Why is Apple more expensive to purchase APP membership than Android?
Lawyers: It is fairer and more reasonable to inform consumers if the channel fees are not violated
A few days ago, some consumers found that using Apple mobile phones to purchase membership services of the "Tencent Video" APP is 5 yuan more expensive per month than using Android phones.
In this regard, Tencent explained that Apple will charge part of the transaction fees for purchases through the Apple Store, and the price will be correspondingly expensive.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily found that a large number of applications have similar problems.
According to industry insiders, this is because Apple requires membership services to be completed in the IAP system, and Apple will charge corresponding fees.
The lawyer said that because most of the products or services provided by APP fall within the scope of market-adjusted prices, operators have the operating autonomy to set their own prices, so they are not illegal from a legal point of view; however, after all, there are still many consumers who do not know the same product or The prices of services are different on different platforms, and it would be more fair and reasonable if the operator could inform consumers in some way.
difference
Different systems charge different membership fees
On the Weibo APP, the membership service is divided into 1 month, 3 months and 12 months. The member prices on the Android side are 10 yuan, 30 yuan and 108 yuan respectively, and the member prices on the Apple side are 12 yuan, 30 yuan and 30 yuan respectively. 118 yuan.
Weibo also launched different preferential activities for different clients.
The "Cashback" activity is launched on the Android side. Members who buy 3 months will get a cash red envelope of 10 yuan, and members who buy 12 months will get a cash red envelope of 50 yuan.
In the Apple client, it is changed to the "Extra Membership" activity. The purchase of consecutive season members will give an extra 1 month, and the purchase of consecutive annual members will give an extra 5 months.
Calculated in this way, the annual membership price of Android subscription members is 58 yuan, while that of Apple's end is 83 yuan, a difference of 25 yuan.
Choose to purchase super members in QQ. The monthly price of Android is 20 yuan, the price of continuous monthly subscription is 14 yuan, and the price of 3 months is 48 yuan; the monthly price of Apple terminal is 25 yuan, the continuous monthly price is 17 yuan, and the price of 3 months is 60 yuan.
But the interesting thing is that if you choose a 6-month membership, the Android end is 120 yuan, the Apple end is 118 yuan, and the Apple end is 2 yuan cheaper.
In the Tencent Video APP, Android users purchase VIPs for the consecutive monthly subscription, the first quarter of the consecutive season, the first year of the consecutive year, and the 12-month VIP at RMB 15, 40, 158, and 168, respectively.
On the Apple side, the prices for users to purchase the above-mentioned members are 19 yuan, 53 yuan, 158 yuan and 168 yuan respectively.
In other words, in addition to the same price for annual subscription users, Tencent Video’s Apple terminal charges more for customers with shorter durations such as monthly subscription and seasonal subscription.
In Youku APP, after logging in with the same account, it is found that the prices of the continuous annual VIP and annual VIP on the Android side are 178 yuan and 198 yuan, respectively, while the prices on the Apple side are 208 yuan and 228 yuan respectively.
The difference between the two is 30 yuan.
In iQiyi, there is a big gap between the prices of Android and Apple.
For example, on the Android side, the membership prices for consecutive years, consecutive seasons, and one month are 178 yuan, 45 yuan and 19.8 yuan respectively.
On the Apple side, the corresponding prices are 218 yuan, 58 yuan and 25 yuan, the highest price is 28%.
In Baidu Netdisk, the price of member VIP and the categories that can be purchased are also different.
On the Android terminal, you can purchase a membership for a minimum of 1 month at a price of 10 yuan, while the prices for a 3-month and 1-year membership are 30 yuan and 96 yuan, respectively.
Apple does not have a one-month membership option. At least three-month membership needs to be purchased. The prices for three-month and one-year membership are 30 yuan and 118 yuan, respectively.
In this way, the price for three months is the same, but the price for a one-year membership is 22 yuan, which is about 2 yuan more expensive per month.
In the APP of Jinjiang Novel Network, there are only 3 price points available for the Apple terminal in the recharge column, which are 50 yuan 3000 Jinjiang coins, 108 yuan 6480 Jinjiang coins, and 208 yuan 12480 Jinjiang coins.
On the Android side, you can choose a variety of amounts, such as 10 yuan 1000 Jinjiang coins, 30 yuan 3000 Jinjiang coins, 50 yuan 5000 Jinjiang coins, 100 yuan 10000 Jinjiang coins, etc., and you can also customize.
Calculated in this way, the unit price of Jinjiang coins on the Android end is 1 cent per coin, while the price of the Apple end is 1.6 cents per coin.
However, there are also apps with the same price, such as JD members, Taobao 88VIP, B-site members, WeChat reading, Ctrip super members, KEEP, and their annual purchase prices are currently 99 yuan, 88 yuan, 148 yuan, 228 yuan, and 88 yuan. Yuan and 218 Yuan, the price is the same on the Apple and Android terminals.
Explanation
Customer service said Apple charges additional channel fees
For the question of the different charges on the Apple and Android terminals, the customer service of multiple apps gave answers.
