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Netflix Permanently Pulls iTunes Billing For New and Returning Users (venturebeat.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Netflix is further distancing itself from Apple's 15% iTunes tax bracket. Earlier this year, the streaming giant enabled iOS users in more than two dozen markets to bypass the iTunes payment method as part of an experiment. The company now tells VentureBeat that it has concluded the experiment and has incorporated the change globally. "We no longer support iTunes as a method of payment for new members," a Netflix spokesperson told VentureBeat. Existing members, however, can continue to use iTunes as a method of payment, the spokesperson added. Additionally, the support rep added that customers who are rejoining Netflix using an iOS device, after having canceled payment for at least one month, also won't be able to use iTunes billing. The move, which will allow Netflix to keep all proceeds from its new paying iPhone and iPad customers, underscores the tension between developers and the marquee distributors of mobile apps -- Apple and Google.
Netflix has a name for itself. 15% is way too much for a service with that much name behind it.
For the small company, paying with iTunes is probably a safer bet, as they can bank their payments behind Apples goodwill (This is an accounting goodwill, not charitable goodwill). Customers know Apple payments and more or less trust it is secure or at least if it goes too wrong a big company can backup the losses. But for Netflix this isn't the case. I have just as much trust giving Netflix my Credit Card number as I do giving it to Apple.
Apple should realize that and probably give them a discount on their fee amount, as the key service they would be offering Netflix would be just payment option convince, which would probably put it in the 5% Territory.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Wouldn't it be great if hardware manufacturers and digital content creators were separate businesses?
Wouldn't it be great if hardware manufacturers and digital content creators were separate businesses?
Apple's not new to it, though.
Back in the day, a Polaroid Camera was dirt cheap,
What was expensive was the Polaroid film - Because Polaroid wasn't in the camera business - They were in the film business, and you could only put Polaroid film in a Polaroid camera.
Same reason Kodak ignored the digital camera business, even though they held the patents. Kodak was a film company, not a camera company.
It varies from Stste to State, so it depends on where you live:
Eleven states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas—and Puerto Rico have laws that prohibit merchants from charging consumers with surcharges on credit card transactions.
Ten states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oklahoma, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming—and Puerto Rico have laws that allow merchants to give discounts to encourage consumers to use forms of payment other than credit or debit cards.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Cash has to be counted - employee time is not free.
Cash is a theft magnet (both from employees and robberies) - safes, cameras & other security measures are not free.
You have to have enough cash on hand to make change. You are constantly getting small denominations and depositing large denominations. Employee time to go to the bank is not free. Armored car delivery (if you are not in an area where it is safe to send employees to the bank) is not free.
Credit cards can reconcile automatically. They deposit in your account directly. There is no risk of theft of credit card receipts. For many businesses, that 2% is a bargain.
Just FYI: cash is considerably more expensive than credit cards once you account for security. A better comparison is accepting Visa and Amex without charging more for the latter.