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Netflix Is the Latest Company To Try Bypassing Apple's App Store (marketwatch.com) 71

Posted by BeauHD from the power-play dept.
Netflix is testing a way for users to register and pay for the streaming service while bypassing Apple's app store and hefty commission fees. MarketWatch reports: Netflix is looking into a new sign-up approach where users in some countries are no longer able to register for streaming service. They are being redirected to the mobile web version of the app and asked to enter payment details with Netflix directly. The test is running in 33 countries, not including the U.S., through the month of September, according to TechCrunch. This comes just months after Netflix in May made billing through Google Pay unavailable to new customers, though current subscribers that pay via Google Play can continue to do so until they cancel their accounts.
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Netflix Is the Latest Company To Try Bypassing Apple's App Store More

Netflix Is the Latest Company To Try Bypassing Apple's App Store

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  • Isn't that what HTML5 is for, so that streaming companies can build streaming services that run in the browser instead of install on end-user machines?

    • Streaming in a mobile browser is usually shit.

    • It was supposed to be, but the mobile processors are only powerful enough for that if you don't have advertising or other crapware running. You can't use the wifi radio to radar-track my cat's movements across the room to time blipverts for robotic cat boxes to play while the cat is pooping, and still have CPU cycles left over to render content. So the content needs to be pre-rendered, so the more important crapware can use the available resources.

  • Apple's business practices are shady at best (Score:5, Interesting)

    by chrisvdb ( 149510 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @07:34PM (#57183488)

    I have a startup which builds a web-based enterprise product. A year ago we launched a companion app that provides a fraction of the functionality of the desktop application, just enough to help our customers extract the key information they need when they're on the road.

    All of a sudden a few days Apple decides we have to implement in-app payments. I explained them that this is an enterprise product for an arcane industry and that our customers require quotations/invoices raised to their procurement department and would not pay several hundred to several thousand dollars through the app. They insist we have to implement in-app payments despite not helping our customers nor our business. We don't have automated billing at all, not even on our desktop product. The requested change means months of development for no value (at this point).

    No way to appeal. We can currently not update our app and if we don't implement in-app payments in an unspecified time our current version will be pulled too.

    Thanks, Apple.

    • Couldn't you just drop in a button that links to the payment API and hide it somewhere unobtrusive like the "about" menu? Nobody will ever use it but that's kinda the point, right?

      I'm not an app developer but I don't see why this would take months of development. Seems like it shouldn't take more than a couple hours tops.

      (also please note that I'm not defending apple; they're obviously being dicks)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        I would suggest taking it one step further, implement it broken, let your customers know it is broken, and list it "Apple demanded in app payment system that does not work" and I would suggest putting the whole issue through the legal system. This sounds as shonky as fuck and clearly they are just trying it on, until someone sets the legal hounds on them. Their first mistake, trying to discuss the issue with Apple, once they did that, Apple knew they had them over a barrel.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by mridoni ( 228377 )

        Leaving aside the technicalities of what chrisvdb could do with his app, I can attest that the review process is hell: you are usually talking (o writing to) to some moron who doesn't understand the implications of what they're asking, especially when you're dealing with corner cases. I had the same problem one year ago: my app is basically used in a room setting together with other apps of its kind to perform some activities (there are notifications exchanged among the apps). The Apple representative kept

    • Reason apple wants to force you to in-app purchases is then they get to take a cut of your business.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Aighearach ( 97333 )

      They're not for business tools, Apple is toys for rich kids who are too cool to use commoner toys.

    • Re:Apple's business practices are shady at best (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @10:06PM (#57184016)

      No way to appeal.

      Appealing is futile. Instead, just make a small innocuous change, recompile, and resubmit the app. The chance of getting the same reviewer is small.

    • As someone not in the current "mobile app" market, help me to understand....
      For Apple apps specifically, is there any way to have apps available outside of Apple's store? I know that on Android, one can bypass the Google store. Is there NO other way to install an iPhone app for Apple?

      If not, again being outside this world, I'd have to give VERY serious consideration to making my app "Android-only".
      Serious question here as any business model that relies on paying 30% of revenues for, essentially, nothing m

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        As someone not in the current "mobile app" market, help me to understand....
        For Apple apps specifically, is there any way to have apps available outside of Apple's store? I know that on Android, one can bypass the Google store. Is there NO other way to install an iPhone app for Apple?

        If not, again being outside this world, I'd have to give VERY serious consideration to making my app "Android-only".
        Serious question here as any business model that relies on paying 30% of revenues for, essentially, nothing mak

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nnull ( 1148259 )
      The walled garden approach has become a huge hindrance, especially when the mafia controls it. Every time I see a new Android or Apple device, the more I don't want it when I see how more locked down the device is after every release. Developing apps for these devices is no longer fun.
    • You should have read the terms and conditions.
    • Look, it's simple. If you can purchase things that go on your device through the app, then you have to go through the App Store. If you can purchase outside of the app, and your app doesn't link to the outside payment, then you don't need it.

      You only need in-app payments for in-app sales. Remove the in-app sales.
  • Credit cards companies take between 3 to 5%. Apple and Google take 15%, and it used to be 30% until 2016!
    • Credit card fees are only about 2%-2.5% for most small businesses. Larger corporations may be able to get below 2%. If you're paying above 3%, either you haven't bothered to get quotes from multiple processing companies, or your volume of credit card orders is extremely low.

      I still think 2% is high for the minimal amount of work that's involved handling online payments. (Credit card companies have successfully shifted the cost of fraud onto merchants. And their exorbitant interest rates pay for delin

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Credit card fees are only about 2%-2.5% for most small businesses. Larger corporations may be able to get below 2%. If you're paying above 3%, either you haven't bothered to get quotes from multiple processing companies, or your volume of credit card orders is extremely low.

        I still think 2% is high for the minimal amount of work that's involved handling online payments. (Credit card companies have successfully shifted the cost of fraud onto merchants. And their exorbitant interest rates pay for delinquent c

    • Apple and Google both take 30%, not 15%.

  • They're not bypassing the app store (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mveloso ( 325617 ) on Thursday August 23, 2018 @07:55PM (#57183588)

    They're not bypassing the app store, they're bypassing the in-app payment infrastructure.

    Of course you can do it. Amazon's been doing that since the kindle app came out.

  • I've been avoiding expensive apps and music for years by avoiding Apple and iTunes completely.

  • Couldn't they just increase the cost of purchases through apple's payment system to cover the fees, and display the fee as a line-item in the checkout page with a link to the web payment form? I imagine it's probably against Apple's TOS to do this, but they could maybe sneak it in as a time delay after the app is reviewed. Netflix is big enough that I have a hard time seeing Apple kick them off the store...

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by gnasher719 ( 869701 )
      I develop an app that is free, but requires companies to pay for an expensive license. It's easy. The app is free. The customer buys a license for 100 users which allows them to print 100 invitation codes. To use the app, the user downloads the free app and enters the invitation code. For reviews, we give Apple two invitation codes (because the app is not very useful for a single user).

      The important thing where the OP probably failed is that the app never asks for money, and never links you to any websit
    • Facebook just got their VPN app removed from the store. As you would have expected, spying on their users, which is _really_ what you expect from a VPN. Not.

  • Offer incentives not to register through Apple.

  • The more companies and individuals that give the middle finger to 'App Stores' and their kin, the sooner they will go away. Abominations.

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