with different percentages.
Software developers can also develop their own installation methods to achieve 100% full revenue.
But at Apple, no matter what software you develop, it must go through the Apple Store before it can fall into the hands of users.
In addition, developers who want to release software at Apple must pay a "pit fee" of $99 per year. Compared with Android's lifetime of $25 and Microsoft's $19, it can be said that they are clearly "stealing money".
In order to fight against Apple tax, domestic manufacturers have tried their best.
The most common way is to use external links to skip Apple's payment channel IAP, but this method is easy to be found by Apple, and then it will face the danger of "blocking".
External recharge chain used by foreign software Doctor clove, a medical platform, once wanted to use other platforms to pay doctors' consultation fees, but was "frozen and updated" by Apple.
Miyou, the game giant, once tried to skip the IAP and make payments outside the system, but it was soon taken off the shelves by Apple. Miyou had no choice but to compromise and give up the tripartite payment.
The frequent tricks of Chinese manufacturers and the incessant complaints of users cannot shake Apple's tax.
But Apple, which bullies the weak and fears the hard, has been beaten to dust in foreign markets.
In 2019, music platform spotify, game manufacturer EPIC, and social media Tinder began to form a group to fight against Apple tax, known as "APP Fair Alliance".
Several companies have taken Apple to court with "unfair competition", "anti-monopoly" and other statements, and they don't care about being taken off the shelf by Apple.
Now, Musk, Zuckerberg and META are shooting at Apple one after another, and the two big men who almost went on the shelf have started to fight against Apple.
At the beginning of this year, the resistance paid off.
At the beginning of March, the European Union introduced the Digital Market Act, which cut Apple's tax to 17% and also fined Apple 14 billion yuan.
Roughly speaking, the new EU regulations have brought about an additional income of nearly 4 billion yuan for European developers.
Japan and South Korea also followed in the footsteps of the European Union and began to limit the Apple tax. The South Korea increased the Apple tax to 26%, while Japan forced Apple to open a third-party payment platform.
Compared with the EU, Japan and South Korea, the United States wields its broadsword more fiercely.
On March 22, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple for antitrust. Apple's market value evaporated by more than 800 billion dollars overnight, and it may be in danger of being split.
In fact, Apple, long aware of the bad news, decided to reduce the US Apple tax to 27% at the beginning of the year.
The greater the concessions to Europe and the United States, the more room Apple has for adjustment, which is even more Apple's double standards.
Why is the same policy so secretive about the Chinese market?
Want to get rid of the quagmire,
Apple also depends on the face of China
China is a modern version of "farmer and snake" for apples.
Last year, Apple released the iPhone 15. Although its sales in China were much lower than those of previous generations, it still sold 45.5 million units, becoming the top seller.
At the same time, before the mass production of Vision Pro, the proportion of Apple's supply chain in China also rose significantly to about 60%. Last year, eight enterprises became new members of the "fruit chain".
China is not only Apple's main market, but also Apple's most solid backing. However, Apple still collects the most severe Apple tax in China.
When Apple generally reduced the Apple tax around the world, the proportion of Apple tax in the Chinese market did not change at all, even maintaining the highest proportion of 30% in the world.
In 2023, Apple's tax revenue in China is only second to that of the United States, and even 1.5 times that of the European Union.
If this trend continues, the Chinese market will continue to pay Apple 287.3 billion yuan of "Apple tax" in the next five years.
As Apple's second largest market, the Chinese market should not be treated differently by Apple.
But Apple is so muddled, in fact, to maintain the "apple tax" income.
In the first quarter financial report of Apple in 2024, the overall revenue of Apple dropped by 4%, which is one of the few businesses going upstream. It is the service revenue led by "Apple Tax", with a growth rate of 14%.
Apple tax is one of the few life-saving straws for apples.
In order to save this lifeline, Apple not only pretends to be confused with China, but also plays games with the European Union.
Antitrust hearing For example, in the new regulations to deal with the EU's Digital Market Act, an additional clause was added: if an app is downloaded more than 1 million times per time, an additional 0.5 euro "core technology fee" will be paid for each installation.
In this way, the 13% Apple tax cut by the European Union will soon be recovered.
Apple is holding on to the Apple tax in order to cover up the bad start in recent years.
Apple Auto, an important project that was once rated as "Titan" internally, announced its abortion at the beginning of the year, and the tens of billions of dollars it threw into it were no gain;
The sales volume of Apple's head display Vision Pro, which is regarded as "subverting the era", is only about 370000 units so far, only about one tenth of Xiaomi's 14 units. Amazon and other platforms have begun to sell at a discount.
Even the advertising film that Apple has always been good at has kept rolling over. Not long ago, Apple's advertisement for the new iPad was denounced by a large number of foreign media, who thought that the film was "anxious and tasteless".
Now there is only one AI phone left for Apple to bet on, and in front of this track, there are Samsung OPPO and other powerful enemies who have won the first place wait.
How long can Apple rely on the "old moat" of the Jobs era when the newly opened battlefront continues to pull its legs?
After the Japanese and Korean markets started to pay for Apple tax, it is impossible for Apple to take the initiative to lower the "Apple tax" in China.
It is only a matter of time before the Chinese regulatory authorities take action on the Apple tax when the whole country, from users to developers, has "suffered from the Apple tax for a long time".
Apple needs to understand that, If you want to enjoy privileges, you must first learn fairness.
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