Netflix Wants to Avoid Paying the Apple Tax
Looks like Netflix, one of the highest grossing apps on the App Store, no longer wants to give its money to Apple. The company is testing a new sign-up process for Netflix on iOS that no longer uses iTunes for its subscription service, reports TechCrunch.
The company has started testing the new payment method in 33 countries around Europe, Latin America, and Asia where users can no longer use iTunes to pay for Netflix. Instead, Netflix takes users to its mobile website to let users pay for its service directly with the company. This way, Netflix no longer needs to give a 30% cut in the first year of subscription to Apple, and the 15% cut after the first year.
Netflix recently stopped letting Android users sign-up for its service through the Google Play Store, once again avoiding the need to pay a fee to Google. Netflix isn’t the only company taking this approach — Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular game, isn’t available through the Google Play Store as its maker Epic Games doesn’t want to pay a 30% cut on in-app purchases to Google.
Netflix is only testing the new payment method on iOS, and it’s not finalised change — at least for now. It will be interesting to see whether Apple fires back at Netflix, though. Netflix is ironically featured on Apple’s official website that documents Subscriptions on the App Store, and both the companies are very close to competing with each other as well. Keep in mind, Apple is believed to have invested more than a billion on its own original TV shows, so it could very well be getting ready to take on Netflix in no time.