NYT: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store

[John F]

Originally Posted by Caltsar

The $800 Xoom that requires you to have a data contract before you can even use Wi-Fi?

...

I think "contract" is misleading. You might have to do the Data plan for one month ($20) to unlock the wifi, but it would be a onetime charge. I may be wrong.

http://www.dailytech.com/Motorola+Xo...icle20845c.htm

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by John F

I think "contract" is misleading. You might have to do the Data plan for one month ($20) to unlock the wifi, but it would be a onetime charge. I may be wrong.

http://www.dailytech.com/Motorola+Xo...icle20845c.htm

yes that is what I have read as well. but tell me this, what is the point? Seriously why do people who are buying on of the most expensive devices made in this class have to spend an extra $20 after purchase to use the device they paid all that cash for?

Sorry, but this is the "Silly Season" climbing to it's peak, life as a subscription.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

this looks good. I wonder if it would cause more defections from Apple than Android though.

http://m.cultofmac.com/hps-touchpad-...petition/81195

http://m.cultofmac.com/hps-touchpad-...petition/81195

[RockdaMan]

LOL

You took that link from a thread I opened.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

LOL

You took that link from a thread I opened.

What I did not make it so the link is clickable instead of having to cut/past it.

[ProfCrash]

http://futurebook.net/content/offici...own-kindle-app

Here is what its press release says: "Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app."

Amazon's next move will be very interesting. It had been mooted that they could simply provide an "in-app" link very small, next to a larger link to the Kindle website. But Apple is now saying it won't allow this either. Customers would purchase on Amazon.com, and the content would be available on the app, but once in the app, 30% of any sale belongs to Apple.

Here is my news story on the new rules, and here is the ever helpful Apple c.e.o. Steve Jobs, talking about how the directive would apply to magazine publishers, who wish to sell subscriptions via their apps.

“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing. All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app."

I figured starting a new topic would be silly.

[Graham]

Here's another article on this (both confirm that it will also apply to ebook store apps):

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ap...y-e-books.html

It seems Apple are tightening the screws still further, and contrary to our earlier understanding, which was that an app like the Kindle one could offer two methods of purchase, now it appears that only in-App purchasing will be allowed.

You can buy through the browser, but the app can't trigger it.

I suppose the obvious response by Amazon, given that it appears they can make no profit on the app (at least under Agency pricing), would be to turn it into a pure reader and remove the store functionality. They may even have to get it made by a third party to get round the rules!

Graham

[Graham]

I suppose we could also simply see Amazon falling back on Kindle for the Web.

Graham

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Horemheb

This is what grasps the main point here. Apple wants money for something they do not provide anything in turn. They have no more right to claim any (not even 0.1%) share from transactions on their device than Windows or Linux do from transactions on those platform. This idea is ridiculous. There is simply no value added on the mere fact that the purchase happened on iOS instead of a Linux based PC. The result is the same.
Taking money for nothing is a criminal act at least morally but it should be so legally too.

Aren't the apps, media, books etc. all hosted by apple, while it is excessive to equate that with meriting 30% of each transaction it isn't entirely fair to declare that they provide nothing.

Given their complaints about free apps being there entirely to supply content that they don't make any money from, the logical way to alter things would be for them to make people like Amazon charge for the ios Kindle app and get their cut from the app sales and not the content sales which have almost nothing to do with them, but do serve as a selling point for the particular platform.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Graham

I suppose the obvious response by Amazon, given that it appears they can make no profit on the app (at least under Agency pricing), would be to turn it into a pure reader and remove the store functionality. They may even have to get it made by a third party to get round the rules!

That does seem to be the most sensible option other than simply stopping making any more updates to the existing app and in either case it would lead to the ipad version far less appealing to a reader than the tablet alternatives from google, rim, hp, etc. which seems a fairly stupid approach for the sake of a relatively small market.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Aren't the apps, media, books etc. all hosted by apple

No.

In the case of Amazon, for example, the books are supplied from their own servers using your bandwidth. Apple's only contribution is providing the distribution platform for the app. In return for hosting that free, tiny download, a large number of consumers are attracted to their device.

Graham

[RockdaMan]

The CEO himself:

“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”

Publishers who use Apple’s subscription service in their app can also leverage other methods for acquiring digital subscribers outside of the app. For example, publishers can sell digital subscriptions on their web sites, or can choose to provide free access to existing subscribers. Since Apple is not involved in these transactions, there is no revenue sharing or exchange of customer information with Apple. Publishers must provide their own authentication process inside the app for subscribers that have signed up outside of the app. However, Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app.

Protecting customer privacy is a key feature of all App Store transactions. Customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with their name, email address and zip code when they subscribe. The use of such information will be governed by the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s. Publishers may seek additional information from App Store customers provided those customers are given a clear choice, and are informed that any additional information will be handled under the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/02/15appstore.html

[Xoanon]

I don't own any Apple products so I'm not up to speed on how they work, but can't Amazon et al just remove all web links to purchasing ebooks from within their apps?

Is there anything stopping people from just opening up a browser to visit the retailers websites independently of Apple in order to purchase and download their books?

[Graham]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

The CEO himself:



http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/02/15appstore.html

Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share

Except that it doesn't really apply in the case of, say, ebook sales does it?

The vast majority of users didn't find out about the author they want to read, or that Amazon is a pretty handy retailer from which to purchase that content, because Apple pushed the app in front of their face.

And again with regard to Amazon, they've almost certainly already given them their details, so the "privacy feature" is superfluous.

Apple want a 30% cut because it will either slash Amazon's profits or drive them away from the iOS platform, shifting sales over to iBooks. Pure and simple.

Rinse and repeat for high profile vendors of movies, music and news.

Graham

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Xoanon

I don't own any Apple products so I'm not up to speed on how they work, but can't Amazon et al just remove all web links to purchasing ebooks from within their apps?

Is there anything stopping people from just opening up a browser to visit the retailers websites independently of Apple in order to purchase and download their books?

By my reading, there's nothing to stop them buying off the retailers' websites, but if that is possible then that retailer cannot supply an app which has no method for purchases through Apple (hence my comment above about having to have a third party distributor for a Kindle Read Only app).

So I don't think Amazon can simply remove all web links for purchasing from the current app.

Graham