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Comment by madeofpalk | Hacker News Reader

You cannot sign up for Netlifx on an iPhone, because Netflix either must make 30% less giving that cut to Apple, or charge 30% more.

This is even more egregious when it comes to Spotify, which is unable to compete evenly with Apple Music. I wonder if Apple Music has to give away 30% of it's revenue to a payment processor....

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Okay, but I can see the price of Netflix and Spotify. Or are the prices different on iPhone? I don't have one, so I'm only going on what you're saying.

No, the impact of Apple's rules is that you cannot see the price of Netflix in the Netflix app, because Netflix doesn't want to use Apple's IAP and give them whatever % cut.

If Netflix did offer in-app subscription (through Apple), and charged it at a higher rate to account for Apple's cut, it would be forbidden from telling it's more expensive because Apple takes a cut, or that it's available for cheaper on their website. Apple even forbids Netflix emailing their customer after signup telling them it's cheaper on their website.

Okay - but I'm genuinely struggling to see an example. Is the worst symptom of this issue that I'm sent to sign up on an open platform like the Web?

From my understanding (I also don't have an iPhone), you're not sent anywhere, because Netflix were forbidden from telling you to go sign up on their website. There was just no sign up button, and an implicit assumption that you would somehow figure out that you need to open up netflix.com in the browser and subscribe there.

I think that has changed now for Netflix in particular, but not for some other types of apps?

No, that's called steering and it would be perfectly fine. But apple doesn't allow that, and that's what the EU's major complaint is about. So the worst case is that you have no competition, which is the definition of anticompetitive

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