This is the kind of thing that keeps tarnishing the halo. Apple chasing every possible nickel and- if not easily getting it- then flexing their powerful muscle to try to strong arm compliance to further enrich themselves- just looks bad... and fuels awakening GOVs around the world to take actions against them... as is already in play.
Apple is run by such smart people. All it takes is looking at history when others have become richest or near richest company at any time to know that the operational practices & procedures must evolve when you win the Capitalism game... when you are KING or near king of that hill on any given day. When you reach the pinnacle, you can't keep operating like you are one of many players struggling for a bit of a gain against many other competitors. Else, doing this very kind of thing will bring the power of last resort to reel you in: (endlessly deep pocketed) GOVs (with multi-generational legal resources to wage the war for up to centuries if necessary).
Yes, there is easy, "more money" for Apple here if any of this (bluff?) gets these players to roll over and comply. And yes, Apple has an obligation to shareholders to "maximize, maximize, maximize". And yes, those of us who cast them as Corporate Saint or even God can readily rationalize flowing every possible cent to them for all of the wonders and greatness they've delivered throughout the years.
BUT... there's other ways to make "more money." This kind of thing is not a necessity. Survival is long since no longer an issue and hasn't been for 25+ years.
This simply throws more fuel on the legal action fire as Apple keeps flexing "Company Store" muscle. Keep waking up GOVs. Keep making them realize they have to step in and get this under control and the end result will be much worse than isolated bits of pieces of it in play now.
IMO: Apple should shift brainpower from trying to exploit every nickel along these lines to innovating some other great stuff for us to buy to make up for the end of the iDevice app "Company Store" model that IS coming. Much like Lightning to USB-C, it will NOT be a disaster for Apple, Consumers, Countries, or anyone else when it does. Apple will be just fine. Customers will be just fine. Countries will be just fine.
But wow Apple! Get on with it. It will be much better for you to proactively do it then be forced there by reacting to a hundred variants of GOV laws forcing the changes. You're King of the capitalism mountain. You've WON! Act like it or persist like you're still approx. year 200X (much smaller) Apple... and GOV "fronts" will keep opening to try to reel this part of things in.
I don't know the details, but I am sure it is a bit more complicated than you think.
First, China can easily pass laws that limit or forbid third-party commission if big Chinese businesses think those are unfair – lobbying works in China just like in any other country and domestic companies like Tencent, Alibaba, and TikTok definitely have the government's ear.
But I venture to guess that big companies like Tencent (also don't forget Taobao = AliExpress, Pinduoduo = Temu which charges its sellers and manufacturers) profit from these commissions and fees as well, this is not even a hypothetical, when you use WeChat Pay and want to withdraw money to your bank account, they do charge you a fee. They most definitely charge the businesses using WeChat Pay as a form of payment as well. So for them saying that third party commissions is unfair would be a bit hypocritical.
Now, I will venture another guess: they hate paying money to a foreign company, and always thought that they can circumvent this by agreeing to terms on paper, but in reality doing tricks like directing users to other ways of paying while circumventing Apple's cut. Hoping that, if ever Apple complained, they would either go nowhere in courts, or can be threatened with losing its market share.
If you think what I am saying is far out, take contactless (NFC) payments as example. Apple Pay (and analogues) exist in China, but they are virtually unknown and rarely advertised. I don't think one can realistically argue it is because they are worse than WeChat Pay / AliPay which works by scanning QR codes, it is because these big companies (Tencent, Alibaba) tried their hardest to kill foreign competitors (Apple, Samsung, Google).
TL/DR: Being mad at Apple for charging commissions is fair, but do not conflate this with greed of Chinese companies. I am very confident this has nothing to do with protecting consumers, but rather with not wanting to share profits with a foreign middleman. If commission is dropped overnight, these cutthroat capitalists would happily keep the prices the same and absorb the difference as profits.
