Apple’s cut is not “extortion”. It obviously benefitted Netflix to have in-app subscriptions up until now or they would not have chosen to support this previously. Offering in-app subs is not required of any developer.
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Netflix No Longer Offering In-App Subscription Options on iOS Devices
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I wouldn't count on it. I ditched cable and save $123 a month. Good riddance. I'd rather just buy the few shows I watch than pay them a dime for tons of content I don't and will never watch and the nearly 30% AD TIME found on every single show these days. So you pay a ton for stuff you might not hardly watch and then have to watch 20 minutes of advertising for every 60 minutes of programming. Even if you have a DVR, you have to constantly use it to skip ads. My life is too short to waste what's left of it watching garbage ads for products I do not want or care about (the ENDLESS ads for prescription drugs is particularly annoying and the USA is one of only two countries on Earth that allows them). Between Prime, Netflix and tons of movies (I can buy a LOT more when I save $123 a month let me tell you, particularly when they are on sale at places like iTunes for $5-8 or older BDs), I've got plenty to watch.
Yeah, but I would wager there are more people not like you in that way than people like you in that way.
Huh? My Netflix login/password I use to log into the iOS app is the same I use on the Netflix website. I switched from in-app payment to Netflix website payment a while back when I switched to a family plan.
How is it another login and password?
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Especially true if you are a multi OS user.
I like these responses from companies.... Its like its the first time we are avoiding this ace by not giving money to Apple...
When Netflix are actually to blame because they waited this long to do it. If they really didn't like paying their fair to Apple they should have quit ages ago. Someone at Netflix "just decided" they got up one morning with a brilliant idea? Ha...
Now, if you used to some reason Apple increased their 30% to say 45%, that would be a good reason. but for no other than to annoy customers? Give me any reason you want, but companies only do it for 'profit gain'
Netflix wants to keep it all.
When Netflix are actually to blame because they waited this long to do it. If they really didn't like paying their fair to Apple they should have quit ages ago. Someone at Netflix "just decided" they got up one morning with a brilliant idea? Ha...
Now, if you used to some reason Apple increased their 30% to say 45%, that would be a good reason. but for no other than to annoy customers? Give me any reason you want, but companies only do it for 'profit gain'
Netflix wants to keep it all.
[doublepost=1546216959][/doublepost]What’s amazing is that a decade later people don’t realize how app stores (not only Apple’s App Store) work. Newsflash: the android store, the Apple store, google, Microsoft, and all stores charge a percent of subscription fees. It’s been that way from the beginning. It’s just like the slice they get when an app/game is sold. I believe there’s been some fluctuation but they were all 30%. The reason is - just like a brick and mortar store - they entities would not be making sales if it wasn’t for the store. Really look at the history of brick and mortar stores. And if your don’t think it makes sense of Apple shouldn’t get a cut, then series you don’t know anything. This was the same complaint people were posting a decade ago. Seriously tech users used to be the smart ones out there. Please research and learn.
Netflix is no longer allowing new or resubscribing members to sign up for a Netflix subscription using an in-app purchase via the App Store, Netflix today told VentureBeat. The change appears to have been implemented late last month.
Earlier this year Netflix experimented with disabling in-app subscription options for Netflix subscribers in a number of countries, and as of today, Netflix says the experiment has concluded and the change has been rolled out to the entire Netflix platform.
As described on a Netflix support page, iTunes billing options are no longer available to new or rejoining Netflix customers. Those who currently pay for their subscriptions via iTunes can continue to use iTunes billing until their accounts are cancelled.
When opening up the Netflix app on an iOS device, there are no longer fields for signing up for a Netflix account within the app nor are there instructions on how to obtain a subscription, likely to avoid violating Apple's App Store rules. The app simply offers a sign-in window and says that members who subscribe to Netflix can watch within the app.
Apple's App Store Review Guidelines prohibit developers from asking iOS users to use a purchase method other than in-app purchase, which Netflix is skirting by offering no sign up options at all.
iPad and iPhone users who want to sign up for Netflix will now need to do so through the Netflix website rather than through the Netflix app.
Netflix undoubtedly made this change to avoid paying subscription fees to Apple. Apple collects a 30 percent commission on all subscription fees during the first year after a subscriber signs up for a service using an iOS app, and 15 percent every year thereafter.
Netflix does not need to pay the subscription fee for customers who sign up for the service outside of the App Store, and this change means that Apple will not be able to collect a portion of the $7.99+ subscription fee from future Netflix subscribers.
Update: A Netflix spokesperson provided the following statement to MacRumors, calling Apple a "valued partner":
Article Link: Netflix No Longer Offering In-App Subscription Options on iOS Devices
I meant payment login data, PayPal for example, or some credit card authorisation procedure (Secure Code, verified by VISA, etc.). This are all superfluous when using iTunes credit.
Apple has built infrastructure. That may not be worth 30% but it’s certainly worth something. And lots of services are now able to bypass Apple like this, so they’re getting on the platform for nothing.
It’s up to Apple to encourage 3rd party developers to use iTunes as a payment option.
Ball is in Apples court.
Developers paid their App Developer fee as required and don’t owe Apple anything else. If Developers choose not to use in-app payments then that is their right and owe Apple $0.
Ball is in Apples court.
Developers paid their App Developer fee as required and don’t owe Apple anything else. If Developers choose not to use in-app payments then that is their right and owe Apple $0.
