[Crowl]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I think a lot of folks here plain just don’t understand the importance of having the right retail channel. It is vital for the success of a business. Businessmen understand that, which is why they are happy to pay for access to the right retail channel .And Apple has proven to be an excellent retail channel, which is why merchants are fighting to get on the IOS platform and why developers are fighting to jump through hoops to get into the App Store.

It stops becoming a good platform when it costs companies money every time they make a sale on that platform and your continued existence on the platform leads to higher sales of that platform and thus higher losses for yourself, that isn't a business model it is a suicide note.

A lot of people think middlemen like Apple “add nothing” to a business. Just make a good product and people will find their way to the business. That’s just dead wrong. Think of the Nexus One. Remember? Google was going to redefine the cell phone business by selling an unlocked, unbranded cell phone featuring stock Android on its website. Geeks everywhere rejoiced. No branding, no crapware, same day OTA updates unlimited ability to customize your device-what could go wrong? Google opened its website and- nothing. Nobody bought it. The Nexus One was a huge commercial flop.
Now Google is trying again-through partnership with T-Mobile-an established retail channel. Lesson learned.

Incorrect, the actual lesson they learned was that in the mobile business the most important customer to a handset maker are the carriers and you can't afford to ignore your biggest customers without a very good reason.

Apple is “adding something” a providing a smoother retail experience, better privacy and of course the vaunted Apple marketing muscle. Anti-Apple folks who constantly complain of the irresistible Apple marketing machine seem to think that it counts for nothing here. Funny that.

What do they add to say the kindle app beyond hosting of the app, which also benefits apple since it is a far more comprehensive selection of books than the lacklustre and locked-in ibooks.

A number of magazines have signed up with Apple and are being pushed front and center in the App Store. I expect shortly there will be commercials ( “Want to read the latest and greatest in fashion in your Ipad? There’s an app for THAT”) If we see a surge in subscriptions, then we will see the 30 per cent model spread. If not , Apple will not extend it to ebook purchases.

Nobody is saying that apple giving more options and offering more services is a bad thing, the issue people as consumers have when they are not being some internet white knight for apple is that it will result in hardware they have already paid for will become worse by this change in policy, simple as that.

Using the magazine example, if they see more sales then they will be happy, but for existing companies such as the ebook companies, music streaming companies etc. they will be losing money per any apple-related subscription so promotion would just make the issue even worse for them since more subscribers would mean greater losses since if the in-app options are as good as you claim then surely they won't have any way to convince people not to use it.