Quote:
Originally Posted by Horemheb
I know I should have been more specific. 
So the trick here is that Apple wants to screw not only Apple customers (who as you say do have a choice) but all other customers who consume digital content. That's because if Apple succeeds then ALL prices will go up because Apple demands a price in AppStore not higher than outside. The only solution to that is to increase all prices outside as well and thus covering Apple's cut.
You are right but according to the aboves it is like other people deal with scorpions and you get stung. |
Why would letting Apple toss out competitors from their domain affect the rest of us?
Placating Apple and caving in to their extortion *would* result in higher prices outside the iPxxx (they *are* demandingexternal prices match iPxxx pricing) but if the competitors ignore Apple's demands and change nothing then they'll only be doing what they would've done anyway; compete. Which means better catalogs, better service, and cheaper pricing.
Doing nothing results in one of several things:
1- Apple throws out the apps.
2- Apple "clarifies" the rules back to the old status quo. (Yeah, right!)
3- Apple ignores the new rules for everything except magazine and newspapers subscriptions.
Now, if Apple throws out competing apps, the most likely scenario is iPxxx owners will simply buy their books and content from Apple.
Some will whine but nobody will bell the cat.
Somewhat likely, some east Texas shyster will run a class-action lawsuit.
Less likely, some aspiring political hack in a statehouse will announce an investigation into possible anti-competitive practices.
Even less likely, some bureaucrat will notice and start up an investigation.
Either way, Apple gets away with it. They can stall any investigation for years and their fans will support them to the hilt. Nothing will happen.
It's a can't lose move for Apple, really.
Their customers don't care.
The only way the "rest of us" non-hip, non-elite plebes get impacted by this is if Apple is *so important* to the book and streaming and publishing industries that *all* the players would rather raise their prices to meet Apple's demands so that Apple can have prices 30% lower than they do, thereby handing their market to Apple.
The move is then a win-win for Apple and a lose-lose for everybody else.
Only one problem in that scenario: all it takes is *one* sneaky player that refuses to BOGU for Apple. (C.F. Random House vis-a-vis Agency Pricing and iBooks.)
It's like the classic Prisoner's Dillema in reverse:
If *everybody* caves in, everybody loses to Apple. But if everybody but one caves in, the one that *doesn't* loses access to the oh-so-important iOS market but gets to rule everything else.
Now, I don't know about Kobo or B&N or anybody else on the media side, but I'm thinking Amazon and Netflix would both be very happy with that last scenario. A rational read of actual sales numbers (as opposed to media mindshare) shows that there is more money to be made outside the iOS tyranny than inside it.
So, again: smart move is to do nothing.
Apple's not bluffing.
But when faced with a lose-lose game, the only smart move is not to play.
In this case, the smart move is not to comply or fight or even actively pull out.
Just let Apple kick you out and see what happens then.