Huawei
Huawei may not charge Tencent’s WeChat for in-app purchases: Report
Earlier we reported that Huawei is planning a lower fee structure for in-app purchases than Apple on its HarmonyOS devices, but it seems this scheme won’t affect WeChat. The Chinese OEM may not charge Tencent for running its app on Huawei handsets.
Bloomberg has added more insights to this matter saying that Huawei and Tencent inches closer to an agreement that will exclude WeChat from in-app purchases.
Under this agreement, the phone maker will not take any fees from the Chinese app developer to run its super chat application on HarmonyOS devices. The new decision is the result of months-long discussions between both parties.
Thus WeChat will become an exception in the Huawei AppGallery that will not be tied to any in-app transactions. In response to this benefit, Tencent will make WeChat more efficient for millions of Chinese users regarding payment/gaming via updates.
Note that the deal is yet to be signed by both companies. Once official, the agreement will open benefits for Tencent to obtain huge sales from the app’s mini-programs and other facilities. The firm has already made a profit of $207 billion last year with these programs and now planning to increase them in the coming days.
Huawei may not charge Tencent’s WeChat for in-app purchases (Image Credits: WeChat)
Important Deal for Huawei
This deal is equally important for Huawei as the upcoming HarmonyOS version might lose the app support if Tencent doesn’t upgrade it. In other words, the new agreement will also stamp confirmation on WeChat’s compatibility with HarmonyOS NEXT.
Apart from Tencent, the Chinese tech giant has offered the same deal to ByteDance’s Douyin but it seems that the latter is not much interested in this process.
Huawei is taking these steps to make HarmonyOS a far better platform than its rivals – iOS and Android. In terms of in-app purchases, Apple collects 30% for games, while Android has a fee of 50%. Although the Chinese tech maker aims for 20%.
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It is unclear if Huawei will take this deal to others or keep it confined to some specific applications. Yet it is a significant move played by the firm for the HarmonyOS mobile platform’s progress in its home ground.
[Source – Bloomberg]