Well, I don't think that's @Jimmy James point; of course they don't "owe" them anything, but if they take advantage of services (such as IAP for example, which is a service offered by Apple and of service to Netflix), then there ought to be some type of compensation, of monetary type in this case.
And yet there are thousands of dollars that are free in the aft store and Apple still hosts them. What's your point?
I have one so that charges an optional monthly sub or a 6 month sub. The sub carries over to Android or Apple but if you subscribe on the Apple side, they charge you an extra 30% because of what Apple is getting out of it. I'm only aware they're doing this because I use both platforms and the majority of the people don't and have no idea they could save money by subscribing using the Android version of the app.
Netflix could do the same but that would seriously anger a lot of people no doubt.
Weird. I cancelled my subscription last March but when I go to the subscriptions section of my iTunes account details, it allows me to subscribe again with one of the pricing tiers ($10.99, $13.99) and Face ID. I thought if you canceled within a month you can’t sign up again through iOS?
Apps that cost money subsidize free apps in the App Store. If every app cost money, Apple could charge less than 30%. Your argument goes to the amount of the percentage, not to the existence of a percentage.
Why should Disney’s older content be public domain? Why shouldn’t they be allowed to profit from it?
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I don’t know. Maybe. I’m mostly just annoyed at Netflix and lashing out.
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Me neither.
I’m sure a decent number come from Android devices too, though a high percentage of Android phones are low end smartphones so I’m guessing it’s not double those that come from iOS.
As far as smart TV’s and DVD players, I’m guessing that the number is close to zero. These devices typically have pretty clunky user interfaces, and they also don’t typically have an easy way to make payments built into them the way that the App Store does, so it’s likely that people would have to sign up directly with Netflix via the Internet first .
You need to buy a new TV. For example, Sony TVs have Android OS. Their interface (including that for Netflix) is pretty slick. Also, remote controls for Sony TVs and BluRay players now have large physical Netflix button. This probably brings more subscribers than Apple does. And one does not need to struggle with second remote control and/or device. One button click and you are watching Netflix, then press TV button and you are watching cable TV, that's way better than anything Apple can offer (short of offering their own TV set so far they failed at designing a TV set). Paying via Netflix website is not that difficult. Can't you just register your credit card?
The barrier to entry for onboarding varies person to person and service to service.
For most people, the web will be the main onboarding process. The IAP thing helps if you are really tied into an ecosystem, which unfortunately I think most are not.
Netflix's prices won't stay so low forever. Eventually, they are going to increase their prices, till (I believe) it starts to match those of traditional cable companies. As it currently stands, Netflix's business model, where they keep reinvesting every last cent they make into new content, simply isn't sustainable.
A consolidated app doesn't mean there can't be individual apps for each provider. Its like mail on iPhone. U can link all your mail accounts into that OR have individual apps for gmail and o365 etc.
They have a LONG way to go before they come even REMOTELY close to the $123 a month I was paying just for two HD Cable/DVR boxes and no movie channels! That would be a 10 fold increase in price. Not going to happen in my lifetime without a HELL of a lot more content. But if Netflix ever introduces forced ads (like Hulu has done for some shows even when you pay extra to get rid of ads), I'll drop them in a heartbeat! I hate TV advertising with an almost blind passion at this point. Internet/Streaming ads are 10x worse as they tend to repeat the SAME COMMERCIALS over and over and over until you feel like you're going to go insane. Any ad that is shoved in my face 3x in two minutes is almost guaranteed to never get purchased by me ever.
They shkuldn’t have to pay to get on the platform. App Store being compulsory was apple’s choice, Netflix would be more than happy to provide their app on their servers if they could.
I would imagine that over time, all the programme and film makers will start their own services (it's starting already) and pull all their shows from Netflix. The market will become flooded with services and people will have to be more picky about who they subscribe to. People can be really fickle, all Netflix will have to do is put out a handful of flops and people will drop them and go elsewhere.
I'm happy to stay with netflix for now. As soon as they raise their prices to over £10 per month, I'll be out.
I think I was a bit unclear in what I meant. Before Apple devices Netflix made its way onto many different devices which I do think we agree on. By virtue of being on all those different devices how many people then went to the website to sign up for an account? The PC and Roku alone were probably responsible for quite a few while all the devices that connected to a regular TV allowed users to watch it on those TVs. By the time it was available on iOS and Android they already had a sizable membership. And don’t forget, when it first appeared on iOS you still had to sign up through the website. In app subscription wasn’t available until 2015. When it first appeared on iPod and iPhone back in 2010 the big deal was that you could now watch Netflix anywhere not that you could subscribe through the app.
Yeah that’s perfectly fine, I have my PayPal connected to apple. Others prefer visa, others MasterCard. All this is offered by apple/iTunes. Why would any consumer want to have this option removed? Or as you’d say: has the world gone that crazy?
Why do you care at all about “greedy apple”?
Why are they greedy? Don’t you understand how capitalism works? Yeah I am against it too, but apple taking a share from companies they offer a platform for is NOT part of the problem.
To be honest it seems you are kind of jealous although the thought is weird since apple is not a person.
And by the way you totally do it get what people mean when they say “apple’s devices”.
Plus yes, you do are far more associated with apple than with Foxconn when you buy an iPhone. You are really confused, boy...relax.
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Not Netflix but apple as he wrote..
Hopefully more big companies follow suit and it begins to sting Apple where it matters to lil Timmy boy. They've gotten fat and lazy.