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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

#361

Post by sah2ed »

etse wrote: post #356
sah2ed wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (I honestly don't expect to be able to cite any sources regarding Apple's decisions based on their level of transparency into their business. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to not, you know, not speculate? Anyone can come up with a plausible sounding reason for x once there is some evidence of y, but it doesn't change the underlying fact that it is all a conjecture -- drawing conclusion(s) from incomplet…

I'm not sure where you're going with not speculating and "better". What is wrong with a conjecture? Aren't some conjectures out of the set of all conjectures going to be right? Also, how is an interview complete information? I also pointed out later that I don't see the information you provided as refuting what I said, but compatible with it. From your response, it seems reasonable to ask what refuting is happening h…

OK, here’s your original claim about what you were convinced about Apple’s strategy with respect to competition from web/ads companies like Google:

“Am I the only one who is convinced Apple is focused on privacy because its cloud tech is really far behind Google and privacy was a path largely ignored in a data driven world?”

I pointed to the explanation given in 2010 by the founder/CEO of Apple, regarding their stance on privacy — it was conceived because of the risk of third-party developers going rogue as has happened with Facebook/CambridgeAnalytica (even though Zuck was in the audience). Apple’s privacy position was taken independent of Google.

Google’s competitive advantage over Apple today wrt cloud tech comes from public-facing cloud infrastructure & expertise that was previously internal to Google — Google’s cloud advantage was completely non-existent back in 2010 when Jobs granted that interview.

In 2010, GCP didn’t really exist yet, developers/end users could only interact with sandboxed apps on App Engine; GCP was still in infancy, the market leader in cloud tech was and still is AWS.

Google’s main competitive advantage back then was in search, Apple recognized this and did not try to compete head-to-head with Google (like Yahoo! or Bing), or the way Google competed but failed against Facebook. (Apple would later go up against Google in maps.)

OTOH, Apple did try to compete head-to-head with Amazon using iBooks, but they shot themselves in the foot by colluding with publishers to raise prices.

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

#362

Post by filleduchaos »

nolok wrote: post #349
habith wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cost of Apple's gatekeeping -- their review bureaucracy -- is entirely their own doing and benefits no one. That was actually the reason I ditched my Android and switched to an iPhone a few years back. After writing an app for both platforms and seeing how terrifyingly easy it was to get on the Play store ($25 and 4 hours after uploading the apk) vs Apple's more rigorous review process which took close to a mon…

> That was actually the reason I ditched my Android and switched to an iPhone a few years back. After writing an app for both platforms and seeing how terrifyingly easy it was to get on the Play store ($25 and 4 hours after uploading the apk) vs Apple's more rigorous review process which took close to a month, checked out our company's DUNS number and _actually_ tested/used the app. An optional appstore with verifica…

Android's permissions system is still ridiculously terrible and nowhere close to as user/privacy-friendly as the system on iOS.

Just look at how each OS handles e.g. location permissions.

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

#363

Post by filleduchaos »

gnicholas wrote: post #344
jen729w wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than the slightly obscure menu option to get to your list of subscriptions, how nice is the process to cancel an Apple subscription? Any of them – an app, Netflix, whatever. 1. Navigate to list of subscriptions. 2. Find desired subscription in list. 3. Click cancel. Nobody else does that and it is so nice .

The Netflix cancellation process is also 3 steps, for what it’s worth: Click “more” Click “account” Click “cancel” Off course, this isn’t the same as having a centralized location for managing all subscriptions, but at least in this case the cancellation process is the same number of steps.

Sure, if you ignore the biggest glaring difference both things are the same.

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

#364

Post by notSupplied »

filleduchaos wrote: post #363
gnicholas wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Netflix cancellation process is also 3 steps, for what it’s worth: Click “more” Click “account” Click “cancel” Off course, this isn’t the same as having a centralized location for managing all subscriptions, but at least in this case the cancellation process is the same number of steps.

Sure, if you ignore the biggest glaring difference both things are the same.

We should consider one other party: your credit card provider.

I've always believed that they should be the ones providing subscription management, because scummy "hope they forget to cancel!" business practices exist offline too, so Apple could never become the central place for managing all of your subscriptions.

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

#365

Post by filleduchaos »

notSupplied wrote: post #364
filleduchaos wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if you ignore the biggest glaring difference both things are the same.

We should consider one other party: your credit card provider. I've always believed that they should be the ones providing subscription management, because scummy "hope they forget to cancel!" business practices exist offline too, so Apple could never become the central place for managing all of your subscriptions.

I vaguely feel like that would be even worse somehow.

It's strange. Sure I trust Visa and my bank with the literal fruit of my labour so far in life, but I don't think I could abide them knowing what exactly I use their financial tools to do (besides what little information a vendor chooses to share).

It probably doesn't make any difference in reality, but I just feel more comfortable with one party having full access to my funds but little to no information about how those funds are used, and another with all that usage information but little/easily revoked access to my funds.

Edit: I also think the current rigorous process around directly contesting transactions with your bank/card provider does more good than harm, and on contemplation wouldn't scrap it for ease of canceling subscriptions.

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

#366

Post by notSupplied »

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…

The difference is people are locked into their iPhones much more so than they are locked in to Costco.

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

#367

Post by notSupplied »

chii wrote: post #252
sjwright wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a competition. There's enough love to go around. To Apple, the $99 fee for developers is a minuscule fraction of 1 percent of a rounding error. Apple don't love it because it's money, they love it for the exact same reason I love it: it makes it a little bit harder for malicious scammers to get away with repeated criminal activity. No, it's not a panacea. But it does weed out the utter junk and spam. It mean…

It also prevents people who cannot afford to pay $99/yr from participating in this digital economy.

Hard to believe $99 is a serious obstacle when you need a computer (a Mac most likely) to participate in the iOS developer economy.

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

#368

Post by gnicholas »

filleduchaos wrote: post #363
gnicholas wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Netflix cancellation process is also 3 steps, for what it’s worth: Click “more” Click “account” Click “cancel” Off course, this isn’t the same as having a centralized location for managing all subscriptions, but at least in this case the cancellation process is the same number of steps.

Sure, if you ignore the biggest glaring difference both things are the same.

If you look at the post I was responding to, it said "how nice is the process to cancel an Apple subscription". I was pointing out that it is no easier than canceling directly through Netflix.

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

#369

Post by max76 »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #147
max76 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the $99/yr bar of entry. That, combined with the more rigid review process, keeps the App Store's average app quality higher than the Play Store's.

gatekeeping can only last that long

The AppStore is a decade old, and the gate is holding strong. It’s likely that gate will exist for the rest of the iPhone’s product life, which hopefully ends within 20 years as smartphones are replaced by new technology.

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

#370

Post by gnicholas »

notSupplied wrote: post #364
filleduchaos wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if you ignore the biggest glaring difference both things are the same.

We should consider one other party: your credit card provider. I've always believed that they should be the ones providing subscription management, because scummy "hope they forget to cancel!" business practices exist offline too, so Apple could never become the central place for managing all of your subscriptions.

I used to have a Capital One card, and one thing I liked about it was that it sent me emails when my monthly charge from a company was higher than expected. This was especially helpful for Verizon/Comcast bills, which shot up unexpectedly on a few occasions.
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