iFlow reader another casualty thanks to the Agency 5 and Apple

[egarbacz]

The iFlow folks just announced they are shutting down thanks to the Agency 5 pricing scheme and Apple, read it here: https://www.iflowreader.com/Closing.aspx

They may have been a small company, but in my opinion they had the best reader in the Apple App Store. It is a shame to see innovative products going away thanks to Apple and their practices.

Thanks for all of your work iFlow and I hope you can bring your innovative designs to another platform such as Android.

[GreenMonkey]

This is part of the reason why the agency pricing scheme is anti free market.

IMO it's a price fixing.

Too bad these guys couldn't afford to make a move to Android, and didn't plan for multiplatform.

[egarbacz]

GreenMonkey, you got it right, it is price fixing and collusion by the book publishers. You must charge our prices or not play. For Apple it is just has bad, I am not sure what you call what Apple did. This is my first experience with Apple limiting innovation and shows the problems with the walled garden platform. I wonder if it was a coincidence that iFlow choose to make this announcement on the same day Google announced all the innovation in the Android platform.

[Dulin's Books]

Apple should only be asking them for 30% of their commission take and not 30% of the whole purchase price

[Ron.]

microsoft should demand 30% of all itunes sales :P

[tomsem]

This is so sad. I hope they will partner with someone on an Android app, or license their technology. It is my favorite reading app on my iPod Touch.

Unfortunately, it does not support side-loading (even with iPhone Explorer) so once their web site is off line there won't be any way to load new books into it (unless someone can come up with a workaround).

[wallcraft]

Is this is the first ebook store to go away since the Agency scheme was put in place? I can't think of another one.

They seem to be implying that after May 31st you are out of luck if you ever need to redownload one of their ebooks. Seems like it is the publishers who sold you those ebooks (iFlow was just their agent), so they should be responsible so long as they stay in business.

[tubemonkey]

Apple is a meanie

That said, I still love my iPod touch and all of the free stuff I have on it. What I don't like is this 30% thingy they're doing. I won't be participating in it, because I never pay for content. In iTunes, I only download the free stuff. I get all of my paid content from sources outside of Apple's environment.

Thank you Apple for allowing me to suck off your free content

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

Too bad these guys couldn't afford to make a move to Android, and didn't plan for multiplatform.

Such is life when all of your eggs are in the iBasket.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by egarbacz

The iFlow folks just announced they are shutting down thanks to the Agency 5 pricing scheme and Apple

Did they unilaterally shut down or did they attempt to work with Apple?

Hearst said its recent deal comes after months of negotiations.
--
Sources told The Wall Street Journal that other publishers are becoming more open to selling subscriptions to their publications through the iTunes store, too. Publishing execs believe that Apple will eventually be more flexible with pricing and sharing information about subscribers.

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/hea...ke-deal-131361

[tompe]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

This is part of the reason why the agency pricing scheme is anti free market.

But they would have gotten less money with the old model. In the old model you got a maximum of 50% on the recommended price. But you could not sell at that price sp I really do not understand why they think they get less money now.

[K-Thom]

Tompe, I think you mixed two numbers.

With the old model iFlow received 50%. With the new model iFlow received merely 30% (not 70%!) from the publishers, and those were totally swallowed by Apple.

With the Agency model, no "in-between" distributor will likely survive. Even if Apple were to take less than 30%, the final net income would be so small that you couldn't possibly sustain a business on the long run.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Tompe, I think you mixed two numbers.

With the old model iFlow received 50%. With the new model iFlow received merely 30% (not 70%!) from the publishers, and those were totally swallowed by Apple.

With the Agency model, no "in-between" distributor will likely survive. Even if Apple were to take less than 30%, the final net income would be so small that you couldn't possibly sustain a business on the long run.

No I am not mixing. With the old model iFlow bought the book from the publisher with a ceratin discount. But to be able to compete with for example Amazon they cannot sell the book at the list price. So What did the sell the book for? If the list price was $20 and they bought it for $10 and sold it for $15 they earned $5. In the new model they have to sell for $20 and will then earn $6.

[egarbacz]

Originally Posted by tompe

In the new model they have to sell for $20 and will then earn $6.

Tom, in the new model iFlow had to sell for $20 and they received $6 from the publisher, then Apple required 30% of the retail price, which is $6, so they made nothing. The issue is less with the publishers and more with Apple, they recently added the 30% cut of any sale, even books purchased from the iFlow website.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Ron.

microsoft should demand 30% of all itunes sales :P