More on Apple's 30% cut of Kindle book sales, etc.
computerworld.com
computerworld.com
Realistically, it has cost Amazon nothing to support the iOS platform other than a few weeks of dev time to build the app and deploy it to the store. Complying with these ridiculous demands would cause a zero cost platform to suddenly have a very noticeable cost.
It's insane because Apple have been suckered by their own advertising. Yes, the iPad is one of a kind at the moment, but the android tablet is right around the corner. And that android tablet will be running Kindle and Nook apps.
While the payment platform and app store helps create the ecosystem for apps to exist, the iPad owes it's current success to the the apps people sell for it, not to the payment platform or the app store. The app store and the UI library is a precondition, but it is not sufficient -- if no one made apps for it, no one would buy an iPad.
An iPad without Kindle is slightly worse than a sh*tty microsoft win7 tablet IMO. iBooks is currently not very successful as an alternative. because unlike iTunes, Apple has established competitors who execute very well in this space.
If they try to play hardball with Amazon, Google Android tablets will then just wipe the floor with Apple... same way microsoft did in the 90's. More likely, Amazon is playing hardball with Apple... Maybe Apple will make an "exception" using some tricky accounting to get a part of that 30% back to Amazon.
Furthermore, Apple is demonstrating a very real tendency to retroactively fuck people over. I'd be pretty worried about my book collection if it were in Apple's hands and I stopped paying Caesar.
Assuming, of course, that the only thing people do with their iPads is read.
(Personally, I can't make myself read for very long on an iPad anyway. I do fine on Kindle DX and Sony Reader. I would do best on a folding two screen eInk device the size of the tall Sony Reader, that opened to reveal two facing pages.)
Apple's now saying, if you sell something somewhere else that can be shown in an iOS app, you need to also sell it through Apple for the same price.
I guess when Amazon pulls the iOS app, I can break the DRM on the books I buy from them and read them on Stanza.
Or maybe Amazon's margin is over 30% and they just won't care.
Personally my bet is on an HTML5 kindle reader webapp. Only disadvantage is that you'd need a web connection, which you don't always have on iPad and iPod touch.
Heh, we could buy books from Amazon, de-DRM them, and read them in iBooks. It's probably the best reader software for the iPad other than Kindle.
Nobody can blame Amazon from pulling the iOS app. I'd be shocked if they don't. Apple is literally requesting all of Amazon's margins. I guess you can do whatever your ethics permit, but my takeaway is that perhaps you shouldn't be buying devices from such tyrannical manufacturers.
The Honeycomb tablets cannot come soon enough...
This is absurdly anti-competitive.
Don't get me wrong - this pisses me off, as approximately 50-75% of my usage of the iPad is reading content like the WSJ, NYT, and, especially, my Kindle Books.
For the very first time, today, I'm actually considering purchasing an Android Tablet for my 2011 Tablet Upgrade - a thought that would have never, ever, entered my mind prior to this behavior of Apples.
With that said - I understand what they are trying to do - but, I think they are being short sighted. This action is going to diminish the value of the platform, and start driving people like me over to Android, where we're pretty certain we'll find a more friendly home.
Oh well - I've loved my iPad for the last year like no other purchase - I've bought a little over $1500 worth of content (TV Shows, Apps, Books) according to my iTunes Bill, and, I expect I'll be able to read and download books with my existing Kindle App for the forseeable future - but, I'm guessing new versions of the iPad will have an IOS that is incompatible with the existing Kindle App in some way, and I'll eventually have to migrate off platform.
Here's hoping Apple comes to their senses and manages to walk this idiotic decision back.
1. They need to get together and agree on a common eBook/DRM format. (I'm assuming the copyright owners of most books won't let them drop DRM).
2. They need to publish the specs so that third parties can implement this, and they need to make sure third parties can license the DRM.
3. Amazon, B&N, etc., then pull their apps from the Apple App Store.
4. People who want to read eBooks from Amazon, B&N, etc., use a third party reading app.
The maker of the third party reading app does not sell content, so does not run afoul of Apple's new rules.
Note the nice side effect that this would have. We'd start to get a competitive market for eBook reader software, as with Amazon, B&N, etc., using a common format and DRM scheme, readers would no longer be tied to one provider.
Does anyone know or ever heard any metrics about what percentage of users use that link to purchase content? On a regular Kindle (the reader, not the app), even though I have the 3G Kindle, I never shop from it, choosing to use a desktop browser instead (easier, prettier, etc). Do users of the Kindle app do the same, i.e. just shop on their laptops and use the Kindle app to only read the books?
It says that if you link to selling digital add-ons outside of the app, you have to sell them in the app. Then it goes on to say that one could "side-step" the requirement by not having a "buy" link at all in the app, but still selling the add-ons elsewhere. Fair enough... But then it says Apple still requires you to have a buy link in the app if you sell any add-ons/subscriptions externally whether the app has a link to them or not.
So, which is it?
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/hearings/ip/chapter_5.htm#...
On the bright side, once my Nano dies, I'll finally be able to drop iTunes for good!