Netflix No Longer Allowing Subscribers to Pay Through Apple's App Store

[alchemistmuffin]

🤣 You'll have to tell me why you think Apple deserves a 15% cut of Netflix's subscription revenue when Apple isn't producing or hosting the content.

Interchange fees? The average interchange fee is between 1.5% and 3.5%.

Xcode software to develop for Apple and the App Store? The cost to host the app on the App Store? That's what the $99/yr developer fee covers per https://developer.apple.com/programs/

Join the Apple Developer Program to reach customers around the world on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Membership includes all the tools, resources, and support you need to develop and distribute apps, including access to beta software, app services, testing tools, app analytics, and more.


What else is there that Apple is providing and should be compensated for?

Because that’s how selling stuff on third party works.

If I were to sell your product at my shop, I would expect some form of commission from selling your product. Say 10% to keep it fair. You get more exposure for the product you made and you generate profit from sales by selling at my store.

You can’t expect me to sell your product and I get nothing. I’m not running a charity. It costs money to run the shop selling your product.

Same with Netflix trying to do business with Apple via App Store. Latter aren’t running a charity shop. They are business. They expect to take commission because running a business to sell a third party product costs money.

Nothing new here. Common business practice.

 

[dampfnudel]

The rate Netflix is going I don’t think I will be paying for them much longer.

Apple seems to be traveling on the same road as Netflix. I’m predicting another Apple TV+ price increase this year.

 

[Marlor]

Based on past Netflix threads, I'm thinking every outraged Apple person has quit Netflix 6 or 7 times in the last 12-18 months or so... so I presume this affects no one.

This literally isn't far from the truth for me.

Why wouldn't you quit and rejoin regularly? I subscribe for a month, have two or three months off, then resubscribe for a month. A month is more than enough time to see any content they've released in the past quarter, and I can save money on the months off.

Plus, it incentivizes Netflix to create good content. There was a whole year at one point where I couldn't find enough content to justify re-joining, so I saved my money for that entire period.

 

[Verified Whiskey]

I wouldn’t still be a subscriber if T Mobile wasn’t paying for it. I don’t find any of their original content compelling enough to bother with the service.

This. I wonder how much of their subscriber base is not subsidized by carrier offers.

 

[ke-iron]

I cancelled Netflix last month because they refused to make a Vision Pro app, I hardly used, prices always increasing. I use Apple TV +, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount plus, Showtime, Max, Crunchyroll way more than Netflix. Plus with some of these subscription it’s actually two bundled into one price so that’s a major win.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

This is incredibly alarmist/hyperbolic. What evidence do we have that this is going to happen? I don’t think you can compare Apple Pay to Apple taking 15% of monthly Netflix subscriptions.

Just curious though…do. You think it was “customer unfriendly” for Apple to create the ‘reader’ category of apps that allows Netflix, Spotify, Amazon Kindle, etc. to exist without offering IAP?

And when it does?

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Correction: You can't keep nickel and diming your users forever.

Apple should be banned from doing the "You have to give app store users the same price as non-app store users" term in their contract, because then the consequences of their nickel and diming would be made apparent when a subscription is $10 through the website and $13 through the app store.

So tell me which store or venue can you sell your widgets for free.

 

[Apollo68]

And when it does?

And when it doesn't because the entire assertion that was made has no basis in reality?

 

[Apollo68]

So tell me which store or venue can you sell your widgets for free.

ubuntu software center / GNOME software...
Flatpak

 

[BipedalOS]

Hmm. I hope that does not change but I guess it was too good to last forever (buying Apple gift cards when they are 15% on sale and using them to pay my Netflix via Apple billing).

This is what I do.

 

[alfonsog]

I don’t mind switching to pay Netflix but I do mind the lack of Vision Pro app. But I still watch it more than the other streamers. I watch a lot of the non English movies and shows.

 

[Realityck]

I don’t mind switching to pay Netflix but I do mind the lack of Vision Pro app. But I still watch it more than the other streamers. I watch a lot of the non English movies and shows.

I wait to see how much of the better web interface equivalent Netflix can make work with an app for Vision Pro. Not rush it out just because someone thinks the app is superior?

I am referring to extra frills like suggestive content "more like this" video teasers that automatically play the looking at a title, and all the other information available that you don't see on say a iPad Netflix app. Match actors to content and so on.

The iOS/iPadOS apps and the tvOS apps also are deficient on common features you see on the web interface. tvOS app at least plays the video teasers, so it's the best of the three apps. At least they all now offer top ten TV or movies titles recently, but still trying to search for content is more difficult on iOS/IPadOS/tvOS then say on the web using a browser on MacOS or Win11.

Just looking at that from all the other ways I see Netflix run on other apple devices and computers.

 

[EMc00]

imagine if Apple will open and allow pirated verion of Netflix like video streaming. They want open right?

I like that thought.
This is a good example of what people don’t understand about that 15% fee.

You are a huge brand and invest a lot on creating attractive content/goods. Then you go to sell it in a marketplace (a mall) and want the owner of the mall to keep the scammers out of their mall, maintain the infrastructure, the fassade of the mall and invest a lot to grow the amount of visitors, make the mall as attractive as it gets… As a business man, the mall owner would tell you: pay me based on the impact this marketplace/ecosystem has to your business.

That’s common business sense in my opinion. Netflix wouldn’t place ads for free on “their“ platform as well.

They just want to jump into the „blame Apple“ train, because that‘s trendy.

