Apple, Tencent find "mutual understanding" over WeChat tips – report
Chinese iPhone users will once again be allowed to send tips – the financial variety – through popular platform app WeChat thanks to a new agreement between Apple and WeChat’s parent company.
As part of the deal, Tencent will revamp the WeChat tipping system to send money directly to individuals, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tencent executive Alan Zhang made the announcement earlier Monday in China.
“In the past, companies like Apple might have had a difficult time understanding China-specific features,” Zhang added. “We now all share a mutual understanding and we’ll soon bring back the “tip” function.”
Tips are a popular way for Chinese social network users to compensate content creators, but Apple balked at allowing such transactions with third-party payment systems. The company first ordered in-app payments that bypass the App Store’s payment mechanism halted last year.
A month later, Apple updated its policy to allow tip-like functionality with in-app purchases. It’s likely that the deal reached with Tencent follows a slightly different model, however, though details remain unknown.