Alipay's counterattack cuts off WeChat's back door, making Ma Huateng anxious

Apple's strong forcing of the WeChat reward function has sparked heated discussions. The main controversial points are as follows:

1. Apple stores bully customers and are too aggressive, so we decided to stop using Apple!

2. Apple’s 30% commission is like a vampire!

3. If Apple removes WeChat from its app store, who will win and who will lose?

In fact, there is a question worth pondering: Why did this happen to WeChat but not to Alipay? Or is Alipay not as good as WeChat and not worthy of Apple's attention?

The Game Between WeChat and Apple

As the most active super APPs with the largest number of users in China, WeChat and QQ can be said to directly support the Tencent Empire, open up Tencent's ecological chain, and continuously inject huge traffic resources into products such as Honor of Kings and Tencent Sports! Not only that, WeChat is also a strong barrier for Tencent's series of products. External links of competitors such as Taobao are blocked on WeChat, as well as the Fenda public account that was previously blocked by WeChat! WeChat suppresses competitors, just like Apple suppresses WeChat today. The entrance gives them enough reasons to be strong!

In such a powerful ecosystem, every individual who relies on the WeChat platform can only be a partner, and there is basically no competition! The same is true for WeChat on Apple IOS!

If it is understandable that Tencent has connected its ecological chain products through WeChat, then the mini-programs that were born under the banner of "there will be no APP in the future" are particularly high-profile! For Apple, the revenue from APP software on the IOS system is the biggest piece of cake, and the launch of WeChat mini-programs directly poses a threat to Apple, and also makes Apple fully feel WeChat's ambition! As we can see, the development of mini-programs is not very smooth!

Even though it is suppressed by Apple, WeChat is still determined to make mini programs! As a kind of sentiment, mini programs will definitely not be easily abandoned by WeChat! From this perspective, Apple's forced suspension of WeChat's reward function is actually a warning to declare authority and defend sovereignty, and it is also the beginning of the game between WeChat and Apple!

The reason why Apple does not cooperate with WeChat

The core business of WeChat Pay is mainly through the consumption scenarios established by WeChat, and most of them stay in the domestic market under the ecological chain of Tencent series products! The strength of WeChat has prompted WeChat Pay to continuously seize the mobile payment market, forming a confrontation with Alipay. This is also the reason why WeChat is confident and unwilling to cooperate with Apple. The 30% commission means that WeChat will hand over the cake to Apple!

For Apple, it needs a third-party payment company with a strong international status to make up for the shortcomings of Apple Pay, which is precisely the shortcoming of WeChat and WeChat Pay. This is also the main reason why Apple is unwilling to cooperate with WeChat! In contrast, Alipay is the second largest APP in China, with more than 600 million active users, and Alipay has also made many achievements in the international payment market, constantly expanding its influence in the international market! Alipay has become the best choice for Apple, so we can see that Alipay has become the only third-party payment company for IOS application APP, including Tencent Video membership purchases, which can only be paid through Alipay, not WeChat!

For Apple, cooperation with Alipay can not only enable most domestic users to complete payment, but also meet international needs. This is why Apple decided not to cooperate with WeChat after weighing the pros and cons! From this perspective, the cooperation between Alipay and Apple is meaningful!

Alipay’s counterattack

Its own products can only be paid with Alipay. The always powerful Tencent is also in a cowardly situation and is very passive! Of course, these are just ordinary APP application matters for Tencent Video! Imagine if WeChat agreed to complete the payment process of the reward function from within the IOS system, it means that when we use the reward function of WeChat, we have to use Alipay to complete the payment. For WeChat, it is definitely a huge blow. WeChat certainly will not allow this to happen!

Thinking of this, I have to admire Alipay's forward-looking vision! Previously, Alipay kept trying to launch social software, intending to seize the social application market and consolidate Alipay's domestic market, but it eventually failed and gave up! Now Alipay has taken a different approach and chose to restrict WeChat through its influence in the international market to make up for the potential loss of the domestic payment market. Alipay's counterattack is quite beautiful, and it directly cuts off the retreat without any mercy. WeChat may be restless!

Whether it is WeChat or Alipay, they are both application products under the Apple IOS system. WeChat’s failure this time must also attract enough attention! Although China’s Internet has become the leader of the world’s Internet, with good products and advanced business models, the biggest pain point is that it does not have an entrance to a super ecosystem like Microsoft or Apple IOS! Even WeChat, which is so huge, can’t escape Apple’s constraints, which is indeed worth pondering!

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.