Chun Keji

Eastday.com

It is reasonable for Apple to charge such a fee. The App Store is like a shopping mall built by Apple where anyone can sell apps on the premise of following the mall’s rules. The beauty of the mall is that it does not charge rent, and anyone is free to come in and sell their products. Customers, for their part, are willing to pay to access these apps, attracting more and more businesses and app developers.

With more and more Chinese people using iphones, the mall expanded exponentially. That’s when some app developers came up with a new way to attract consumers. Instead of selling things, they invited key opinion leaders (KOLS) to perform and give talks on their digital platforms. Thanks to KOLS’ extraordinary popularity, enthusiastic fans started giving tips to show their support.

Once this business model was proven a success, more and more app developers followed suit. Gradually, the ground rules of the mall were broken. Deals are made in Apple’s mall, but Apple does not receive its fair share and risks app developers taking control of its users.

Apple, as the owner of the mall, cannot bear being marginalized. Therefore, it introduced this new payment rule to rectify a broken order. The real issue at stake here is control over users rather than the tips, which are insignificant to a large company like Apple.