Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple's next move is to compete by charging reasonable rates, instead of completely unreasonable ones. Netflix is a low chargeback risk, high volume customer and should expect to be paying 1.5-2% for an initial charge and even less for continued payments on the same card. Apple is charging 30% for the first year of payments and 15% after that. 30% is reasonable for an app from an unknown dev where the platform might…
What do you mean, “refund”? Is there a way to request a refund for an app you bought? AFAIK there’s no way to “trial” an app...
Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
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Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#132The 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…
But even if you DON'T show up as featured, maybe you're one of the 10 vetted apps that do what yours does, instead of 1 out of 100 on the Play Store. I think that's what's being discussed here.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to blame anyone for leaving any store when there has been almost nothing of value added in years and things are even regressing. That 30% should have gone a lot further It's not really a market if the seller thinks there's no alternatives, and the buyer has no choice but to put up with anything. Works the other way around, too.
It's not a market. It's like a shopping mall on a cruise ship—you chose to go on this cruise, and if you don't like dealing with the ship as a monopoly vendor, you can get off the ship and buy whatever you like from wherever. Just because this cruise happens to be the nicest, most comfortable vessel in the sea doesn't mean you have a right to expect space to be reserved on the ship for competitor's stores.
Sure, but in the case of the cruise ship, you can just wait until the cruise is over and buy things at your usual store at home. So the analogy falls down at a pretty fundamental level. It's more like you're living in a company town, and there's no openly advertised non-black market alternatives to the company shops.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to blame anyone for leaving any store when there has been almost nothing of value added in years and things are even regressing. That 30% should have gone a lot further It's not really a market if the seller thinks there's no alternatives, and the buyer has no choice but to put up with anything. Works the other way around, too.
It's not a market. It's like a shopping mall on a cruise ship—you chose to go on this cruise, and if you don't like dealing with the ship as a monopoly vendor, you can get off the ship and buy whatever you like from wherever. Just because this cruise happens to be the nicest, most comfortable vessel in the sea doesn't mean you have a right to expect space to be reserved on the ship for competitor's stores.
Why not?
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#135The 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 This is simply not true. As a small app developer, I can tell you first hand that Apple only promotes and supports larger apps in the ecosystem. It is the exception, not the rule, when they promote a smaller app. As a developer, you are on your own on the marketing and discovery front. The billing infrastructure you allude to would be easily replaceable with a dozen or so s…
> This is simply not true. As a small app developer, I can tell you first hand that Apple only promotes and supports larger apps in the ecosystem.
We’re a two person shop. We’ve taken zero funding. We’re nowhere near Fortnite revenue.
Apple has done an outstanding job promoting us. Last month they gave us our first Today tab feature, and at any given time we can be found in several lists.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#136Personally I feel like the most ridiculous part about the App Store is Apples so called "developer program". Charging 99€ a Year for a nearly nonexistent service is absurd, especially since they are already taking the 30% cut.
I am a flutter developer myself, so technically I could publish all my apps on iOS and Android with minimal changes. But since Apples developer program would eat up a significant portion of my potential yearly earnings I simply publish only on the Play Store that only charges a modest 25€ one time registration fee.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#137I find it hard to blame anyone for leaving any store when there has been almost nothing of value added in years and things are even regressing. That 30% should have gone a lot further; after 10 years, I can’t even use two different search-and-sort criteria at once to find new apps (and I refuse to sit there and scroll through offensively-bad lists of useless results, much less buy them). I am however not surprised by…
My thoughts as well. How could Apple's search so bad? If it indeed brings billions a year, why wouldn't they spend that money to improve the functionality of this revenue powerhouse? Apple tax should be stopped, people are paying penalty to use their sub par software, this is as ridiculous as it gets.
Have you ever thought about the situation as being analogous to a wholesale market like Costco?
Consumers pay for a Costco membership card, similar to the iPhone as it grants access to the store, then sells products in the store at a marked up rate (Apple tax as you call it). Consumers actually choose to shop at Costco because it’s a great experience for them just as consumers choose to buy iPhones and use the App Store as it’s also a great user expiernce (judging by the sales...if the Apple tax was so repulsive to consumers they may not buy as many iPhones). It would be nice if Costco sold everything at cost with no markup, just as it would be nice if I could use my Costco card at Sam’s club, but they don’t, and I can’t, and yet I and millions of others still have Costco cards and quite enjoy the shopping experience.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#138At some point iOS feels like a third class platform, because I can't directly buy subscriptions or download my (already paid for externally!) Audible audio books. I think Apple is too arrogant to change this on their own so my only hope is the EU will regulate quasi-monopolies like the app store at some point. At the moment Apple users would benefit from a lot of regulations ranging from freedom of choice in the App Store to right to repair. That's not a good spot to be put in as a customer.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
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. Furth…
Maybe they had complete control in the US, but that was definitely not true in Europe. Not sure about the RoW.
Re: Netflix stops paying the ‘Apple tax’ on its $853M in annual iOS revenue
#140(Note, however, that Sensor Tower’s figures are based on the App Store’s 30 percent cut of transactions. After the first year, Apple’s cut on subscription renewals is lowered to 15 percent. That’s not being factored in. But it gives you a rough idea of Apple’s losses here.)
Wait, what? They want to make a point by calculating figures which are off by 50%?