Netflix Tests Disabling In-App Subscriptions on iOS in Some Countries

[travelsheep]

The phone looks so retro... I should buy one for my vintage collection

 

[mtneer]

Can Apple kick Netflix out of the App Store (and block access to everyone who already has a Netflix app worldwide) to force the issue? Kind of like the cable wars which occasionally erupt blocking sports channels just before the big game.

 

[barkomatic]

I signed up on a PC years ago and my subscription autobills so I don't see this move by Netflix as a big deal at all. Yes, some Apple purists here that supposedly won't shop at any store that doesn't take Apple Pay or subscribe to any service that doesn't go through iTunes may leave--but that's a tiny minority.

You're really gonna give up the number 1 streaming service in the world because you can't take 2 minutes to sign up in a browser once?

 

[BvizioN]

Why? People aren’t subscribing to Netflix because of Apple.
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Meh, it’s really easy to subscribe from the browser. That’s what I did when I had a Spotify subscription..

Of course it's not a matter of being hard. Simply is better to have everything in one place and I feel the same. Would not hesitate to cancel subscription just like I did with spotify. There are always alternatives, luckily. Besides, if they don't want to pay their 15% (or whatever), whats stopping then from pulling their app from the app store? I guess they still want to use the App store for their business but for free.

 

[truthertech]

I can sortof understand Apple charging ~30% for purchasing an app on their store. They host the App afterall.

But taking 15% from subscriptions? 30% from in-app purchases that have absolutely NOTHING to do with Apple except using them as a payment processor is ridiculously high for a payment processor. MasterCard/Visa charges 1-2% of each purchase. Even your run of the mill non standard ones only charge 2-3%. Taking 15% of monthly subscription based services is very high and puts unecessary burdens on those companies.

Apple needs to adjust here to remain competitive. services like Netflix are already small margin and are fairly inexpensive. 15% of your fee can suddenly make the service unprofitable to deliver, and if that's the case, we al lose as the services that aren't profitable go away, even if they're great like Netflix.

Do we WANT Netflix to stop being used on iOS devices? do we want them to just say "it's not worth it" and walk away? of course not. That hurts everyone. Apple needs to realize this isn't 2010 anymore. they no longer have a captive position as the dominant platform.

LOL. Calling Apple a "payment processor." You're confused on how this works. MasterCard is a payment processor; they don't bring a business the customer or build the store or anything remotely similar to what Apple, Ebay, Google, etc., provide with their platforms.

Apple provides a platform of hundreds of millions of the highest purchasing pre-screened customers in the world and takes care of the billing and payment processing, hardware, software, etc., that they spent billions developing and continue to spend billions on maintaining and you think they shouldn't receive a commission for. Your logic also applies to most all tech companies, and evidently Amazon, Ebay, Google, etc., don't deserve a commission for you to use their platforms. We need more business education--whether it is a brick and mortar store on an on line store, companies aren't in the charity business and they risk the capital and spend the money to build them to monetize them.

The free market regulates best, i.e., if Apple charges too much to use their platforms, people won't develop for it (that's why Apple has paid out over $100 BILLION dollars to developers.) or companies like Netflix will only have off line sign up like Amazon did. The price isn't going to be set by your sense of how much Apple or Google or Amazon deserve.

 

[topmounter]

Netflix should test the ability to disable auto-play previews.

 

[Rogifan]

People are lazy. Why Apple is so successful with the in-app purchases to begin with? Any extra steps to make a purchase is an inconvenience.
Beside, it's Apple's platform, either play by Apple's rules or do HTML5 web app. Amazon took the other road by not playing with Apple from the get go on their Kindle and streaming services, thus their customers are already trained as such. Netflix now has to re-train their customers. We'll see if this affect them negatively or not.

I currently have a Netflix subscription. How do they have to retrain me? This doesn’t affect me at all.
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LOL. Calling Apple a "payment processor." You're confused on how this works. MasterCard is a payment processor; they don't bring a business the customer or build the store or anything remotely similar to what Apple, Ebay, Google, etc., provide with their platforms.

