sandor

sdw2001 said:

digitol said:

I will never buy an Apple notched screen product. When Apple makes a non notched screen iPhone and laptop I will become a buyer once again. Would also be nice if Apple stops putting buttons across from each other on their iPhones. . . Such a terrible annoying design. 

I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a 14" MBP with notches.  It's a non-issue.  I forget it's even there.  

BrianJ said:

Kind of funny in that this is EXACTLY what the phone industry was doing before Apple got into the game.  'Subsidized' phones buried the cost of the phone into the monthly fees, and people could then go get new phones every 2 years.  Keeping the same old phone didn't get you a reduction in your phone bill, so it made sense to go out and get a new one.

It was a real struggle for carriers that had to explain to people that they couldn't just get another $10 phone when they broke theirs, and the full price was something much higher.  This is essentially exactly the same thing all over again!

davidw said:

sandor said:

davidw said:

sandor said:

tommikele said:

22july2013 said:

My opinion is that Netflix could make more money by lowering their monthly rate but prohibit account sharing (simultaneous streaming.) I would probably subscribe if they did that. If I had a family of twelve, I would probably like the account sharing surcharge, but I don't.

Just for testing, they could introduce an account type that was cheaper but blocked sharing. See how popular it would be.

...

Charge each user of a stream. If your account has four streams you pay four times $X then who cares who is using them. Fifth person tries to sign on, they can't. One price per stream.

This is, in fact, how Netflix charges - an amount of $$ per month gets you a certain number of simultaneous streams @ a certain quality level.

Why does Netflix need to make themselves the arbiter of family & existence locations as well?

I rent a car with 4 passenger seats.
The rental car company doesn't dictate to me who is allowed to sit in them.

That' not right. When you rent 1 car, all your passengers have to go where you go. And in most cases, only you can drive the car, unless you pay extra for another driver. But there is still only 1 car. That's would be like having 1 stream and all your guest sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, have to watch what you watch and someone else can only watch what they want to watch, after you're done.

But if you pay for 2 streams, someone on the sofa (like your son) that don't like want you're watching, can go watch something else in another room that have a TV. Or go to a friends home and watch something else on a mobile device or computer logged on to your account. What your son is not suppose to do, is log on to his friend's TV, with your account.   

Paying for 2 streams would be like you renting 2 cars. But when you pay for 2 streams, it's not twice as much. When you rent 2 cars, it would most likely be close to double the cost of renting 1 car. That would be like paying for two 1 stream accounts.

Yes, the rental car analogy is not 100%... 

But, in the end, the passengers' use of the vehicle are not dictated by the rental company, rather the driver (ostensibly the one paying the fee) dictates the use .

I could rent (or lease) one car & utilize it for transportation of all my neighbors & their families. 
I can meet a portion of their transportation needs with my access to a vehicle. 


If it traveled @ the speed of light, i could zip them around to college, vacation trips, a tent in the woods on the Appalachian trail, etc.
So yes, there are limitations to an analogy using 100+ year old technology.


Netflix is the one allowing multiple concurrent streams per logged in user. 
If they switch to a hardline stance of geo-blocking/device blocking, etc. it will be at their own competitive peril.

That's still not quite right. If the car rental agency say that you can't drive the rental car into Mexico without additional insurance, then you can't drive the rental car into Mexico without paying for the extra insurance, even if you are covered by your own auto insurance. With most rental cars, only the person renting the car can drive it. Unless one pays extra for another driver or at the least, any other drivers must be named on the rental agreement, before you signed it. If your next door neighbor is not on the rental agreement, you can not let him/her drive the rental car and not even allow him/her to drive it with you as a passenger.  

Then you have this ....

https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130872&page=1

There are rules that must be followed when you rent a car and you agreed to those rules when you signed the agreement (lease). No different than the rules Netflix subscribers must follow, that they agreed to them when they open an account. It doesn't mean that you have to always follow those rules and you might get away with it when you don't, but you can't complain if you get caught. The rules are based on how Netflix interprets them. Not how you think it aught to be.