Apple is this week expected to launch its new iPhone - with a gamer-friendly larger screen.Īpple makes all software sales on the iPhone go through its App Store. Tencent was the top game publisher for Apple’s iOS operating system in China by revenue for both June and July, according to App Annie, a company that measures app usage. That area is almost doubling year over year.”Īpple’s Greater China revenues, which include Hong Kong and Taiwan, soared 28 percent in April-June from a year earlier to $5.9 billion, and globally, iTunes, Software and Services sales were the company’s second-fastest growing product category, up 12 percent year-on-year to $4.5 billion. “The thing that’s actually growing the most is the iTunes, Software and Services category, which has the App Store in it. “We’re seeing some substantial strength there,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said of China in a July earnings call. The app has proved a winning formula in getting people in China, a market notorious for not paying for software, to connect their bank accounts with their phones and pay for virtual goods like extra lives and power-ups in mobile games.Īpple takes a 30 percent cut on all sales. Known locally as Weixin, WeChat had 438 million monthly active users globally, mostly in China, at the end of June, and has rapidly evolved from a messaging tool into a digital Swiss Army knife, allowing users to send messages, play games, book taxis and shop online. Having a leopard as a pet gives the characters extra power, helping players beat their friends.ĭeng and tens of millions like her have made China Apple’s third-largest market for software sales, and a huge chunk of that comes through WeChat. “The most expensive time was when I spent 68 yuan ($11.08) on a leopard on Tiantiankupao,” said Deng, an avid iPhone user, referring to Tencent’s hit game - called Timi Run Everyday in English - where characters run through obstacle courses.
REUTERS/Barry HuangĪ Beijing-based quality analyst, she gave only her surname as she’s embarrassed by how much money she spends playing mobile games on WeChat, a hugely popular messaging app developed by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Icons of messaging applications WhatsApp of Facebook (L), Laiwang of Alibaba Group (C) and WeChat, or Weixin of Tencent Group, are seen on the screen of a smart phone on this file photo illustration taken in Beijing on February 24, 2014.
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