Apple provides a platform of hundreds of millions of the highest purchasing pre-screened customers in the world and takes care of the billing and payment processing, hardware, software, etc., that they spent billions developing and continue to spend billions on maintaining and you think they shouldn't receive a commission for. Your logic also applies to most all tech companies, and evidently Amazon, Ebay, Google, etc., don't deserve a commission for you to use their platforms. We need more business education--whether it is a brick and mortar store on an on line store, companies aren't in the charity business and they risk the capital and spend the money to build them to monetize them.

The free market regulates best, i.e., if Apple charges too much to use their platforms, people won't develop for it (that's why Apple has paid out over $100 BILLION dollars to developers.) or companies like Netflix will only have off line sign up like Amazon did. The price isn't going to be set by your sense of how much Apple or Google or Amazon deserve.

Going by your logic no app in the App Store should be free. So why does Apple allow free apps?

 

[BradWI]

LOL, yeah right. After a month or two their numbers will be exactly the same.

You underestimate the number of smart people who basically get 20% off their Netflix sub cost every month by using readily-available 20% discounted iTunes cards.

 

[Freida]

You cannot run a business if you are blaming your customers. Like it or not, consumer behavior wants convenience. Besides, the 30% is optional. Amazon opted out from the get go. Netflix could've done the same, but clearly greed takes a while to sink in.

Oh well, not that I care. Stopped paying netflix way back.

You don't need to blame them. All you need to do is to change and they will adjust. Apple does it all the time and customers adjusts so Netflix should do that.
This is not about greed, the only greed we can talk about here is that Apple takes almost 1/3 of your revenue.
And as i said before, I take better content and quality over anything so small as web browser signup vs in app.

 

[dumastudetto]

It's time for everyone to cancel Netflix. They are trying to steal from Apple. This is wrong on every level.

 

[Rogifan]

Nope. Sub, unsub when content gets boring which happens often with the drivel they put out these days. Then resub at a flick of a button.

Well if it’s too difficult for you to do that via Netflix’s website then I don’t know what to say. Of course I’m sure Netflix would love to offer the ability to subscribe in-app without having to use Apple as the payment processor.

 

[iReality85]

It’s their loss. Most people like me subscribe from iTunes. They will lose lots of people.

And who are people like you, the under 20 crowd?

Netflix has been around for over 20 years. They'll won't lose anyone, most subscribers join using their website.

 

[Moorepheus]

Where do you get this "most people" assertion? I'm willing to bet only a minority subscribes through iTunes.

I would agree, since Netflix was around before it was on the iPhone. My family has a subscription, we use it on the iPhone, Google Play (hooked up to my tv), PC's, Smart TV's, Smart Blu-ray players, etc.
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Makes me wonder how Apple makes money from the Kindle app. You can’t buy kindle books with the app. It’s stricly for reading ebooks you already purchased elsewhere and the app itself is free.

Don't forget about the DEVELOPER FEE

 

[Cryates]

It's time for everyone to cancel Netflix. They are trying to steal from Apple. This is wrong on every level.

Lol what

 

[truthertech]

I currently have a Netflix subscription. How do they have to retrain me? This doesn’t affect me at all.
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Going by your logic no app in the App Store should be free. So why does Apple allow free apps?

Again, folks don't seem to understand how the platform works. Millions of apps are free because Apple allows the developer to give the basic app for free and sell in app purchases for which Apple then receives a commission on. That's in essence how a subscription like Netflix works. The app is free, but I have to pay Netflix a monthly fee depending on what "products" I want to buy on it.

 

[Cryates]

Folks, I can tell you that Apple will be just fine and Netflix will be just fine no matter the outcome of this story.

 

[Moorepheus]

People are lazy. Why Apple is so successful with the in-app purchases to begin with? Any extra steps to make a purchase is an inconvenience.
Beside, it's Apple's platform, either play by Apple's rules or do HTML5 web app. Amazon took the other road by not playing with Apple from the get go on their Kindle and streaming services, thus their customers are already trained as such. Netflix now has to re-train their customers. We'll see if this affect them negatively or not.

