Yea, legally it’s clear Apple can charge whatever they want. The actual leverage large companies have is by not having their Apps on iOS Apple may lose customers.
But at this point I doubt Netflix is willing to risk it as there is simply to many streaming options. However, Netflix doesn’t need to use IAP so for them it’s a question of increased conversions with IAP rather than dropping the platform. Assuming their also saving a little on CC processing fees a 15% cut is probably a reasonable deal for increasing the number of Netflix customers and quite a bit of revenue for Apple.
> But at this point I doubt Netflix is willing to risk it as there is simply to many streaming options.
Well, but as you point out, they aren't using IAP at the moment so there's nothing to risk.
An interesting question is what would happen if Apple decided to play hardball and demand Netflix use IAP again, with no external option, similar to what is required for video games. Honestly, my money would be on Netflix pulling out of iOS.
If I'm understanding the outcome of the Epic case that these documents came to light from, that kind of hardball would probably go pretty poorly. While Apple mostly won the case, between this and a case in South Korea, it's pretty clear they're going to be required to allow some kind of linking for external account management of "reader apps," which they classify Netflix as.
Personally, I suspect if Apple had not gone the ridiculously overreaching "we want a cut of every purchase of digital goods/services when the purchase occurs in any app on iOS" route, and had let Netflix and Amazon and anyone doing "reader apps" at least link out from the very beginning (and more reasonably, allow them to -- gasp! -- load a web view to purchase/manage subscriptions, buy ebooks, etc.), it would have saved an awful lot of heartache.
Well, that and just go with a 15% cut across the board rather than 30%.
Well, all of that and also include at least streaming game services in their quirky definition of "reader apps".
Are you sure about game subscriptions? They don’t require Blizzard to use IAP for their MMO related apps. These could do a few in game actions, so there is some flexibility.
Are those Blizzard apps on iOS, or on the Mac? As far as I know, on iOS, you have to offer in-app purchases for subscriptions, unless you meet specific criteria -- you may be able to offer subscriptions outside IAP in addition, but you need to let people buy in the app. (On the Mac, though, none of this really applies.)
Moreover, Netflix is an app that would work perfectly fine in the browser. Netflix was providing a native app as a courtesy to the customer, not the other way around. Most Netflix subscribers I know would probably shake their fist at Apple and God and then go back to binging Friends in Safari.
But at this point I doubt Netflix is willing to risk it as there is simply to many streaming options. However, Netflix doesn’t need to use IAP so for them it’s a question of increased conversions with IAP rather than dropping the platform. Assuming their also saving a little on CC processing fees a 15% cut is probably a reasonable deal for increasing the number of Netflix customers and quite a bit of revenue for Apple.