Apple agrees with WeChat, allows mini-apps for a commission

Apple has apparently reached an important milestone in the marketing of so-called mini-apps. According to a Bloomberg report, the company has reached a deal with Chinese internet giant Tencent for its WeChat platform after more than a year of negotiations. This concerns the fact that Apple will also receive commissions for small programs offered by third parties and WeChat itself within the "Super App".

The iPhone company wants to collect fees here just as it does for App Store applications. The negotiators have now agreed on 15 percent for Apple. Observers consider this a major success that should also impact revenue. WeChat has over a billion users with Chinese backgrounds alone. In the mini-app category of games alone, WeChat is said to have generated revenues of 3.8 billion euros in the September quarter. In parallel with the contract with Tencent, Apple's entire platform is opening up to mini-apps – under the same conditions.

Commission lower for "program participants"

15 percent is half of Apple's usual commission of 30 percent. This is paid by all app providers with revenues over 1 million US dollars. Smaller developers therefore already only pay 15 percent. Apple emphasizes that this affects the vast majority of developers. For subscriptions, the commission generally drops to 15 percent in the second year of an existing subscription. Mini-apps were not covered until now, but were actually not allowed – which is why conflicts with Tencent also arose.

These are now to be resolved. To this end, Apple is launching the so-called App Store Mini Apps Partner Program, which was announced on Thursday evening. It expands the App Store's app support "to apps that offer mini-apps". Mini-apps are "self-contained experiences", i.e. self-contained programs developed using technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript, i.e. web methods. Apple emphasizes that the program is intended to "help developers who offer mini-apps grow their business" while simultaneously increasing "the availability of mini-apps in the App Store". Apple is concerned with a "great customer experience". Participants in the program receive the aforementioned 15 percent commission reduction, which applies to in-app purchases, including subscriptions.

Mini-app ecosystem must develop

Apple emphasizes that mini-apps must contain "certain App Store technologies". This includes an API for declaring user age for youth protection and the Advanced Commerce API, which enables payment processes. Apple has also set up its own website for the Mini Apps Partner Program. There, the company describes that mini-apps can be "software packages, scripts or game content" that are "supplemented after an app installation and executed by the device". In addition to HTML5 and JavaScript, "other languages permitted by Apple" should also be possible. Which ones remained unclear at first.

According to the document, all usual in-app purchases are possible, which, as mentioned, also affects subscriptions that renew automatically or end at a specific time. Developers must first apply to Apple to be accepted into the program. The developers of mini-apps are always independent of the developer of the app that contains the mini-app. Therefore, a corresponding ecosystem will have to develop first, and WeChat is likely to be leading here initially.

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(bsc)