Netflix May Bypass iTunes Payment Method in 33 Countries

• Netflix might allow iPhone and iPad users the ability to bypass iTunes as a payment method when paying for their subscriptions.
• Netflix is currently bypassing iTunes payments until September 30 for iPhone and iPad users in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
• Users will be required to pay the streaming giant directly via the web browser instead of using iTunes.

Netflix users using iPhones or iPads from 33 countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America will not be able to renew their lapsed subscriptions until September 30. Instead, they will be required to head to Netflix’s payments portal and directly pay for their subscriptions. The move is a part of the streaming company’s attempt to bypass iTunes as a payments platform.

Apple users make up one of the biggest demographics for Netflix, and with the tech giant hitting $1 trillion in valuation, the streaming company definitely wants to take advantage. Netflix is already quite financially successful, and with the streaming company choosing to bypass iTunes payments, it can bypass the percentage taken by Apple for all payments towards the streaming subscription payments. Likewise, Netflix even made its Google Play Signup halted for new or rejoining customers from May 2018 as reported in its support blog post.

iTunes should be available for you. To have iTunes as your biller, you just have to sign up for Netflix on an iOS device. *JR

— Netflix CS (@Netflixhelps) August 2, 2018

The new changes were spotted by last week, and users on Twitter were also flagging the changes. The experiment is set to last two months and was officially confirmed today. Apple charges 30% for the first year of subscription fees and 15% for subsequent years, which is quite a substantial amount of money for Netflix to pay to the tech giant considering the large number of subscribers using iPhones and iPads. If the new payment bypass is successful, the changes will be made permanent in the 33 countries once the trial period ends.

Spotify has moved away from iTunes payments as well and has been quite successful so far. Bypassing digital markets is slowly becoming a trend for some of the biggest digital services. Fortnite has decided to skip the Google Play Store as well and will be offering the game for Android devices via its own website, allowing the popular game to sell its Battle Pass without paying Google a dime.

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