Apple v Tencent : Biggest Tech Battle in Recent Memory - Everything You Need To Know

How well do you know about the giant Chinese technology company Tencent? They have quietly slipped into to top 10 biggest public companies. They are considered the most valuable Chinese brand (according to BrandZ), ahead of fellow tech giants Alibaba, Baidu and Huawei. Tencent employees more than 30,000 people, most of whom are in China. Tencent is a prolific investors. It holds equity in Snap and recently bought a five percent share in Tesla. According to a filing, Tencent scooped up 8,167,544 shares for around $1.7 billion to become one of Tesla’s largest shareholders.

Now the first shots have been fired been fired in a battle between Apple and China's most valuable company, and it looks like the Chinese government could get involved. The Innovation Daily presents everything you need to know as this is shaping up to be one of the biggest battles between American and Chinese tech giants in recent memory.

The opening shots have been fired in a battle between Apple and China's most valuable company

A business dispute is brewing between Apple and Tencent, China’s most valuable company, and it looks like the Chinese government could get involved, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Here are the basics: the dominant app in China is Tencent’s WeChat, a messaging program that does a lot more. Users can also use it to order food, transfer money, and play games.

One of WeChat’s features is called “tipping.” If one user likes another’s posts or photos, she can send that person a few yuan from her WeChat account.

Last month, Apple told Tencent it considers tips to be in-app purchases. The iPhone maker takes a 30% cut on in-app purchases, so it was saying it felt entitled to a similar payout from WeChat tips.

Executives at Tencent are furious. “We don’t charge anything as the platform, but Apple gets 30% for doing nothing,” a Tencent executive told the Wall Street Journal. Tencent has even talked to Chinese regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, according to the report. Read more...

Chinese internet giant Tencent buys 5% of Tesla

Tencent, Asia’s second highest valued tech firm, has bought a five percent share in Tesla. According to a filing, the Chinese firm scooped up 8,167,544 shares for around $1.7 billion to become one of Tesla’s largest shareholders.

The news itself sent Tesla’s share price up three percent in pre-market trading. The purchase was arranged on March 17, and those now-Tencent-owned shares are worth around $2.2 billion at current market value. Read more...

China's WeChat takes on Apple, Android with mini-apps

In a cluster of refurbished Mao-era industrial buildings in Guangzhou, developers at China's top messaging app, WeChat, are redesigning key parts of its product to spread its tentacles to just about every aspect of Chinese life.

Around 1,500 developers, mainly twenty-something males, have been tasked with increasing user engagement through new 'mini-programmes' on WeChat that look and operate much like apps on Apple Inc's iOS and Google's Android operating systems - but are far less data-intensive.

WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings, says it's not a direct challenge to the dominant mobile platforms, but some analysts and developers say the new business could eat into that of iOS and Android app ecosystems. Read more...

Apple takes risk by telling Chinese chat apps to disable 'Tip' Functions

Apple has told several Chinese social networking apps to disable their "tip" functions to comply with App Store rules, according to executives at WeChat and other companies. 

The tip functions in Chinese messaging platforms are free to use and allow people to send authors and other content creators monetary tips through transfers to mobile wallet accounts. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, Apple has decided that tips are equivalent to in-app purchases – similar to buying games, music, and videos – therefore Apple is entitled to a 30 percent cut of every transaction. Read more...

Tencent takes on Apple in China

In most of the world, the success of Apple’s “walled garden” of proprietary software has two elements. First, its attractive services: users tend to be addicted to its iTunes music shop and iBooks store. Second, the complexities involved in switching from an iPhone to another device without losing music files or having to re-download apps.

Neither factor works as well in China. There, many of Apple’s services have not taken off. The American giant missed the boat on music sales in the country, reckons Matthew Brennan of China Channel, a technology consultancy. Its sales of books are blocked by the government. Read more...

Three Ways Alibaba and Tencent Are Courting Consumers and Marketers

Like the United States, China is seeing bidding wars erupt for streaming video, data picking winners and losers among marketers and online shopping reshape retail at a rapid clip.

That's the takeway from this week's quarterly earnings reports by internet giants Tencent and Alibaba, China's most valuable companies by market value and among the global top five for digital ad revenue, according to eMarketer. The behemoths have reshaped how China's consumers shop, keep in touch and entertain themselves. Read more...

A Tip for Apple in China: Your Hunger for Revenue May Cost You

Apple Inc. has seen its challenges multiply in the all-important China market over the past year or so, from declining market share to increased government scrutiny. Now, its effort to wring more revenue from Chinese iPhone users may be setting the company up for more trouble.

Apple’s latest predicament centers on its App Store. Last month, Apple told several Chinese social-networking apps, including the wildly popular messaging platform WeChat, to disable their “tip” functions to comply with App Store rules. Read more...

Apple orders Chinese social networks to stop 'tip' functions that break App Store rules

Apple is reportedly cracking down on social networks in China providing payment services between users, ordering the creators of popular messaging apps to disable 'tip' functions in order to comply with App Store rules, in what may be a move by Apple to try and increase revenue from in-app purchases.  Read more...

Tencent posts highest profit growth in 2 yrs on top of games & payments growth

Tencent, China's biggest gaming and social media firm by revenue, surpassed forecasts to post its highest quarterly profit growth in over two years on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong growth in gaming and digital payments.The firm, which has a market value of $316 billion, has sought to boost profits this year by expanding the use of its payments app, WeChat Pay, among local and international merchants.

"(WeChat) is increasingly playing an important role in the commercial world," said President Martin Lau during an earnings news conference call, adding that the firm has added analysis tools and services for merchants using the app. Read more...

So who do you think will win this battle...stay tuned this should be a good one!