Is iBooks Kobo?

[nekokami]

Good info. Let us know if you get a response.

[BWhite]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Are you assuming the image of Kobo on an iPad is photoshopped? (It could be, I'm just wondering what you think.)

I wouldn't assume Kobo is setting up for a publicity fight with Apple. Apple was soliciting app developers to create versions of their apps for a larger screen well in advance of this announcement. Kobo may have had access to the new SDK for some time now.

Well you are asking what I am ASSUMING. That is a more than fair question.

Mark me down as being in the camp... there will be no fight. I have posted on these forums I think Apple is a Hardware Company, does not really care if iBooks is around in six years, and the iPad will have dozens of eReaders apps available for it on Retail Day One.

As for Hardware at Kobo... I am assuming they do not have a sample iPad in their hands. I would guess they are coding within a software environment and they set a parameter like their iPhone environment has this big, big, BIG screen. This is just a guess.

As for Programming... I think Kobo is proceeding in a logical manner, it would be how I would proceed.

What I am saying is force the issue early *IF* you have folks on your staff at any level who suspect Apple is going to ream you over. Do not wait until Retail Day One to discover you are not invited to the party if you can avoid it.

There SHOULD be iPads available for review in advance of Retail Day One. And those iPads, though not from Retail, SHOULD be able to connect to an App Store with Free iPad apps on it, so Kobo wants to get their app with Apple ASAP (if their app is free).

The above is IF Apple is doing things the correct way (from a development point of view).

Yes, history has lots of stories of virtual stores/games/whatever coming up at the last minute, at launch, and history has lots of stories of those stores/games/whatever coming back down within the first few hours. So Kobo could always be left alone at the altar if Apple is a big monster which never communicates and/or hides the new version of their app store until the very last minute.

[nekokami]

Thanks.

Apple has a history of planning ahead with their development environments, e.g. automatically resizing an app to the available screen size wouldn't surprise me, no re-compile required. And I would suppose the SDK has some kind of emulator that includes the iPad sized screen.

I hope Apple will be supportive of developers like Kobo (even if I'm not crazy about their app). I can understand wanting to screen apps for stability issues and malware, etc., but hopefully there will be few arbitrary restrictions.

[Pardoz]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I can understand wanting to screen apps for stability issues and malware, etc., but hopefully there will be few arbitrary restrictions.

If they keep Kobo, B&N, Amazon, et al off the new platform it will be anything but arbitrary. Not allowing a Zune storefront app for the iPhone isn't arbitrary, it's a conscious decision to keep competitors out. Not allowing a Kobo app would be the same kind of decision.

[nekokami]

You're right, "arbitrary" wasn't the right word. Maybe "annoying" would be better.

[robinson]

This is a great thread! Incredibly informative, even if speculative.

Now, given what Amazon has done to MacMillan-- dropping all its books, hard copy and ebook, in a big power play, distributor-publisher spat--how likely is it that Amazon would even permit Stanza to run on the iPad? Perhaps it will pull Stanza from both the iPad and the other i-devices.

Of course, Amazon is said to be more interested in selling books than Kindles... in which case, it would want to make sure Stanza can run on the iPads and make Apple look bad if Apple even thinks of blocking it (think of Apple's foot-dragging on Google Voice that got the feds involved).

But how will this all work? Apple is rumored to want a wide open pricing market for ebooks, not a fixed price (odd considering its iTunes history, but understandable given the publishers' desire to circumvent Amazon's $9.99 fixed price). If books are going to sell for more via the iBooks book store, then how will Apple permit other apps to run that can fetch the books at cheaper prices from Amazon and fictionwise?

Or does Apple want to leave it all open, too-- and it's the publishers who then say to Amazon and fictionwise-- sorry, we're only going to make our ebooks available at a certain price-- that of the iBooks store-- so Amazon if you want to play, you'll have to change your pricing!

I think this last scenario might be the one that plays out... it assumes that Apple is more interested in selling iPad then ebooks, but then again I know little about such matters and haven't even thought enough about it to make an informed judgment. What are your more informed judgments?

[zacheryjensen]

Originally Posted by robinson

This is a great thread! Incredibly informative, even if speculative.

Now, given what Amazon has done to MacMillan-- dropping all its books, hard copy and ebook, in a big power play, distributor-publisher spat--how likely is it that Amazon would even permit Stanza to run on the iPad? Perhaps it will pull Stanza from both the iPad and the other i-devices.

Of course, Amazon is said to be more interested in selling books than Kindles... in which case, it would want to make sure Stanza can run on the iPads and make Apple look bad if Apple even thinks of blocking it (think of Apple's foot-dragging on Google Voice that got the feds involved).

But how will this all work? Apple is rumored to want a wide open pricing market for ebooks, not a fixed price (odd considering its iTunes history, but understandable given the publishers' desire to circumvent Amazon's $9.99 fixed price). If books are going to sell for more via the iBooks book store, then how will Apple permit other apps to run that can fetch the books at cheaper prices from Amazon and fictionwise?

