Apple last week introduced a Mini Apps Partner Program whereby it would ask a 15% cut of purchases made using its systems in mini apps and games on the iPhone. The announcement was the result of a protracted negotiation with Tencent, China’s most valuable company, whose WeChat serves as the world’s preeminent mini apps collection.
Pei Li and Vlad Savov for Bloomberg News:
It sets the path for the likes of OpenAI, which last month announced it would support apps built into ChatGPT, and a precedent that may alter how China’s broader app ecosystem operates…
Up until the new accord, WeChat’s booming ecosystem of mini apps and games operated on a sort of gray-market basis. You played a game, and if you wanted to buy some power-up or extra lives, you either sent a WeChat payment to the merchant or used some third-party payment handler. Neither Tencent nor Apple got anything from that transaction.
“At this point, the majority of the mini game revenue is in-app purchase rather than in-app advertising,” Tencent Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell said on the conference call. Addressing a question about our report before Apple’s new program was official, he added, “We would theoretically benefit.”
Of course, getting developers and creators on board will be key to making this new program stick. The upsides of using Apple’s payment handling are numerous, with security and simplicity top of the list. An iPhone user will never have a smoother payment method than what Apple designs directly into the operating system — at the same time, creators may be more willing to share revenues if they find that ease of use results in more purchases. Apple also has the power of its App Store landing page to promote apps and services that it favors, another reason to want to be on its good side.
US companies will do well to keep a close eye on how the mini app program pans out in China. OpenAI’s support for apps in ChatGPT, if it bears fruit, could mark a major change in how we interact with software on our phones.
MacDailyNews Take: Sets the stage for super apps to rise outside of China – keep an eye on Elon Musk’s X/Grok – and for Apple and creators to profit from them.
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