MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Apple stops free Ipad newspaper subscriptions

fjtorres · 01-15-2011, 11:34 AM

This is actually a great development.
Dedicated site-access apps exist to make up for the deficiencies--relative to the full, open web--of the iphone formfactor and its browser. Especially where it comes to rich, interactive sites that rely on Flash. With Apple banning first Flash and now free access-apps, the publishers really only have one option to provide unified subscriptions to their content: reworking their websites with HTML5.
Once enough publishers do so, the rest will have to follow suit so the likely result of this is to accelerate HTML5 adoption and put an end altogether to site-access apps. For the publishers it means lower costs since they no longer have to code, distribute and support even one app, much less 4 or 5 for iOS, Android, Symbian, Blackberry, WP7 etc. It also means the recover control of the customer relationship from Apple.
For users it means the pubishers have no excuse for *not* providing unified cross-platform access subscriptions.
So the publishers win and the customers win.
That's a good thing, no?

01-15-2011, 11:34 AM	#13
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	This is actually a great development. Dedicated site-access apps exist to make up for the deficiencies--relative to the full, open web--of the iphone formfactor and its browser. Especially where it comes to rich, interactive sites that rely on Flash. With Apple banning first Flash and now free access-apps, the publishers really only have one option to provide unified subscriptions to their content: reworking their websites with HTML5. Once enough publishers do so, the rest will have to follow suit so the likely result of this is to accelerate HTML5 adoption and put an end altogether to site-access apps. For the publishers it means lower costs since they no longer have to code, distribute and support even one app, much less 4 or 5 for iOS, Android, Symbian, Blackberry, WP7 etc. It also means the recover control of the customer relationship from Apple. For users it means the pubishers have no excuse for not providing unified cross-platform access subscriptions. So the publishers win and the customers win. That's a good thing, no?