Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Once again, these apps aren't just applications in the way that Microsoft Word is a word processing application or Numbers is a spreadsheet application. These "reader" apps are stores, operating on the Apple platform. They are ways through which Amazon can sell ebooks to IOS customers. That's why treating them as "just" computer programs and referring only to the cost of hosting the app makes no sense from a business perspective. Its like treating a store in a mall as "just a room". Well, that's true but for purposes of charging rent its more than just a room. You should understand that mall owners charge bookstores a LOT for operating in a shopping mall-way more than the cost of lighting and heating a room.
|
In some ways it is more than just a software application, but you continue to ignore the very valid point that it is a two way street, while amazon and the like benfit from being on the ipad, apple most definitely benefits as much if not more by their presence on there too so the whole argument that they merit 30% for other people's work while amazon deserves to make a loss on their own business that helps to promote the ipad is frankly ludicrous in the extreme.
You do realise that however many times you try to parrot out this flawed analogy that sounds like it was generated by apple's pr company you are not going to convince people of your point, but one point to consider when the mall owners up the rents too much then stores cannot afford to stay there and due to them going somewhere else it makes that current mall a lot less appealing to shoppers when they have plenty of other malls to choose from.
Quote:
|
I would caution that neither the Kindle or the Nook app is in the Top 10 app charts. It's important to us ebook readers but it isn't vital to Apple.
|
I am not surprised, the turnover for free apps is going to be a lot more cyclical, but can you honestly say that an ipad without kindle, nook, kobo, zinio, last.fm, pandora etc. will be anywhere near as appealing to somebody looking to buy some new hardware?
Also, beyond the loss of profits from the hardware sales there is also the loss from all the other little apps that people happen to buy after they have bought the device e.g. some of the main reasons for me that I bought an ipad was to read books, comics, magazines etc. and wouldn't have bothered if it didn't have suitable apps, but I have since bought other apps and games for it and apple have obviously got a cut from those additional sales too so it isn't simply the hardware sales where these service-related apps are helping apple profits.