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Apple Discussed 'Punitive Measures' Against Netflix for Dropping In-App Purchases

Apple is encouraging every app in the store to go for a subscription plan .
A stupid 99 cents , keyboard app requires a 2.99 $ monthly fee (check Fonts Pro) . That is the way Apple is doing business. That is Apple.
I like the ecosystem they have, but they are not honest and they encourage immoral spending.
If you have kids, you know what I mean. Yeah yeah there are safeguards, but kids now these days are savvy , not easily fooled.

I am not sure if Epic is on the right side either, but I know Apple is not.
Many of the Apple fan boys will ask the question why you boughed into Apple. Well when I did it, there was not a subscription issue , one time payment, that was it. Now I am more vested with the entire foamily and Apple changed so many rules it's like selling your house .
Anyway , no one is innocent, but Apple in all of this, is not " TRUE" to its customers.
 
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So...

  1. AppStore fees pay for the AppStore infrastructure including advertising.
  2. Netflix changed their model so they no longer pay any fees, it's a free app with no InApp Purchase. They are getting an entirely free ride on the AppStore.
  3. Apple asked the question internally whether they should stop advertising for a product that isn't generating revenue
And this is what caused half the forum to light their hair on fire??

That seems like a perfectly reasonable business discussion. Apple was then quite proactive in working together with Netflix in addressing some of their concerns. Finally when Netflix decided "nope, we're going to choose free ride", Apple simply let them.

It's also interesting that there was more "churn" for customers subscribed through IAP. It sounds to me like the shady part is why Netflix makes it harder to unsubscribe at will than Apple did?

The story here is that Netflix makes bank through the AppStore and doesn't pay a dime, while Epic is crying they can't earn 100% margin on selling fake money.

How does this cast Apple in anything but a positive light?
 
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The reason Netflix saw a higher churn rate on iOS vs web is that Apple makes it easier to track and manage subscriptions on their platform. On web, it is easier to snatch someone's credit card and charge it for a year without them remembering they have a subscription.

In this scenario, in-app purchases/subscriptions are a benefit to the consumer.
 
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these types of 3rd party moves where Apple helps them
grow exponentially then gets cut out altogether while they are still using Apple’s resources and can decide at any moment to focus on Windows or Android only, or worse gets bought by one of them and Apple users are in the cold. This was likely the reason we have Apple TV+ as protection from being locked out like they were I’m maps by their partner Google with Turn by Turn for years.
 
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I'm an Apple fan and understand Apple can do whatever they want as its their own App Store, but sometimes being more ethical and reasonable is more important to me in business than just making sure I get every penny from everyone. Sure, the contradictory could be everyone will start avoiding App Store and go Netflix way, but I hope with current events an alternative way benefiting both companies would be developed.
 
Whatever Apple does short of suppling the appstore services for free will always be "unfair" to someone.

As long as they plan to charge at some point developers and users will try to find ways around and there will always be an example of someone else getting away with that is somewhat similar to your case.
 
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Analog Kid said:
So...

  1. AppStore fees pay for the AppStore infrastructure including advertising.
  2. Netflix changed their model so they no longer pay any fees, it's a free app with no InApp Purchase. They are getting an entirely free ride on the AppStore.
  3. Apple asked the question internally whether they should stop advertising for a product that isn't generating revenue
And this is what caused half the forum to light their hair on fire??

That seems like a perfectly reasonable business discussion. Apple was then quite proactive in working together with Netflix in addressing some of their concerns. Finally when Netflix decided "nope, we're going to choose free ride", Apple simply let them.

It's also interesting that there was more "churn" for customers subscribed through IAP. It sounds to me like the shady part is why Netflix makes it harder to unsubscribe at will than Apple did?

The story here is that Netflix makes bank through the AppStore and doesn't pay a dime, while Epic is crying they can't earn 100% margin on selling fake money.

How does this cast Apple in anything but a positive light?
Click to expand...
The apple haters who come to an apple forum to hate on apple read "punitive measures" stopped reading and used it to write their own narrative
 
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These types of apps that generate revenue outside the AppStore should be charged by licensing the developer tools at a price that is determined by individual contract. Anything else is not worth the hassle.
 
DCW said:
"Discussed it" is a far way from doing it.
Click to expand...
It's still important to take into consideration. An extreme example, but what if your employer discussed cutting your pay in half but didn't actually end up doing it? You'd still probably be frustrated and start looking elsewhere for employment. Sometimes the fact that something is even being considered is enough to cause concern.
 
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Can we agree that Apple has long made user experience a focus of theirs?

Would you say that not being able to join Netflix within their own app and instead having to go elsewhere to do so, it less than the best user experience?

Is it difficult to see that Apple might want popular apps to provide the best user experience?
 
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benshive said:
It's still important to take into consideration. An extreme example, but what if your employer discussed cutting your pay in half but didn't actually end up doing it? You'd still probably be frustrated and start looking elsewhere for employment. Sometimes the fact that something is even being considered is enough to cause concern.
Click to expand...
All they discussed was to stop giving Netflix free advertising as their was no longer a financial benefit to Apple, why is this concerning?
 
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Bug-Creator said:
Whatever Apple does short of suppling the appstore services for free will always be "unfair" to someone.

As long as they plan to charge at some point developers and users will try to find ways around and there will always be an example of someone else getting away with that is somewhat similar to your case.
Click to expand...
No one is complaining about the annual developer fee to be listed in the app store. Every dev has to pay it.
No one gets listed for free. Anyone who thinks this should be free has no clue how to run a business.

What Apple does above an beyond listing the app in the store is where it gets murky.
 
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Wait, Tim Apple said that all developers are treated equally and the Apple faithful know that Tim would never ever lie. I’m totally confused!
 
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drumpat01 said:
Yes, people know what Netflix is and can get to Netflix a million ways...but what about everyone else? What about some other small app maker that isn't already a household name?
Click to expand...

Well, if you have the app installed, you obviously know the "non-household" name, so just google it, lol!
 
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I've always said Apple shouldn't get a 30% cut of Netflix or Spotify subscriptions. They literally have nothing to do with people using the service, the content is all hosted and streamed from Netflix. This is an area where having Apple Pay as an option would make sense, where Apple gets a small processing fee, but that's it.
 
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edgonzalez32 said:
Just because they didn’t do it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be opened up for discussion. Regardless of your view, it’s messed up that they were even considering punishing them. That’s going too far.
Click to expand...
i feel like it's a good thing it was discussed because then you can see that since nothing happened at least there was a discussion. sometimes it's people playing devil's advocate, even though they don't want to do said actions or aren't for steps/measures.
 
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