IQiyi customer service said that because the Apple App Store requires a built-in Apple ID payment method, Apple will charge channel fees, so the price of the Apple terminal is more expensive than the official website and Android system members.
The customer service of Baidu Netdisk stated that the price will be different when choosing different payment methods when purchasing members.
Apple ID payment is an international payment channel. Apple will charge 30% of the channel fee for virtual services. It is recommended to use the computer to log in to the official website of Baidu.com to purchase membership, which will be more affordable.
The customer service of Jinjiang Literature City stated that when using the Jinjiang APP of Apple mobile phone to recharge, Apple will deduct 40% of the amount.
If you don’t want to recharge in this way, you can choose to log in to the web version of Jinjiang Literature City in your mobile browser to recharge, and you can choose to pay with Alipay without handling fees.
Why is there a situation where the price of QQ members on the Android end is slightly more expensive than the Apple end, and the amount set on the Jinjiang Literature Apple end is not an integer?
According to QQ customer service, this is because Apple’s pricing cannot be set arbitrarily, but the price set by Apple in advance.
It is reported that when creating an IAP project, a price needs to be set. This price can only be selected from Apple's preset price levels.
In addition, it may be to take care of developers and users in certain currency areas. There are some special levels, such as backup level A corresponding to 1 U.S. dollar and 1 yuan, and backup level B corresponding to 1 U.S. dollar and 3 yuan.
In addition, the IAP project cannot set a price of 9.9 yuan that does not meet any level.
analysis
"Apple tax" leads to differentiated pricing
According to industry insiders, Apple has an IAP (in-app purchase system). According to Apple's specifications, virtual goods or services within the scope of application, including game props, e-books, music, videos, subscription members, advanced functions of APP, etc., must be used IAP purchase payment is not allowed to use Alipay, WeChat Pay and other payment methods (including APPle Pay), nor is it allowed to guide users to purchase through the external channels of the application in any way (including jumping out of the APP, prompt copy, etc.).
In terms of sharing, Apple and developers default to a three-to-seven split, which means that Apple will charge 30%.
In addition, if the user chooses to subscribe for the "continuous annual subscription", the developer will receive 85% of the share starting from the second year.
Some analysts believe that this approach of Apple is very strong, but some developers will not directly boycott Apple, because once it breaks, its users and daily activity may be cut in half.
Professor Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Institute of Digital Economics of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that different APP Apple and Android charge differently, which indeed seems to be a price discrimination issue.
That is, differentiated prices for different consumer groups for the same commodity.
In fact, this differentiated pricing is due to the "Apple tax", that is, for the apps provided by the Apple App Store, Apple will share 30% of its revenue as platform fees. Apple has an absolute monopoly in the world, and merchants cannot avoid paying Tax”, so this fee has also become one of the membership service costs, which is the reason why APP charges on Apple mobile phones are more expensive.
Apple provides resources such as operating systems, development tools, and application stores. From a logical point of view, it is understandable that Apple charges "Apple tax".
Pan Helin said that, in fact, it was the third-party APP merchants who passed this fee on to consumers, making consumers pay for the "Apple tax" that should be borne by the third party, making the cost even higher.
In fact, the platform fees charged by Android are higher, but the domestic Android platform does not directly "collect taxes" from consumers like Apple, but charges through advertising and other modes.
Another analyst said that the final pricing power of APP members is in the hands of developers.
The Android mobile app store will also charge a corresponding commission, but this part of the cost can be offset by advertising.
Because Android is an open source platform, it is relatively convenient for developers to insert advertisements in apps, while Apple's platform control is stricter.
Currently, service revenue is Apple’s second largest source of revenue after iPhone.
A reporter from the Beiqing Daily saw that in the third-quarter financial report released by Apple on July 30, 2020, Apple’s total quarterly revenue was 59.7 billion U.S. dollars, of which service revenue was 13.1 billion yuan, accounting for 22%.
This revenue is second only to iPhone sales revenue, and surpasses the revenue of the three major categories of Mac, iPad, wearables and accessories, and these products have revenues of 6 billion to 7 billion US dollars.
statement
Lawyer: No violation of regulations, but consumers should be informed
Special researcher of the Intellectual Property Center of China University of Political Science and Law and lawyer Zhao Zhanzhu from Beijing Zhilin Law Firm told the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily that this is not a violation of regulations, because most of the products or services provided by APP fall within the scope of market adjustment prices, and operators have their own pricing. Operational autonomy.
Different platforms have different channel fees, and it is reasonable for APP operators to formulate different fee standards.
But after all, there are still many consumers who are not aware of the different prices of the same product or service on different platforms.
It is more fair and reasonable if the operator can inform consumers in some way.
Another lawyer in the industry also said that from a civil point of view, if it is voluntary and the official has clearly informed the price on the page, then there is no problem.
But from a logical point of view, there is a price gap between the Android end, the web end and the Apple end. Consumers should also be informed that in actual operation, consumers can choose to buy members on the official website according to the situation, and the final experience is the same.
This group of articles / our reporter Wen Jing
Coordinator/Yu Meiying