The only people they will have to train are the people who have a subscription bought on the iPhone app, which is probably a small fraction of their user base. Everyone else, had Netflix before it was even an app on the iPhone. They already signed up in a subscription, so they don't need to learn anything new. They can just watch their movies on the iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc.

Why are people making a MOUNTIAN out of a mole hill about people having to subscribe from Netflix's website ONCE, they can still use the app the same way and never visit the website again.

 

[Morgenland]

I want Apple to continue to expand its media business. What do I care about Netflix.....
This is Macrumors, Netrumors is somewhere else.

 

[Moorepheus]

I signed up on a PC years ago and my subscription autobills so I don't see this move by Netflix as a big deal at all. Yes, some Apple purists here that supposedly won't shop at any store that doesn't take Apple Pay or subscribe to any service that doesn't go through iTunes may leave--but that's a tiny minority.

You're really gonna give up the number 1 streaming service in the world because you can't take 2 minutes to sign up in a browser once?

The killer here, is, nothing is going to change really. only new subscriptions (this includes people who once had one and left and come back) will have to be done on their websites. Those who already have an active subscription with Netflix will not see any changes. Again, Mountain out of a mole hill.

 

[justperry]

Lol what

Woosh

Edit: Guess what, he wasn't being sarcastic/joking, thought he was clearly being sarcastic, boy I was wrong.( See several posts after this one)

 

[convergent]

It's time for everyone to cancel Netflix. They are trying to steal from Apple. This is wrong on every level.

Its hard to tell if you are serious or being sarcastic. My view would be that Apple stole from Netflix,and Netflix is now just stealing it back. Its somewhat of a chess match. The market sorts out value over time. Apple is providing very little value in this equation and probably getting the lions share of profit from the 3 way relationship between Netflix, Apple, and the customer. Some in the thread have said that Apple is bringing their large customer base to the equation, so they should get more than a payment processor. I would argue this is not true because Netflix brand awareness is as high as Apple. There is no potential customer of Netflix that doesn't know about them, and subscribing directly with Netflix is simple and a one time event. Apple is driving this big services revenue without providing value, and over time its going to be hard for them to keep this up.

 

[Moorepheus]

The free market regulates best, i.e., if Apple charges too much to use their platforms, people won't develop for it (that's why Apple has paid out over $100 BILLION dollars to developers.) or companies like Netflix will only have off line sign up like Amazon did. The price isn't going to be set by your sense of how much Apple or Google or Amazon deserve.

Don't you mean, developers earned $100 billion, while apple took 30%(42.8b based on your numbers) Apple didn't pay anyone anything, they just handled the transactions and forwarded the earns to the developers.

 

[Bin Cook]

It's time for everyone to cancel Netflix. They are trying to steal from Apple. This is wrong on every level.

The stock holders have woken up.

 

[Moorepheus]

You don't need to blame them. All you need to do is to change and they will adjust. Apple does it all the time and customers adjusts so Netflix should do that.
This is not about greed, the only greed we can talk about here is that Apple takes almost 1/3 of your revenue.
And as i said before, I take better content and quality over anything so small as web browser signup vs in app.

You make a good point. Apple had the COURAGE to change (Head Phone Jack, 30 Pin to Lightning, Home Button, etc) and it was totally acceptable by Apple fan base (for the most part). Why is Netflix such a greedy company for changing as well. Just hate the double standard.

 

[dumastudetto]

Its hard to tell if you are serious or being sarcastic. My view would be that Apple stole from Netflix,and Netflix is now just stealing it back. Its somewhat of a chess match. The market sorts out value over time. Apple is providing very little value in this equation and probably getting the lions share of profit from the 3 way relationship between Netflix, Apple, and the customer. Some in the thread have said that Apple is bringing their large customer base to the equation, so they should get more than a payment processor. I would argue this is not true because Netflix brand awareness is as high as Apple. There is no potential customer of Netflix that doesn't know about them, and subscribing directly with Netflix is simple and a one time event. Apple is driving this big services revenue without providing value, and over time its going to be hard for them to keep this up.

Apple is bringing Netflix these customers. Apple legitimately deserves to get paid for every customer acquisition that occurs on its platforms.