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So what does #Tencent get out of #Epic vs. Apple? Epic& #39;s goal is to reduce the fees they& #39;re paying to #Apple, either from introducing competition through alternative app stores / sideloading, or just getting Apple to lower rates. ( #freefortnite) 1/6
I think Tencent& #39;s goal is exactly the same, or at the very least it& #39;s not some CCP proxy plot. The CCP is fine with Apple& #39;s services; they& #39;re happy to act a censor ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/10/tim-cook-apple-hong-kong-mapping-app-removal),">https://www.theguardian.com/technolog... store Chinese #iCloud data locally ( https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/18/17587304/apple-icloud-china-user-data-state-run-telecom-privacy-security),">https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/18... etc. 2/6
The walled garden model is ideal for totalitarians w/ market share. However, it& #39;s not great if you make money selling #microtransactions in games. We don& #39;t know what percentage of Epic& #39;s sales are made on iPhones, but they pale in comparison to Tencent. 3/6
Last year, Tencent made 35.99 billion yuan ($5.18 billion) on mobile games ( https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/12/tencent-earnings-q2-2020.html).">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/1... iOS market share in China is almost 20% ( https://www.statista.com/statistics/262176/market-share-held-by-mobile-operating-systems-in-china/).">https://www.statista.com/statistic... Napkin math, let& #39;s call it $1.04 billion in purchases on iOS. 4/6
With the App Store& #39;s 30% fee, they& #39;re paying Apple ~$312 million per year (napkin math again). That& #39;s a lot of money on the table. If Apple is forced to allow sideloading and/or lower fees, Tencent will come out way ahead. 5/6
I don& #39;t think there& #39;s anything more suspicious than the usual attempts by giant corporations to rewrite laws (or their interpretations) to save money. 6/end. Hope the thread worked, first time doing this.
