WeChat Users Again Allowed to Send Tips After Apple and Tencent Reach Deal

[MacRumors]

Apple and Tencent, the company that owns the popular WeChat messaging app, have reached a deal that will let WeChat users resume sending in-app tips to content creators, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Apple first asked Chinese social networking apps to disable tipping functionality back in May 2017 as it violated App Store rules. Tipping, Apple said, was a form of in-app purchase that should be subjected to the same fees as other in-app purchases.

In June, Apple officially updated its App Store Review Guidelines and began allowing tipping, but as an in-app purchase, ensuring the company received its full 30 percent cut. Another tweak was made in September, however, officially allowing Apple users to send monetary gifts to other users without Apple taking a cut.

Tencent initially refused to reimplement tipping as an in-app purchase because in WeChat, tipping is a free service provided to customers to build engagement, with Tencent receiving no portion of the money.

Tipping will soon resume in WeChat, though, as WeChat creator Allen Zhang said on Monday that the company had reached an accord with Apple. Details are scarce, but Zhang said WeChat will tweak its platform so tips are paid to individual content creators.

"In the past, companies like Apple might have had a difficult time understanding China-specific features," Mr. Zhang said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Tencent. "We now all share a mutual understanding and we'll soon bring back the "tip" function."

With little detail available on the deal established between Tencent and Apple, it's not clear if Apple will be receiving a cut of tips sent between WeChat users, but the tipping feature should soon be returning to the app.

Article Link: WeChat Users Again Allowed to Send Tips After Apple and Tencent Reach Deal

 

[alphaod]

I doubt Apple is getting any cut of this. Probably can only tip individuals but not buy content like apps within WeChat.

 

[theheadguy]

I doubt Apple is getting any cut of this. Probably can only tip individuals but not buy content like apps within WeChat.

What makes you think that Apple would arrive at a deal that grants them 0% of the cut (and then not publicize such generosity)? Particularly when they wrote into the App Store Review Guidelines that tipping is allowed, but will be handled as an in-app purchase in June. I think it's obvious by the vary nature of 'tipping' that it's not to buy content as that would be a purchase, not a tip. So, what leads you to this conclusion?

 

[Naraxus]

So Apple did what it usually does - bullies a company that's using a feature Apple wants into pulling that feature, then a few months later Apple apes said feature for their own and claims "we invented this" all the while putting the established company out of business.

Apple needs to be investigated for monopolistic practices. Such a scumbag company.

 

[RichTF]

So Apple did what it usually does - bullies a company that's using a feature Apple wants into pulling that feature, then a few months later Apple apes said feature for their own and claims "we invented this" all the while putting the established company out of business.

Apple needs to be investigated for monopolistic practices. Such a scumbag company.

What? Are we even reading the same article? I have no idea how you got all of that from this story.

 

[whyamihere]

If WeChat isn't making any money on this, then Apple is ridiculous for asking for a cut. They certainly aren't asking Venmo or Paypal for a cut of funds transferred between people!

 

[BiscottiGelato]

Apple got like a puny slice of the OS/App economy. You should talk to Google about that, and even so I won't say they are monopolistic when it comes to mobile OS and apps.

If anybody should get reviewed for monopolistic practices, try Facebook or Amazon.

 

[spyguy10709]

If WeChat isn't making any money on this, then Apple is ridiculous for asking for a cut. They certainly aren't asking Venmo or Paypal for a cut of funds transferred between people!

It actually costs money to send money -- like credit card processing and such. Granted, it's nowhere 30%, but just because some company is taking a loss to win users doesn't mean unaffiliated third parties have to lose money to facilitate that.

 

[tpham5919]

Apple got like a puny slice of the OS/App economy. You should talk to Google about that, and even so I won't say they are monopolistic when it comes to mobile OS and apps.

If anybody should get reviewed for monopolistic practices, try Facebook or Amazon.

Doesn't apple take 30% from all monetary transactions inside its app store? I wouldn't call it a puny slice if that's the case.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Apple got like a puny slice of the OS/App economy. You should talk to Google about that, and even so I won't say they are monopolistic when it comes to mobile OS and apps.

If anybody should get reviewed for monopolistic practices, try Facebook or Amazon.

Apple may have a smaller slice but statistically iOS users spend more than 3 times as much on apps than Android users.

 

[zzLZHzz]

Apple doesn't really have a choice here. WeChat is the single most used app in China. You can basically use it to do everything. For example, booking a taxi, pay for bill, get a movie ticket, buy food from the street and much more.

