Remove wechat? How should Cook choose?

On the evening of August 6, US President Trump signed an executive order against WeChat, saying that 45 days after the signing date of the executive order, "anyone is prohibited from conducting any WeChat-related transactions with Tencent within the jurisdiction of the United States."

Many people think that the ban on WeChat may have a huge impact on Apple: if the ban takes effect as scheduled, it will mean that Apple will have to remove WeChat from the App Store, which will greatly impact its mobile phone business in China.

In fact, WeChat does have an unusual position in China. An iPhone without WeChat cannot serve hundreds of millions of users in China. As Ben Thompson, a well-known foreign technology blogger, said: "In any other country, there is nothing equivalent to WeChat. Wechat is often compared with Facebook (that is, Facebook, Messenger and Whatapp combined), which is a communication and a waste of time. In addition, WeChat can also be used to watch news, take a taxi, pay, and obtain government and commercial resources. These functions and functions make WeChat your mobile phone. In the broader sense of China, your mobile phone is everything. " "Every aspect of a typical life in China, not only online, but also offline, is done through an application."

Foreign media TheVerge also believes that China users are the basis on which Apple's current iPhone business model depends. If Apple can no longer install WeChat on the iPhone because of Trump's ban, its China business will almost certainly evaporate overnight.

The importance of China to Apple is self-evident. The total revenue of Apple 20 19 in China is about $44 billion, far exceeding that of any other American company. In April 2020 alone, China users spent $65.438+53 billion in the Apple App Store. Under the leadership of Tim Cook, Apple's success in recent years largely depends on its expansion in China, not only as a manufacturing center, but also as a huge consumer group. If Trump's WeChat ban comes into effect, it will definitely shake this once solid foundation, which may not only destroy Apple's largest customer base, but also undermine the manufacturing capacity of Apple products.

Cook and Trump know little about * * *, and their views are quite different. But Cook has always believed that instead of cutting off all contacts, it is better to contact Trump and try to influence him. Trump has threatened Apple's business in many ways. When Trump implemented the immigration ban, Cook said that hundreds of Apple employees were affected. When Trump imposed import tariffs on products made in China, it first hit Apple accessories, and later covered almost all products sold by the company. Cook has been working with the Trump administration to get rid of Apple products-these efforts are basically successful. Some people say that this is an unlikely relationship, but Cook is mostly successful in persuading Trump.

Doing the same thing with the WeChat threat will be Cook's biggest challenge to Trump so far. This requires Cook to convince Trump to overturn or creatively reinterpret his latest executive order-and it must be completed as soon as possible.

If Trump fails to persuade, is Cook helpless and can only sit still?

Actually, not necessarily! As a truly international company, Apple has studied the laws and policies of various countries all the year round, and its tightrope walking ability is unimaginable to ordinary people. According to Article J of Apple's Media Service Terms, Apple is defined as follows:

Definition of Apple According to the country where you live, "Apple" means:

For users in North America, Central America and South America (including Canada when using iTunes Store and Apple Music), users in American territories and territories, and users in French and British territories in North America, South America and the Caribbean, it means Apple; , located at No.1 Apple Park Road, Cupertino, California, USA;

For App Store and Apple Books users in Canada or its territories and territories, it refers to Apple Canada Company; , located at suite 1600, M5J0A8, Toronto, Brenner avenue 120;

For users in Japan, it refers to iTunes K.K in Tokyo, Japan, with the address of 6-1kloc-0/Roppongi -Ku in Minato, Tokyo106-6140;

For users in Australia and New Zealand (including island dependencies, territories and subordinate jurisdictions of these two countries), it refers to Apple Pty Limited, located at No.20, 3rd floor, Martin Plaza, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;

For other users, it refers to Apple Distribution International Co., Ltd. located in Holly Hill Industrial Zone, Cork, Ireland.

Apple Distribution International Limited is an Irish company and the management company of the national application store. Trump's policy mainly affects Apple Inc in the United States, so after 45 days, only app stores in North America, Central America and South America may not be able to download WeChat.

To sum up, Trump's ban has really put a lot of pressure on Apple, and Tim Cook must be cautious. However, when the first iPhone 5G phone is about to go on the market, Apple still has the spare capacity to handle the relationship with the US government and users in China at the same time. For Apple, this is a war that can't be lost anyway.