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Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

techcrunch.com

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Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#111

Post by tokyodude »

dan1234 wrote: post #105
freedomben wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's interesting. Suddenly the class action lawsuit against Apple claiming they've abused their monopoly makes a lot more sense (not saying I agree with it, just that it makes more sense. I neither agree nor disagree: I'm way too ill informed to have an opinion).

What monopoly does Apple have? They don’t have a majority share of any platform. Any app makers not happy should boycott the platform and just release Android apps. Of course, they’d also need to avoid the Google Play store as they have pretty similar rates to the App store[0] [0] https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

AFAIK that's not how it works. For example go look up Microsoft's monopoly. The commonly held believe is Microsoft was declared to have a monopoly on personal computer OSes but that is false. Microsoft was found to have a monopoly on OSes for Intel based machines. So by that same logic Apple has a monopoly on OSes for A series (A10, A11, A12) based smartphones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#112

Post by kodablah »

soneca wrote: post #33

Why call it "tax" if it is a fee? The article shows numbers based on a 30% fee when it explicitly says it is actually 15%. "meaning Apple was making around $700,000 by doing nothing other than allowing Netflix to offer subscriptions in its app" It seems a bit unfair also. I have no horse in this race, but the author seems to have

> Why call it "tax" if it is a fee?

Tax instead of a fee because it's unavoidable to do business on the platform. Akin to a sales tax to sell items in an area. Terms are fungible but it's a reasonable term.

> I have no horse in this race, but the author seems to have

Assuming the author has bias repeating a commonly used term indicates more about bias on the assumer than the one using common terms.

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#113

Post by dhh2106 »

anonytrary wrote: post #84

The main reason I find app stores useful is that they are a third party data aggregator. You can see ratings, downloads, reviews and other statistics very easily. That does help me as someone deciding what apps I should download. That said, Netflix is a company I've grown to trust. I have no reason to look at Netflix's app statistics in the app store. I have no incentive to make personal transactions with Netflix thr…

Aggregation is also helpful for search, which is the main thing I do in the app store

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#114

Post by improbable22 »

gcb0 wrote: post #68
wand3r wrote: post #19

The Apple store seems good for small apps because the “tax” pays for discovery/marketing, distribution, billing & payment, lends credibility to the application, etc. This is especially true for single purchases. Recurring revenue is a much different proposition— even for small or first time apps. A player like netflix which handles it’s own marketing, payment and all other ancilliary services doesn’t need to anything…

> The Apple store seems good for small apps that is fine if you ever show up as featured. Which is 1% of the apps, and even then, from already big companies after they spent the marketing money. Other than that, for distribution (really?) and payment, there are tons of alternatives/competition the small apps cannot even consider. App store is nothing other than a racketeering scheme where you have to pay if you can't…

As a data point, which I don't think is a huge outlier: I have paid $5 for lots of apps I like, which I would never ever have gotten around to paying for on someone's website -- partly trust, partly just mental overhead. But whether the app is $4 or $6 makes zero difference to me.

I don't think I found any of these through their listings or search, maybe those could be better? But the space is huge, maybe random blogs etc. can do better than any centralised store.

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#116

Post by zaroth »

wrkronmiller wrote: post #37
writepub wrote: post #30

It's ludicrous for Apple to state they somehow increased business for Netflix, because they allowed "sign-up" via iOS. That's like Google claiming they allowed sign-up via chrome, or AT&T claiming they allowed sign up via their Network. Apple adds ZERO value via the app store, both for devs and for the consumers.

What Apple adds is non-zero. As the parent comment points out, Apple offers discovery, billing, and distribution. The App Store is a single (theoretically trusted) place for iOS users to search for apps. Let's not forget that, at least in theory, Apple curates the App Store. Neither Chrome nor AT&T does that in any substantial way. Furthermore, Apple's business model is different from Google/Android's. Android can be…

Before Apple came out with the iPhone, the carriers had complete control over the apps on your phone, and their access to the network.

Even initial iterations of the iPhone limited video streaming to WiFi only. Apple blazed the trail enabling millions (billions?) of hours of Netflix viewing. Apple devices are a primary use case motivating my initial Netflix subscription for kids to watch in the car on the iPad.

Further, Apple iOS provides the SDK and APIs to enable Netflix to develop their app in the first place, securely stream their content, etc.

The App Store is the only mechanism that Apple uses to charge companies for exploiting the power of these devices for their own benefit.

It’s a lot more than just the seamless experience of installing and running the app. It’s the whole stack that forms a cornerstone of how Netflix customers experience the Netflix product.

When was the last time I consumed my Netflix on something that wasn't an Apple device?? I can’t even remember!

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#118

Post by tialaramex »

chrisan wrote: post #78
todd3834 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m an Apple fan all around. (Even own a homepod). But I have to disagree with “cancelling is easy”. Cancelling a subscription on iOS is so hidden that I can’t say it’s easy. I hope they change this.

Not to mention this new(?) tactic with "free trials" that automatically turn into a subscription. I was trying out a bunch of weather apps (why is is so hard for a simple concise app with a radar without a bunch of needless fluff/wasted space) and 1 of them automatically turned into $99/year after 3 or 7 days (I forget). The app didn't even work and would almost _always_ have the time wrong making the weather HUD als…

Europe (maybe just the UK but I think it was EU-wide) banned claiming something is "free" if in fact you must sign up to pay money.

You can tell people what it'll cost and ask for a card, or, you can say it is free and not ask up front (you can ask later if you want but having not given you a card for the free trial if the customer has lost interest they're not going to give you one later)

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#119

Post by sjwright »

c3534l wrote: post #101
IshKebab wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they don't have to. It may not meet the legal definition of a monopoly but a monopoly it is.

It's kinda like how you can charge obscene amounts of money for popcorn when you own movie theater.

Or an obscene amount of money for replacement car keys when you make the cars.

Sony can decide who's games can be published on the PS4, and they get a cut of every single sale, physical or digital.

Incredibly, Miele have a monopoly on the retail sale of their whitegoods. When someone buys from a retailer, the retailer act as mere agents; the actual sale is actually directly between Miele and the customer.

Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue

#120

Post by zapzupnz »

MrMember wrote: post #5
toufiqbarhamov wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many things I’d agree, but to their credit Netflix has always made it trivially easy to cancel. They’re one of the few modern IT companies that seem to go out of the way to make joining and leaving fair and easily comprehensible. Now if they’d just make that autoplaying a goddamned option!

I was kind of surprised when I canceled my Netflix account. I had a laundry list of complaints I was going to put in the "why are you canceling" box but they never gave me one. Making it easy and painless to cancel is one of the few things they're still doing right.

They didn't give you one? They gave me one, and I put in basically what you complained about.
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