Kobo / Apple purchasing changes

[kjk]

Originally Posted by fbrII

I am in agreement with your second sentence. As for the first sentence "childish rants" is simply your judgement of other peoples opinion and doesn't that put you in the exact same league as the people you criticize.

You have chosen to post multiple times on this thread so what are the great and mighty principles that you stand for? That people don't have a right to criticize a company implementing a policy they don't believe in?

You are right-I apologize for "childish rant" in the first instance.

I think Apple's policy is short-sighted and inflexible in this case, and doesn't reflect the fact that the eBook market, unlike music, TV, and movies, is still in its infancy. I think the iOS App Store has become unwieldy as it tries to deal with apps, in-app purchases, apps with music, apps with TV, apps with books, etc.

One size, one policy, doesn't fit all.

But I agree with MurrayPaul that it's not so much malice as it is indifference as far as Apple is concerned-they just don't see the eBook market as that big a deal right now. Last quarter, Apple's *profits* were over US$7 billion-Amazon's entire *revenue* was US$9.9 billion, with supposedly the entire Kindle/ebook portion being less than 10% of that, and we of course have no idea how profitable a market yet it is for anyone.

Anyways, in my experience, Apple doesn't usually go out of their way to make things more difficult or inconvenient for their users without a good reason. I just don't agree with this reason.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by elcreative

But I'm on the winning side...

[fbrII]

You are right-I apologize for "childish rant" in the first instance.

I think Apple's policy is short-sighted and inflexible in this case, and doesn't reflect the fact that the eBook market, unlike music, TV, and movies, is still in its infancy. I think the iOS App Store has become unwieldy as it tries to deal with apps, in-app purchases, apps with music, apps with TV, apps with books, etc.

One size, one policy, doesn't fit all.

But I agree with MurrayPaul that it's not so much malice as it is indifference as far as Apple is concerned-they just don't see the eBook market as that big a deal right now. Last quarter, Apple's *profits* were over US$7 billion-Amazon's entire *revenue* was US$9.9 billion, with supposedly the entire Kindle/ebook portion being less than 10% of that, and we of course have no idea how profitable a market yet it is for anyone.

Anyways, in my experience, Apple doesn't usually go out of their way to make things more difficult or inconvenient for their users without a good reason. I just don't agree with this reason

Well first of all I accept your apology and I also confess to being overheated once or twice on this subject myself. In fact I posted an apology to MurrayPaul and others on another thread although the same topic, earlier this morning.

I really don't have any issues with your logic or the statement that it wasn't about intentional malice. Companies don't normally act with intentional malice towards their customers and I don't think Apple is trying to be the first.

I do think short-sighted and at least a degree of arrogance are appropriate assumptions to make about the decision. I think their attitude is "some of them won't like it, but they will get over it." and I think that will ultimately be listed as one of their mistakes. I am also concerned about the long term consequences of this actions as in; will other companies follow their lead now having Apple to use as their scapegoat.

Time will tell

[kjk]

Originally Posted by fbrII

I think their attitude is "some of them won't like it, but they will get over it." and I think that will ultimately be listed as one of their mistakes.

I think they do exhibit this attitude often-the current examples are the iOS elements like scrolling in the new OSX Lion, and the new Final Cut Pro X.
But I think they just have longer range goals than what they are showing us now, but are unable or unwilling to disclose them in the short term.

In other words, I think in some cases they are saying "trust us-this will all make sense in the future", not "We are making changes, get over it, period" Whether you give them the benefit of the doubt on this stuff is, of course, the point of contention.

[fbrII]

In other words, I think in some cases they are saying "trust us-this will all make sense in the future", not "We are making changes, get over it, period" Whether you give them the benefit of the doubt on this stuff is, of course, the point of contention.

You my friend are more trusting than I. However, lets hope your assessment proves to be the correct one.

[HappyMartin]

I think this is all pretty silly. Now it takes 4 extra key strokes to purchase a book and that is a disaster? Well I guess it all depends on perspective. I am still excited that I no longer need to get into my car, drive to a bookstore, walk around the place, stand in line to pay, remove my card from my wallet, hand it to a sales person............

Get the idea?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Speak for yourself. I just did a trial run for a purchase from the home page of the Kindle app on my iPod touch and it took me 4 extra keystrokes to get to the bookmarked Kindle store.

That's a big PITA and it's a good thing I don't read on my touch or I'd be really ticked off by this change.

(a suggestion: Save the Kindle Store bookmark to Home screen and it is easier than launching the browser and finding a bookmark there.)

It's an especially large PITA if you have just finished reading a book sample and decide you'd like to purchase it. The 'Buy Now' link is no longer functional, so you have to search for the book in Kindle Store, which is considerably more than 4 keystrokes.

I agree this is an Apple mistake, but it will be pretty impossible for anyone (even Apple) to figure out if it was justified in terms of increased profitability. I know it isn't going to drive me to purchase anything in the iBookstore if that's what their thinking was—they need to increase the value proposition of iBookstore if they want me to buy there, by dropping DRM or at least making it possible to export to Adobe DRM so I can read my purchases should my iOS device stop working.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tomsem

(a suggestion: Save the Kindle Store bookmark to Home screen and it is easier than launching the browser and finding a bookmark there.)

Thanks; but that still takes 4 extra keystrokes. So it really doesn't matter which method I use.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Thanks; but that still takes 4 extra keystrokes. So it really doesn't matter which method I use.

If you put the Kindle store bookmark on the same home screen as the Kindle app, isn't it one extra press? Pressing the Store button previously vs now pressing Home to get back to the home screen then pressing the bookmark?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If you put the Kindle store bookmark on the same home screen as the Kindle app, isn't it one extra press? Pressing the Store button previously vs now pressing Home to get back to the home screen then pressing the bookmark?

My book apps are in a folder and it's full. Matching store apps would also fill up a folder. I won't mix the contents of these folders, because that messes up my organization scheme.

This is a moot point for me anyway, because I don't read on my iPod. The screen is way too small. I'm just illustrating the extra hoops people will now have to jump through because of Apple's policy change.

People who aren't tech oriented won't have a clue on how to set-up storefronts without someone showing them how. I'm already starting to get questions from some of my very frustrated friends.

[HarryT]

Honestly, TM, I think you insult people by suggesting that they are incapable of using a web browser. Especially given the fact that it's probably the most-used application on the iPad for most people.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Honestly, TM, I think you insult people by suggesting that they are incapable of using a web browser. Especially given the fact that it's probably the most-used application on the iPad for most people.

Looks like I have dumb friends.

[HarryT]

I'm not insulting your friends but, as I say, it does suprise me, given the amount of use that most iPad uses make of the web browser. I think this whole this is a case of making an entire mountain range out of an exceedingly small molehill.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not insulting your friends but, as I say, it does suprise me, given the amount of use that most iPad uses make of the web browser. I think this whole this is a case of making an entire mountain range out of an exceedingly small molehill.

A case in point. One friend asked how he was supposed to buy books for his iPhone now and I told him to bookmark the stores for his reading apps. Next question was - how do I bookmark? Most of my friends just use apps on their smartphones. They don't mess with browsers.

[HarryT]

Ah well; it's just my personal opinion, which may of course be completely wrong.