If you’ve been using your ex-girlfriend’s parents’ Netflix password for years, there’s a dark day coming. The video streaming service says it’s going to crack down on the 100 million households around the world using another household’s account.
But the company is also considering a cheaper, ad-supported option. That might attract people about to be cut off.
Apple on Wednesday confirmed a significant change to its App Store policy that finally allows “reader” apps like Netflix and Spotify to link to their own websites for things like creating and managing accounts.
Until now, including an external link for this kind of purpose was prohibited, and would have resulted in App Store expulsion. That meant a poor user experience for a whole bunch of popular services on iPhone and iPad.
That’s finally changing, but of course, Apple plans to make it as complicated as possible for developers to enjoy it.
Netflix on Wednesday confirmed new measures to crack down on the sharing of user accounts between multiple households. But rather than putting a stop to it, the company is adding a new “sub account” option for a small fee.
Sharing accounts between households, which goes against Netflix’s terms of service, is “impacting out ability to invest in great new TV and films for out members,” the company said.
Apple TV+ garners 5% of the U.S. streaming video market, according to a company that follows the industry. While that makes Apple TV+ a small player, the service started 2021 with just a 3% share, so the year saw significant growth.
Its two largest rivals, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, saw drops in their shares of the streaming market in 2021.
Netflix has raised its prices for subscribers in the United States and Canada so that it “can continue to offer a wide variety of quality entertainment options.”
Its premium plan, which offers 4K content, is now $19.99 a month. The company’s most affordable subscription, which allows only one stream at a time, is up to $9.99 a month, making it the most expensive video service.
Netflix may be forced to release its subscription games as individual downloads on the App Store to comply with Apple’s rules. Other subscription services, such as GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, aren’t allowed on the App Store.
It is believed users will still be able to discover and launch titles through the main Netflix app, but they’ll need to download each one first.
Netflix’s promised mobile game service launches Wednesday. It’s initially only for Android but the company promises a version for iPhone and iPad is “on the way.”
It will launch with five downloadable games available to everyone with a Netflix subscription. At no extra cost.
Almost every video streaming service except Apple TV+ is selling your data to third-party companies and tracking your viewing habits for targeted ads. A new report from Common Sense Media exposes the loose privacy policies employed by most streaming providers, including Amazon and Netflix.
“Many viewers know that free streaming apps are most likely selling their personal information, but most viewers may not know that most paid sub‐ scription streaming apps are also selling users’ data,” warns the report.
Netflix has begun rolling out Spatial Audio support. This lets the streaming service offer a surround sound-like experience but without all the speakers. Currently, it requires AirPods Pro or AirPods Max but that’ll change soon.
And Netflix beat out Apple TV in offering the feature.
Netflix seemingly isn’t content to compete with Apple (spoiler: it’s winning) over streaming video subscription services only. The media giant has now confirmed that it is planning to launch an Apple Arcade rival — and at no extra cost to its subscribers.
In a letter to shareholders, Netflix noted that it is still “in the early stages of the initiative,” but that it views it as a major piece of the puzzle in terms of dominating the entertainment landscape.
A year and a half in, Apple TV+ remains something of a black box. Ever since the streaming video service’s launch in November 2019, Cupertino has refused to reveal hard data about just how well Apple TV+ is doing.
In some respects, the future looks promising. Apple TV+ continues to add high-profile projects to its production queue. Apple TV+ shows and movies continue to rack up awards. And upcoming originals like an epic sci-fi adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and the second season of surprise hit Ted Lasso are generating buzz.
Plus, with the original one-year free trials ending — and new free Apple TV+ trials slashed to just three months — the $4.99-a-month streaming service seems increasingly confident about its value proposition for viewers.
Still, the Apple TV+ library continues to be dwarfed by rivals like Netflix and Disney+.
So what does the future hold? And what does “success” look like for Apple TV+ anyway? Cult of Mac asked the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a pseudonymous entertainment executive who writes about the business, how Apple TV+ is faring and what to expect next. His responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
Netflix is exploring an expansion into online gaming with a brand-new service much like Apple Arcade, according to new reports.
The service could see subscribers paying a monthly fee for unlimited access to a catalog of titles. However, sources familiar with the situation say that plans are “very much in flux” as things stand.
The latest insider info brought to light by the Epic Games v. Apple trial is the lengths the Mac-maker went to convince Netflix to continue taking subscriptions in its iPhone/iPad app. But Netflix stopped anyway, and Apple took no action.
When Epic Games tried to do something similar, Apple banned all its software from the App Store.
Apple TV+ may be only a bit-player in the streaming wars, but on a pound-for-pound quality basis, it could actually be outperforming its competitors.
That’s according to a new study by Self Financial, which compared TV and movie data from Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and Apple TV+ to find out which offered the best quality viewing experience.
Apple hasn’t yet provided details of the subscriber numbers for Apple TV+. However, based on analysis it would be highly surprising if Apple’s not losing a whole lot of money on the service.
The Apple Car really is on the drawing board at Cupertino, but no one outside the company knows what it’ll look like. Vanarama came up with a concept design.
And it didn’t stop there. Its designers had fun imagining vehicles designed by Netflix, Peloton, Airbnb and Zoom if these other Big Tech companies got into the market.
YouTube is now officially dead on the third-generation Apple TV. Users who attempt to watch the app will be greeted by an error message that confirms Apple’s aging hardware is no longer supported.
That’s hardly surprising given that the third-generation Apple TV is close to a decade old now. But there is a workaround (sort of) for those who still want to watch their favorite YouTube channels on the big screen.
Netflix subscribers with a few minutes to kill and an iPhone can tune into a new feed called Fast Laughs starting on Wednesday. These are short clips drawn from the streaming service’s shows and stand-up comedy specials.
Netflix added a new wrinkle to suggesting new shows for its viewers. Its app can go ahead and download recommended shows onto your handset before you even know about them so they’re ready to watch.
Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph has some advice for Apple. He thinks the company needs to really commit by spending more money on content for Apple TV+ to successfully compete in the streaming market.
Is your internet connection fit for video streaming? Or is your service provider throttling you every time you attempt to watch your favorite movies and TV shows? It’s now easy to find out with just your iPhone.
We’ll show you how.
Netflix could spend an estimated $19.03 billion on video content in 2021, data presented by investment bank Bankr suggests.
That would be an increase of 10% from the estimated $17.3 billion it spent this year. It’s also a massive ramp-up from the $2.4 billion Netflix spent in 2013 when it started moving into original productions with shows like House of Cards.
Netflix made a selection of its popular shows and movies available for free over the weekend. The freebies include hit sci-fi show Stranger Things, Boss Baby: Back in Business and several more.
Watching these Netflix originals doesn’t require signing up with streaming service — but for some strange reason, they can’t be viewed on an iPhone.
Apple’s market cap has surged by $600 billion in the past 20 days. That’s nearly the equivalent of Tesla’s $394 billion and Netflix’s $218 billion market caps combined, Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart points out on Twitter.
The deal to bring legendary director Martin Scorsese’s future films to Apple TV+ sounds like a gift for movie fans who subscribe to the streaming service.
But signing Scorsese and other top filmmakers could turn out to be a shrewd and self-serving move that benefits Apple, too. Focusing on films crafted by the world’s top directors could differentiate the fledgling Apple TV+ from dominant rivals like Netflix. And it looks like Apple might be timing the market perfectly.