 

[elmateo487]

Apple doesn't really have a choice here. WeChat is the single most used app in China. You can basically use it to do everything. For example, booking a taxi, pay for bill, get a movie ticket, buy food from the street and much more.

why? Why would you want one app to do so many things? Just curious

 

[waterfta]

why? Why would you want one app to do so many things? Just curious

For a similar reason we want our phone to be able to do everything (unlock doors, turn on lights, make payments, talk to people, etc). Why carry around extra keys, wallets, credit cards when your phone can do it all?

I live in China now and having one app that does most everything I need is convenient. It frees up apps on my phone which in turn means less apps to update and allows me to pay for everything with one ecosystem regardless of if I'm using Android or Apple.

For example, when Facebook split their messaging app and main app it was frustrating. I'm sure there are decent reasons for them doing that, but, the idea of reverse-integration never made sense to me the end-user.

 

[zzLZHzz]

why? Why would you want one app to do so many things? Just curious

waterfta had explained some of the points which i wanted to. but let me add on.

WeChat is like whatsapp/telegram on steroids. It started off as just a messaging app but had grown to include more and more features. WeChat together with AliPay (a competitor of WeChat) had transform the entire payment industry in just a couple of years. Almost every single stall there accept cashless/mobile payment, hence you would see the WeChat logo on almost every single shop. Even the street hawkers accept it. They had gone into the extend where some stalls complete stop accepting cash.

Not to mention, there are also lots of mini games within WeChat. As waterfta mentioned, it reduce the need of downloading another app and it works well on budget phone that comes with low storage space.

Another point would be culture. If you look at website from US and China, there is a single biggest different. For US site, it is usually clean and not clutter with too much information. However for China site, a single page is often full cluttered with lots of different texts, links, contents, etc.

As I aren't from China or living there, I can't further explain on why the culture are as such. Take a short trips there and you will see how WeChat works. Last year, I did that for 2 weeks and upon returning back to my country (Singapore), I do miss using WeChat to do my payment because it is simply fast. No messing with coins and notes. Receipt also goes straight into the app.

For a similar reason we want our phone to be able to do everything (unlock doors, turn on lights, make payments, talk to people, etc). Why carry around extra keys, wallets, credit cards when your phone can do it all?

I live in China now and having one app that does most everything I need is convenient. It frees up apps on my phone which in turn means less apps to update and allows me to pay for everything with one ecosystem regardless of if I'm using Android or Apple.

For example, when Facebook split their messaging app and main app it was frustrating. I'm sure there are decent reasons for them doing that, but, the idea of reverse-integration never made sense to me the end-user.

Yes, I agreed.

 

[swm]

It actually costs money to send money -- like credit card processing and such. Granted, it's nowhere 30%, but just because some company is taking a loss to win users doesn't mean unaffiliated third parties have to lose money to facilitate that.

my source from china said the following:
- uploading money from bank account/credit card to wechat is free (read: wechat doesn't charge for it)
- even certain banks allow deposits to wechat completely free (limited number of occurences each month)
- wechat & alipay are the de facto payment solutions in china. you buy streetfood, clothes, whatever and you pay using your phone
- payments made with wechat (maybe alipay as well) are without fee for buyer & seller

thus said i guess wechat gets its share by "handling/investing" the money (just like any normal bank would do it with the customer accounts)

 

[zzLZHzz]

my source from china said the following:
- uploading money from bank account/credit card to wechat is free (read: wechat doesn't charge for it)
- even certain banks allow deposits to wechat completely free (limited number of occurences each month)
- wechat & alipay are the de facto payment solutions in china. you buy streetfood, clothes, whatever and you pay using your phone
- payments made with wechat (maybe alipay as well) are without fee for buyer & seller

thus said i guess wechat gets its share by "handling/investing" the money (just like any normal bank would do it with the customer accounts)

i guess the amount of cash deposited into both WeChat and AliPay could be larger than some of the smaller banks.

One of the first time when i was in China as a tourist was to "convert" my paper cash to WeChat credit simply because it is way more useful and convenient.

Oh yes, there is also something known as sesame credit by alibaba. the sesame credit is generated based on a range of different factors such as timely payment on credit cards, etc. If your sesame credit is good, you could be entitled to better rate for some services. The last I heard, some matchmaking company used the sesame credit to determine if the party is reliable or not.