 

[Born Again]

I wouldn’t still be a subscriber if T Mobile wasn’t paying for it. I don’t find any of their original content compelling enough to bother with the service.

dude go prepaid already. You can save so much money

 

[m4mario]

That sounds over the top. Assuming the Wallet (doubtfully ever) goes away, why wouldn’t people just tap their physical cc?

Ever use Apple Pay on Apple Watch? There is a convenience in going to the farmers market and not taking anything out of your pocket at every shop.

 

[Will Co]

Absolute fear mongering nonsense holy moly batman when will they stop thinking the world is

I fully agree.

Add this to the growing list of customer unfriendly actions in the works everywhere. When regulators open up NFC the Wallet app will become useless. Every credit card company and every bank will pull out of the Wallet and require its own app to make a payment. Want to pay with your Chase Visa credit card?. You’ll need to use Chase’s app. Want to pay with your bank debit card? You’ll need to use your bank’s app. Want pay with your GM Mastercard? Pay with the GM Mastercard app. The era of one Wallet to keep all your cards in is coming an end. Just like Netflix is doing other streaming platforms will require you visit their website to pay. All this to keep as much profit in their own hands as possible.

This seems to completely disregard the way the entire payment card industry works. Apple Pay and the ability to use your bank card in the Wallet isn’t just about NFC. There is a complex set of partnerships between Apple and Visa/Mastercard that took years to develop including a payment information interchange system that is highly complex and partly patented. Just because the NFC API might be opened up in the future does not mean that all the banks will rush to develop what is effectively a clone of AP. Why invest in a huge project that might encounter patent challenges, result in a system no more secure than AP but which was closed to just one bank and which would therefore cost more in interchange fees to operate? That bank would lose every which way and no one else would win. The banks welcomed AP because of what it offered above standard payment services and still do. It’s why they stay involved.

 

[sw1tcher]

Because that’s how selling stuff on third party works.

If I were to sell your product at my shop, I would expect some form of commission from selling your product. Say 10% to keep it fair. You get more exposure for the product you made and you generate profit from sales by selling at my store.

You can’t expect me to sell your product and I get nothing. I’m not running a charity.

If that's the case, then why does Apple not collect 15% or 30% from McDonald's, Walmart, Starbucks, Amazon, Target, Uber, etc. for every transaction made through their respective apps?

It costs money to run the shop selling your product.

Again, per https://developer.apple.com/programs, the $99/yr that Netflix and every other develop pays Apple covers those costs.

In case you didn't read it the first time:

Join the Apple Developer Program to reach customers around the world on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Membership includes all the tools, resources, and support you need to develop and distribute apps, including access to beta software, app services, testing tools, app analytics, and more.

Same with Netflix trying to do business with Apple via App Store. Latter aren’t running a charity shop. They are business. They expect to take commission because running a business to sell a third party product costs money.

Nothing new here. Common business practice.

I asked you before and you didn't give an answer, so I'll ask again, what other costs are there that the $99/yr developer fee doesn't cover?

Better yet, let me put the question this way: What costs is Apple incurring from the Netflix app, but that Apple is not incurring from apps by McDonald's, Walmart, Starbucks, Amazon, Target, or Uber, to the point where Apple needs to take a 15% cut of Netflix's app revenue, but not from the others I mentioned?

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Apple seems to be traveling on the same road as Netflix. I’m predicting another Apple TV+ price increase this year.

AppleTV+ is $9.99. Netflix Premium is $22.99. No contest in costs. It'll be several years before and any fool buys Apple One Premier and recognizes a bargain when they see one.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Its completely over the top. look at google pay, which has far more competition due to android allowing users to use whatever wallet they want. Still supported by card providers even though they could make their own exclusive app.

Google is banking on over $80 billion in advertising targeted selling services to cover their expenses by foregoing those ‘fees' which in fact w/o the ad revenues would see Google gutting their staff world wide.

 

[satpalram]

Honestly thought those were phishing emails.

Bye bye Netflix.

 

[Apollo68]

Google is banking on over $80 billion in advertising targeted selling services to cover their expenses by foregoing those ‘fees' which in fact w/o the ad revenues would see Google gutting their staff world wide.

And how does that counter anything I said? best I can tell, it doesn't even bother addressing my statement.

 

[ohthehorror]

Dear God I hate them all.

 

[svish]

Only a matter of time before Netflix implements the change across all countries.

 

[SanderEvers]

Again, per https://developer.apple.com/programs, the $99/yr that Netflix and every other develop pays Apple covers those costs.

In case you didn't read it the first time:

Join the Apple Developer Program to reach customers around the world on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Membership includes all the tools, resources, and support you need to develop and distribute apps, including access to beta software, app services, testing tools, app analytics, and more.

That doesn't include payment processing, hosting of the application on Apple's Server, bandwidth for downloads, aftersales support. That all costs money to Apple, and so they need get that money off of the sales from paid apps.

If that's the case, then why does Apple not collect 15% or 30% from McDonald's, Walmart, Starbucks, Amazon, Target, Uber, etc. for every transaction made through their respective apps?

Because you aren't paying for something that is consumed on an Apple device. That is very simple.

 

[bsolar]

That doesn't include payment processing, hosting of the application on Apple's Server, bandwidth for downloads, aftersales support. That all costs money to Apple, and so they need get that money off of the sales from paid apps.

Those costs are peanuts. The real cost in an App like Netflix is from the content delivery and that cost is 100% on Netflix, not Apple.