Apple's 'Apple Tax' is heavily hit! Apple's market cap evaporated more than 540 billion overnight!

If you are using an Apple phone and spend $10 in the app, $3 will go into Apple's pocket. This is also Apple's cash cow - the "Apple Tax", charging developers a 30% commission!

So now everyone knows why Apple users will find video memberships and ridesharing more expensive!

At the end of August and the beginning of September, this "Apple Tax" was abolished by South Korea and Japan.

Last Friday, Apple in the USA was also ordered to make corrections!

The US court ruled that Apple prevented consumers from getting cheaper prices, which constitutes anti-competitive behavior harming consumers. Apple is required to not restrict APP developers from redirecting users to third-party payment systems, this injunction is expected to take effect after December 9, 2021.

After the news was released, Apple's stock price quickly plummeted, dropping by 3.3%, dragging down the US stock market index. The market cap evaporated by over 80 billion US dollars in a day, equivalent to approximately 543.2 billion yuan.

Although Apple stated in court that the commission is used to support developers using the App Store platform, granting authorization to Apple intellectual products, and acquiring Apple users, Apple cannot fully prove that the 30% rate is reasonable.

Therefore, California law requires Apple to modify the App Store policies and relax restrictions on in-app purchases.

According to statistics, this revenue from the split amounts to over 20 billion US dollars every year, with a profit margin of over 75%. This court ruling is estimated to significantly reduce Apple's annual profit of over 20 billion US dollars.

Among all the voices opposing the 'Apple tax,' gaming companies are at the forefront because Apple's in-app purchase fee rate in gaming apps is the highest, even reaching up to 70%.

For a game to reach Apple's ecosystem users, it must be launched on the App Store. Under the 30:70 revenue split model, many gaming companies are already complaining. Small gaming companies have to silently endure this, while once a large company launches a popular game, if the in-app revenue is 0.1 billion yuan, 30 million yuan of it will go to Apple.

Data shows that in the first half of 2020, games launched on the App Store brought Apple 22.2 billion US dollars in revenue. This number grew by 23% compared to the same period last year, surpassing the revenue of many gaming companies.

In this lawsuit in the USA, the trigger was the game 'Fortnite.'

Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, was removed by Apple for bypassing in-app purchases, leading them to sue Apple. They not only filed a lawsuit in the USA, but also appealed in Australia, Europe, and other places.

The company stated: "Epic is suing for change, not just for themselves, but for all developers."

In addition to Apple, countries around the world have been launching various degrees of antitrust investigations against tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, and enacting related laws, forcing these tech giants to make changes.

It can be foreseen that nowadays, under the global attack on tech giants, monopolies, data, privacy, etc., are like a sword hanging over the tech giants, ready to fall at any time, and this is bound to be a protracted tug-of-war.

Whether the "Apple tax" will come to an end remains to be seen.

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