rogifan_new

chasm said:

As I've mentioned before -- the reason Apple doesn't raise the free storage (though I join you all in hoping for a bit more in the near future, like 10GB) is because **Apple is the only one that doesn't supplement the cost with personal data collection or ad revenue**. Thus, it makes zero sense for them to be generous with the free tier, though I agree with those who say 5GB is barely adequate even for a single device backup anymore. 10GB would be a reasonable amount; anything more than that would be surprising.

What I'd like to see is a good-better-best and family tiers. Something like the current 50GB for $1, 200GB for $3, but add 500GB for $5. That would cover most individual users, but for the rest: family tier would be as it is now, 2TB for $10.

(addendum: Microsoft also doesn't monetize their free tier -- apart from nagging you to buy Office 365 -- as far as I know. Their free tier is 5GB, same as Apple. For the same reason.)

claire1 said:

CheeseFreeze said:

Apple’s commission is ridiculous. A 30/70 model is unsustainable for many companies and I totally understand why the likes of Spotify and Netflix don’t want it.
The problem is that they’ll have to deal with a less than favorable user experience by not having a sign up in-app, but that’s really Apple’s fault and not theirs.

Apple Pay for physical purchases is way more reasonable for subscriptions, or say 90/10 from the get go. 

I wish the EU would fight Apple on this. Having two ecosystems out there that abuse their market share is a problem. At some point an ecosystem is so big it directly influences economy on a macro scale. This is not Apple from the 90s anymore. It’s a trillion dollar company that dictates how millions of apps are monetized. They are the gatekeepers. They control information, news, everything.  

Apple delivered me over $5M in revenues. I wish that was profit though; net profit was actually not that high. They enabled developers like me. But at the same time they allowed an influx of millions of apps to be sold for $0 and changed the perception of value of content. The only way to make money is through IAPs now and offer the game for free, and to corrupt gameplay for monetization schemes. Their practices causes the charts to be dominated by apps that make millions a day and the chart never changes because these devs buy their way to the charts. It’s sickening. 

I sincerely hope that the future platform, whatever OS it is, embraces decentralized blockchain based app stores where the rules are rewritten in favor of developers. No marketing bullshit but actually empower devs to monetize properly. 

Waahhh Waahhhh Wahhhh Apple should  develop everything for ME and give all their money to ME!

And of course it's Apple's fault that developers put free games on the App Store. My neighbors dog ran away, that also is Apples fault!!

tmay said:

mac_128 said:

OK, I’ll be the guy who points out, and likely take the abuse, that Apple streaming devices would be a lot less attractive if they did not have access to Netflix. There’s two sides to this issue, and neither is very pretty. Apple wanting to take a cut of a subscription service which does need their platform to succeed is kind of ridiculous. Netflix developed the iOS and tvOS app primarily for the convenience of their Apple customers, not to leverage the Apple platform to increase their visibility. If I couldn’t get Netflix on my Apple TV, I probably wouldn’t have bought one, and gone with a Roku instead, which is how I handled Amazon Prime (literally switching boxes to watch Prime content, and some others). We’ve already seen this play out with Amazon pulling the Apple TV from their website because it didn’t offer a Prime App, which was entirely up to them to provide or not, likely over similar issues, which is why we likely now have an Prime app that doesn’t allow in app purchases. Fortunately, this is not a major issue for me.  Going to the Amazon app with one click purchasing is no more difficult than buying it in app.

If by streaming devices, you mean iOS and tvOS devices, than I don't disagree that there would be some reduced sales with that scenario. At the same time, Netflix would see greatly reduced revenues in that scenario, and open the door to competitors, of which their are many. 

Apple customers are just too valuable to ignore for long, or to attempt to leverage to other devices.

Exactly. If Netflix wasn't on Apple TV, I would have gotten Hulu instead. This is probably what he mean by "neither is very pretty". Or he was describing his ugly Roku box.

mbenz1962 said:

nunzy said:

Netflix should pay Apple every time somebody uses an Apple product to watch Netflix. Every time.

They use loopholes to screw Apple. That's not fair to any of us.

Either you meant to say "every time someone uses and Apple product to subscribe to Nextflix" or I missed your /s tag, because someone paying apple a per stream commission would be nuts. Like Seankill said:

seankill said:

rogifan_new said:

I think the whole Apple as a marketplace and what cut should they get is a fascinating discussion. For those that argue these commissions are legit because Apple’s providing access to a billion consumers willing to spend money etc. then why does Apple allow free apps in the App Store? Why shouldn’t every app cost something and Apple gets a percentage of the sale? And if we’re talking customer acquistion, couldn’t one make the case that Uber and Lyft owe their success to Apple/iOS more than Netflix? Yet Apple doesn’t take a cut of Uber and Lyft transactions.

Why stop there? Should PC manufacturers get a cut for all the stuff bought on their computers? Or how about the IP made on their computers?

