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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

#241

Post by threeseed »

electic wrote: post #203
sandofsky wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I am really happy for you. Genuinely. But most apps do not share your fate no matter how well designed, performant, or useful. I am actually fine if Apple doesn't do any sort of discovery or promotion of our apps. Just don't charge 30 percent then.

Go look through the store right now. The majority of the apps on the Today section will be small developers.

If your app doesn't meet a certain level of quality then Apple will not feature you. But if you do then it is almost certain that at some point they will. I suspect your app falls in the former category.

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

#242

Post by threeseed »

hinkley wrote: post #89
electic wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I have to agree with grandparent. You can't scale down international infrastructure like this. The cost per sale for someone managing a store for you has a certain minimum cost per month plus an amount per sale and per return. Of course they're going to hype the big games. It's opportunity cost. Advertisement leads to sales, but feeding a hype train gets you more. If they stop advertising the hot new game to showcase…

Except that Apple doesn't hype the big games. They never have.

Go look through the Today/Games section right now. All of the featured games will be from super high quality indie developers. It isn't the ones that make the most money.

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

#243

Post by tanilama »

kshacker wrote: post #165
tanilama wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is different. When I shop at Costco I know I shop at Costco and that is what I paid for. But when I buy Netflix subscription, I am paying to Netflix, not Apple. Does Apple making Netflix as a service any better? I didn't quite see that. And since this is a recurring fee, which makes it even funnier, that I am constantly paying Apple for to essentially ALLOW me watch Netflix. And don't forget this result in a highe…

When you shop at Costco, you are buying Kirkland, Samsung, Apple, and 100 other brands. Think of it from the perspective of Danone yoghurt. They are paying Costco 5-10-15% right? Because they sell to Costco at a price cheaper than the sale price. How is it different here? There are other arguments to be made about the store fees, but Costco is pretty much like apple store and vendors don't even have the option of say…

> Because they sell to Costco at a price cheaper than the sale price. How is it different here.

Apple Store is no cheaper and 30% is a huge cut, many service providers raise the price for iOS user to compensate this. So customer gets no benefit paying the 30% premium, at least not in Netlfix's case. Watching Netflix on iPhone doesn't necessary make a different experience. This is all because Apple had a monopoly on iOS platforms, had there be another App Store, I am sure many users will go there to avoid the 30% cut on themselves. It is called Apple Tax for a reason.

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

#244

Post by [deleted] »

lance76 wrote: post #178
stcredzero wrote: post #124

Earlier 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.

This misses the point. It is not equal. I choose Apple's store for one Very Big Reason over almost all other third-party services: I trust them with my financial details. I don't have to 'beg' to later cancel my subscription. I don't have to worry about my credit card being stolen. I don't have to worry about a bunch of sophomoric engineers breaking their own website and creating grief for me. I am in control with Ap…

[deleted]

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

#245

Post by threeseed »

joelrunyon wrote: post #239
threeseed wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a small app developer, I can tell you first hand that Apple only promotes and supports larger apps in the ecosystem I have friends at Apple who curate the App Store and I have a number of apps on the store as well. Your statement is categorically wrong. Apple absolutely supports small developers. If you look through many of their "editor playlists" you will see plenty of smaller apps that get a lot of attention…

As an indie developer - HOW do you get in touch with them? We have rave reviews on one of our apps and a very enthusiastic community in a unique space, but having a hell of a time getting the eye of anyone at Apple.

Look through Linkedin e.g. App Store Editor, find the person that corresponds to your country/region and then email them. Every company has a standard email format and Apple is no different. There are apps around e.g. Hunter that can help.

Then be polite, succinct and be specific about what you want. Don't just say "feature me". Say can you please include me in the playlist "Favourite Travel Apps" etc.

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

#246

Post by pentae »

lance76 wrote: post #178
stcredzero wrote: post #124

Earlier 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.

This misses the point. It is not equal. I choose Apple's store for one Very Big Reason over almost all other third-party services: I trust them with my financial details. I don't have to 'beg' to later cancel my subscription. I don't have to worry about my credit card being stolen. I don't have to worry about a bunch of sophomoric engineers breaking their own website and creating grief for me. I am in control with Ap…

Why is it naive to think they just simply want to keep $250 million a year for themselves? Find me a CEO in America who wouldn’t go for that option first

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

#247

Post by michaelmrose »

lance76 wrote: post #178
stcredzero wrote: post #124

Earlier 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.

This misses the point. It is not equal. I choose Apple's store for one Very Big Reason over almost all other third-party services: I trust them with my financial details. I don't have to 'beg' to later cancel my subscription. I don't have to worry about my credit card being stolen. I don't have to worry about a bunch of sophomoric engineers breaking their own website and creating grief for me. I am in control with Ap…

Apple now controls aprox 10% of mobile marketshare and I believe most people consume most content on screens bigger than their iPhone which can also be used to sign up for Netflix.

Nobody much cares about Apple TV either.

Apple is taking a sizable chunk of revenue and they don't have enormous leverage.

Taking away Netflix from Apple users would hurt Apple more than Netflix and people will happily sign up on via their browser. It's not like Netflix is a fly by night org they have a similar rep to Apple because users don't make fine distinctions.

Apple will suck it up and any negative for Netflix will be a rounding error compared to the pile of cash saved.

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

#248

Post by threeseed »

a1369209993 wrote: post #142
sjwright wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past, you bought software in a box from a retailer who took a margin as high as 50%. After you pay for manufacturing and distribution (shipping shrink-wrapped boxes of CD-ROMs, multilingual manuals and a unique serial number to retailers in Alaska and Singapore is definitely not free) a developer would be lucky to end up with one third of the retail price in their pocket. The Apple app store is actually a huge…

> In the past, you bought software in a box from a retailer who took a margin as high as 50%. In the past, you bought hardware that could run software from more than one retailer.

Not sure what you are talking about here.

You could never buy software for your phone from more than one retailer. Or are you trying to force the desktop computing model onto Apple ?

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

#249

Post by michaelmrose »

new12345 wrote: post #213
lance76 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This misses the point. It is not equal. I choose Apple's store for one Very Big Reason over almost all other third-party services: I trust them with my financial details. I don't have to 'beg' to later cancel my subscription. I don't have to worry about my credit card being stolen. I don't have to worry about a bunch of sophomoric engineers breaking their own website and creating grief for me. I am in control with Ap…

I agree with your point on need for a strong middleman that can look after interests of its customer and defend against greedy sellers who are after customer's data and money. I would love to see Apple expand its role further and spearhead initiatives to safeguard interests of buyers from behemoth internet service/product providers, something that we desperately need.

Your credit card company is one intermediary already.

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

#250

Post by threeseed »

ndnxhs wrote: post #96

Netflix only needs apple for distribution because apple has locked down the system so much that you are forced to go through them. Apple has added very little value and we had better systems before where you could just visit a URL and view content without needing Microsoft for distribution.

> we had better systems before where you could just visit a URL and view content

You still can. Safari still works does it not ?

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