President Trump’s ban on Chinese apps, in particular WeChat, is going to affect Apple, writes Michael Kan.
Forty-five days from now, the White House can begin punishing US companies and individuals for making “transactions” that are related to WeChat. That means Apple will likely need to pull the product from the iOS app store.
“For Apple, it would be all iPhone sales in China will go to zero because no one in China will buy a WeChatless phone,” tweeted podcaster Carl Zha.
As I understand it, WeChat is THE most popular app in China. It’s what Facebook aspires to be with Messenger. It’s used for everything like messaging, mobile payments, a hub for businesses, etc. Like Mr. Kan notes, it won’t affect Google because apps can be sideloaded on Android. But the App Store is the single repository of iOS apps.
Check It Out: Trump’s China App Ban Will Affect Apple Due to WeChat
Leave it to President Benito Cartman. Takes aim at the enemy and shoots his own people.
I can’t remember a case, at least in peacetime, where the Federal Government forced a sale of the US operations of a foreign-owned corporation to a local buyer (and demanded an extortionists cut at that). What fun would that be when other countries start doing the same to US corporations.
I am just as wary of Chinese mega-corporations ties to the Chinese government and agree that it should be addressed, but the chosen approach reeks of ignorance and short-sightedness and will come back to haunt us much sooner and much worse than we think.
Just as with TikTok, if WeChat is sold to domestic interests, no ban will be needed. Apple should help out with transitioning these apps from Tencent and ByteDance. It’s in their best interest.