Disney and Apple Are Splitting Over App Store Fees (msn.com) 17
If you want to sign up for a subscription to Hulu or Disney+, don't bother taking out your iPhone. Disney is now telling would-be customers to pay for subscriptions on Disney's own site, instead of on Apple's App Store -- though people who've already started paying for either service via Apple can keep doing that. From a report: The two companies are still working together on some projects. But the App Store split does represent a rift between two longtime partners, so it's definitely worth noting.
Disney's rationale is clear here: When customers sign up for Disney subscription services via Apple, Apple takes up to 15% of the monthly fees those services generate. And Disney CEO Bob Iger has made it clear that he doesn't want to pay that anymore. "We have to look at the way we're distributing," Iger said at an investor conference in May. "Unlike Netflix, we distribute largely through third-party app stores. There's obviously an advantage to that to some extent, but there's a cost to that, too. And we're looking at that."
Disney's rationale is clear here: When customers sign up for Disney subscription services via Apple, Apple takes up to 15% of the monthly fees those services generate. And Disney CEO Bob Iger has made it clear that he doesn't want to pay that anymore. "We have to look at the way we're distributing," Iger said at an investor conference in May. "Unlike Netflix, we distribute largely through third-party app stores. There's obviously an advantage to that to some extent, but there's a cost to that, too. And we're looking at that."
Surprised it took so long (Score:2)
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1 click cancel.
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They get off on being financially submissive to Apple
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No other company does this.
Bullshit.
Canceling a subscription purchased through Roku is arguably a little simpler. Canceling a subscription with Amazon, either their own services or third-party services, is also trivial. So is canceling a subscription purchased through Google Play.
In all of those cases, you'll find third-party subscriptions presented as a simple list in an obvious place. Canceling a subscription from there takes just a few seconds with something like a quick click, manage, cancel, confirm.
Apple has BY FAR the best experience.
How would you know? It sh
Re: Surprised it took so long (Score:2)
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I think that, until recently, part of Apple's license agreement was that you couldn't even mention external payment systems in your app. Basically, you couldn't let your own customers know that you could pay elsewhere.
That was the one concession that Epic got out of their law suit against Apple for the AppStore practices.
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Especially since they are hardly the first, and won't be the last.
Amazon, Netflix, Spotify and other already did this move a long time ago. Years ago for Amazon's Kindle app.
and disney takes like 99% of the gate at the movie (Score:2)
and disney takes like 99% of the gate at the movies!
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and disney takes like 99% of the gate at the movies!
Exactly! It's OK when Disney fleeces someone else but when someone cuts into The Mouse's cheese? Nope!
Never mind that Disney has been churning out over priced mediocre sequels while trying to bleed all creativity from their franchises. Never mind that Apple has more money than Scrooge McDuck. Never mind that both charge obscene amounts of money while not sharing the proceeds with their day-to-day workers.
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Disney also paid to produce the movie. They paid the animators, editors, voice actors, actual actors, set construction folks, camera / light / sound operators, paid for the studio time, paid for the edit bay time, paid for the writers, etc. This is a bad comparison.
Disney has their own digital distribution infrastructure. Why do they need to pay Apple for that?
Disney uses their own video distribution and streaming infrastructure. Why do they need to pay Apple for that?
Disney has their own marketing, whi
bit confusing (Score:3)
Although the outcome here is confusing. I guess competitors can't make their own app stores for iPhone, but can point people to other payment methods to avoid the apple tax.
https://apple.slashdot.org/sto... [slashdot.org]
Can they both lose? (Score:2)
If there's a way they can *both* lose out of this, I hope we can find it.
Wrote title. (Score:2)
Two corporations that always get their way are surprised the other won't let them get their way
That's the reality.