An Apple owned Netflix scares me. I like the products I use and Apple tends to be a little more of a closed ecosystem. I'd hate to see how well (or not well) Apple would support the streaming or offline options that currently exist.
I don't necessarily want them to buy Netflix but I feel that they could have invested a lot of this money they are returning to shareholders via share buyback into funding to make more content. Netflix is going to spend $10-15 billion this year to make original shows and movies vs just $1 billion for Apple. So if Apple wants to go all-in on services business then they need to spend like one.
I feel like every year an analyst says Apple should buy something:
- Apple should by netflix and get into the streaming game(considering how much appleTV stinks this may be a good idea!)
- Apple should buy Disney, there is the synergy of two trusted brands in the entertainment/media space(Steve Jobs did own Pixar which Disney now owns)
- Apple should buy twitter, they can expand their news and reach a large connected audience.
Things I think Apple should do:
Buy a large email provider, they had a yearly $100 a year email subscription service but that was a flop, make it free and make it iOS exclusive(as an alternative to gmail).
Buy Spotify, given they have iTunes getting spotify would make sense, perhaps antitrust issues with this one.
As a Netflix customer and happy Apple non-customer, I'm scared to death of Apple buying Netflix. So much for openness and competition! So much for cross-platform support! And the worst thing is, the great mass of Apple ecosystem inhabitants wouldn't even see the problem.
I'm waiting for netflix to start cutting deals to stream shows the day after they air, a la Apple. I'd happily subscribe for $20/show to subsidize additional costs on netflix's side.
A lot of my friends and family are ready to give up their Netflix subs. We've seen most of what interests us. Apple on the other hand has unlimited supplies of money and more power to make deals with content providers.
Plus, Netflix isn’t even Apple’s customer. It’s actually kinda the other way around: Apple’s customers are what Netflix wants access to, as a source of potential Netflix customers.
I don't get why they don't just slowly ramp up this model to figure out how and if it works. I assume Netflix has troves of data on viewer preferences and what types of shows would work. Apple is just dumping half of Netflix's budget blindly into a bunch of shows.
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