Apple Could Lose One Of Its Highest Grossing Ios Apps As Netflix Looks To Bypass Itunes Billing

Netflix is currently one of the highest-grossing iOS apps, thanks to a significant number of users paying their subscription through iTunes billing.

But that could be set to change as the streaming video service seeks to bypass iTunes for future subscription payments …

TechCrunch says that it has confirmed with Netflix that the company is currently running a test in a large number of countries.

Apple currently receives 30% of first-year Netflix subscriptions through the app, and 15% from the second year on. The loss of that income could be significant.

The full list of countries where the billing test is running is as follows: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and Thailand.

Apple and subscription-based services like Netflix and Spotify have long been frenemies – the App Store providing a source of new customers, but taking a significant cut in return. Apple switched from a flat rate 30% commission to one of 30% in year 1 and 15% in year 2 onward in an attempt to reduce tensions.

Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg