Apple is opening up a new market for mini apps
App Clips in 2020 came to iOS
In a pair of significant moves, Apple has opened up a new market for mini-Apps, small apps (App Clips) that offer self-contained experiences and are distributed within larger apps; it has achieved this by introducing a new earnings tier for these apps, and reaching a ground-breaking deal with giant Chinese firm, Tencent, which offers such apps via its monumental WeChat service.
Big in China
Used by tens of millions in China, WeChat is the primary interaction for dozens of online tasks, from social networking to payments and much, much more.
Under the deal, Apple will handle app payments on its platforms in exchange for a 15% cut. It may also be relevant that WeChat operates one of China’s most popular LLM’s, Yuanboa.
The deal is expected to contribute billions in services revenues.
What Apple said
The deal is also available to developers everywhere else, Apple explains in a note to developers; “Today, we’re introducing the Mini Apps Partner Program, which expands on the App Store’s ongoing support for apps that offer mini apps. Mini apps are self-contained experiences that are built using web technologies like HTML5 and JavaScript. This program is designed to help developers who host mini apps grow their business and further the availability of mini apps on the App Store — all while providing a great customer experience.”
The deal means developers get reduced commission rate of 15% on the sales of qualifying In-App Purchases. Participating apps must support certain App Store technologies, including the Declared Age Range API and the Advanced Commerce API.
What next?
I’m interested in the extent to which these mini apps will proliferate as an adjunct to AI services, particularly around AI agents for specific tasks.
While mini apps aren’t new (they’ve been supported on iOS since 2020), Apple, I guess, will be interested to find if a thriving trade in mini apps can generate a new money tree outside of the existing App Store model. We shall see.
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