I only think Apple should get a cut if their services are used, how it currently is. I don’t see any issues with the Apps, say Netflix, routing the user through a web browser to sign up outside of Apples services. Thus, Apple should get nothing. 

No TV manufacturers are getting a cut per showing if someone watches a certain network's programming on their set.  No radio manufacturers are getting a cut per hour when you listen to a certain channel with your head unit.  

I do think Apple should get some kind of commission for linking/facilitating the subscription initially, but I don't think 30% for a year is fair and obviously neither do Netflix, Spotify and a few other big players.  Apple should get a bigger cut initially, maybe the first (paid) month or quarter maximum and then a cut of subscription pricing (5-10%) for ongoing costs (payment processing, App hosting, support, etc.)  The Netflix app is pretty small (not even 100MB) and the streaming traffic isn't running over Apple's servers, so the actual costs to Apple for handling this App are pretty low.  

For the big players, the payoff for the "Marketing Service" that they get included in their 30% is pretty moot.  Everyone and their dog has heard of Netflix in the US.  Perhaps Apple could have a tiered system per country storefront.  For example, Apps with a monthly subscription revenue of $1 million or less are in the 30%/15% tier (with the larger percent cut being limited to 1-3 months) and get marketing and Highlights and feature spots in the App Store.  For Apps $5 million or less to $1 million 20%/10% and so on so that the bigger the company behind the app, the less they would pay as a percent and consequently the less Apple could waste time in marketing apps that everyone already has.  No one needs an Ad for Netflix in the US App Store.  Maybe in other countries Netflix could benefit from some marketing boost according to their revenue numbers and consequently pay more via their tier in that storefront and receive the appropriate marketing and other features.

Ah, let the big guys get away from exploiting you and screw the little guy.

9secondkox2 said:

rogifan_new said:

I think the whole Apple as a marketplace and what cut should they get is a fascinating discussion. For those that argue these commissions are legit because Apple’s providing access to a billion consumers willing to spend money etc. then why does Apple allow free apps in the App Store? Why shouldn’t every app cost something and Apple gets a percentage of the sale? And if we’re talking customer acquistion, couldn’t one make the case that Uber and Lyft owe their success to Apple/iOS more than Netflix? Yet Apple doesn’t take a cut of Uber and Lyft transactions.

rogifan_new said:

I think the whole Apple as a marketplace and what cut should they get is a fascinating discussion. For those that argue these commissions are legit because Apple’s providing access to a billion consumers willing to spend money etc. then why does Apple allow free apps in the App Store? Why shouldn’t every app cost something and Apple gets a percentage of the sale? And if we’re talking customer acquistion, couldn’t one make the case that Uber and Lyft owe their success to Apple/iOS more than Netflix? Yet Apple doesn’t take a cut of Uber and Lyft transactions.

Apple isn’t providing access. Consumers provide the access. Apple simply provides a very well done and truested MEANS means of access - the App Store. But to force a company making an app to hand over so much of their hard earned money for the “privilege” of having their app available is kind of messed up. Especially when their is no real alternative. The Mac App Store is the better way as users have the option of going through apples curated (and safer) route, or choosing to go direct via some other source. 

However, on a phone or tablet, it does make more sense to lock things down a bit more for security reasons. But to say that an app dev should pay for access is like saying windows PC program makers should have been doing that since windows held such a dominant command of the market at one point.

Consumers don't provide access that's just ridiculous. I don't have to ask my neighbor who owns an iPad permission to watch Netflix. I found Spotify and others by Apples heavy and free promotion of these apps. Apple made Spotify the monster it is today. ACCESS.

"But to force a company making an app to hand over so much of their hard earned money for the “privilege” of having their app available is kind of messed up."

Right because the billions that went into developing iPhone, Mac, iPad, Watch, App Store, iOS, iTunes, Apple Music etc. wasn't hard work at all....

"Especially when their is no real alternative. "
*FACEPALM*...... You just contradicted yourself. This is EXACTLY why Apple deserves a cut for their hard work.
If Netflix doesn't like it maybe they should develop their own phone, computers, OSes, streaming boxes, store front etc.

ericthehalfbee said:

seankill said:

rogifan_new said:

I think the whole Apple as a marketplace and what cut should they get is a fascinating discussion. For those that argue these commissions are legit because Apple’s providing access to a billion consumers willing to spend money etc. then why does Apple allow free apps in the App Store? Why shouldn’t every app cost something and Apple gets a percentage of the sale? And if we’re talking customer acquistion, couldn’t one make the case that Uber and Lyft owe their success to Apple/iOS more than Netflix? Yet Apple doesn’t take a cut of Uber and Lyft transactions.

Apps like netflix are necessary for the iPhone to succeed. 

Ecosystems like iOS are necessary for Apps to succeed.

FTFY.

seanismorris said:

Apple released the HomePod with its software half baked.

The numbers wer me impressive considering.

The best thing about the HomePod is it will force Apple to get serious about Siri...