Or does Apple want to leave it all open, too-- and it's the publishers who then say to Amazon and fictionwise-- sorry, we're only going to make our ebooks available at a certain price-- that of the iBooks store-- so Amazon if you want to play, you'll have to change your pricing!

I think this last scenario might be the one that plays out... it assumes that Apple is more interested in selling iPad then ebooks, but then again I know little about such matters and haven't even thought enough about it to make an informed judgment. What are your more informed judgments?

Well, apparently what Apple has done is offered publishers exactly the same revenue model that they offer to App store developers. Based on observation of the app store over the past two years, it seems to me that Apple's goal here is to be a gatekeeper overall. They'll take a slice of profit from devices that are sold, whether because of the availability of books or apps or any other reason, and on top of that they'll take a predictable cut of the cost of apps/books/etc. It does differ in their (previous) model for music, tv, and movies but it seems to me that their goals are inverted as well. In the case of music especially, providing a la carte, predictable pricing was a huge selling point of the iTunes store. You always knew, assuming the music was there, that you could log on and download your favorite new top 40 song (gag me) at 99 cents.

Of course, there were always exceptions there with regards to "album only" tracks, but you get the idea.

In the case of the app store, and by association, iBookstore, it seems they are taking an entirely different stance. Their sales pitch is to the content providers now, saying "Hey, we're going to be about as simple and fair as you could ever ask for, and offer a better revenue split than any other similar controlled distribution channel. So come sell your stuff through our pipes!" And the advantages to Apple here are twofold, content sells devices, and 30% cut of millions of sales adds up. But the pricing and marketing responsibility are almost entirely left to the content providers.

That's just plain genius on Apple's part. They get to sit back and do what they do best, which is produce designer hardware and novel software (even if it doesn't quite burn your toast exactly to specifications, they showed that their style and marketing savvy could sell iPods, a largely inferior DMP experience for the time, despite everything including a dumb name) and then leverage the effort of third parties both for added revenue and for marketing purposes.

As far as how this affects publishers and their relationship with Amazon... well it does this: Apple gives pricing control to the publisher, with strong recommendations based on their knowledge of their userbase, and that puts pressure on Amazon to change their strongarm tactics. It gives publishers another outlet that has the potential to rival Amazon. Apple has a far more successful digital music sales business than Amazon, or anyone for that matter, and has proven the ability of their distribution channel to push devices and sales merely by existing with the App store. This may be enough to convince publishers to take their ball and go home from Amazon, and head to Apple instead. If Amazon loses all its content, they will not sell any more kindles. Amazon will be forced to follow Apple's lead.

What's interesting is that this same sort of thing happened with games. Apple's industry-unique fairness in developer/distributer pricing cut pushed Sony to offer better terms to developers who would be willing to bring smaller-scale games to their PSP platform for digital sales. Those are called "PSP Minis" and consist partly of ports of iPhone games.

Of course, only time can tell what will really happen. I never would have expected a price war that started in digital distribution to extend to physical distribution like the Amazon -> wal-mart -> target circle-jerk of a few months ago. It seems like the publishing industry is too insulated from its customers, and they could probably benefit from more direct distribution. Apple seems to be offering a more direct distribution channel by giving total control to the pub on pricing and availability. Other smaller retail channels may exist but remember, we're talking mass market appeal here, and so far, in eBook-land, there are only two truly mass-market visible entities, and that's Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I'm not sure what control pubs have for BN, but I would guess it's nothing more than setting their wholesale costs, not the real price.

If Apple has convinced the major publishers (all of which are on board, apparently) that the same mass "direct" marketing success of the App store can be had for eBooks, you just may see a major shake-up in the eBook world starting in about 60-90 days.

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Are you assuming the image of Kobo on an iPad is photoshopped? (It could be, I'm just wondering what you think.)

The images on the Kobo website don't have to be done through Photoshop, as it is most likely just a screenshot using the emulator. As part of XCode with the iPhone SDK there is an emulator tool that "runs" the device in a Window on your Mac which allows you to test & debug your app prior to putting it on your iPhone/Touch/iPad (or so that you don't even need one to do the initial development). It is also common to use it for doing screenshots, as it it much easier than getting screenshots from the device.


Without any inside knowledge, I'm agreeing with Pardoz, btw, we don't know what will be approved through Apple's App store until the Apps are available, or until the developers in question publicize their rejection notices.

[robinson]

zacheryjensen, appreciate the thoughtful reply--and good, informed perspective on all this. Thanks!

[BWhite]

Originally Posted by Pardoz

If they keep Kobo, B&N, Amazon, et al off the new platform it will be anything but arbitrary. Not allowing a Zune storefront app for the iPhone isn't arbitrary, it's a conscious decision to keep competitors out. Not allowing a Kobo app would be the same kind of decision.

I have been keeping tabs on the blog at Kobo.

As of February 12th
http://blog.kobobooks.com/2010/02/12/toptensurprises/
Kobobooks believes they will still have an iPad application available in March/April.