As Apple tablet looms, Amazon adopts App Store business model

13»

Comments

  • Reply 41 of 60
    chanochano Posts: 51member
    The tablet and iTunes store are the first step towards doing to publishers of all flavours, what Apple has already done to the music industry. In ten years, there will be thousands of indie musicians and writers (of books and articles) on iTunes for consumption on i-Pod/Phone/Tablet.

    Producing an eBook is easy. Hundreds already make a living, even on Amazon, selling their own work in this format. Apple will provide copy protection or limit distribution as it does with apps.

    Can't wait
  • Reply 42 of 60
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Jeff Bozos is pretty much Hitler, is what I'm saying.



    Godwin?s Law so early in the thread?



    Anyone want to grab the subtitle-free, internet meme of the Hitler bunker scene from Downfall (2004) and make it about Jeff Bezos and the fall of the Kindle?
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Can't be absolutely zero, Apple does have to serve the file. Cheap but not free.



    I meant that Apple?s cost is tied to the content they sell but not internet connection on your end, while the Kindle store has to include the cost of transmission on both ends since they pay for the internet access to the store for each device.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinea View Post


    It's worse than that. Amazon wanted it both ways: make money on the readers, make money on the content. That made sure the market was limited and folks that got the shaft were content providers.



    I always thought that would be a problem.
  • Reply 43 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Makes sense actually. The big authors probably have publishing contracts though.



    Their contracts probably tie them to one publisher or another, but probably won't forbid them from writing independently, especially when they won't need the publishers anymore.



    Although of course it will take some time until they feel they don't need the revenue from printed books anymore...



    Rush, Apple!
  • Reply 44 of 60
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


    Why not? Isn't that a bit totalitarian of you? what are you some kind of dictator?



    Sarcasm I think should have some bit of humor. Bringing those references into the dialog negates any possibility of civil humor.
  • Reply 45 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


    Maybe you phrased this poorly, but it makes no sense to me.



    Any author can write an e-book in the sense that an e-book is hardly different from a PDF. Apple doesn't even need to make special book creating software. Use pages, start typing, when you are finished your novel, select "export to PDF." Voila, e-book.



    e-books are only "formats" because each one of them strives to be proprietary and most want to use DRM. A simple PDF (or a zipped PDF), is within a hair's breadth of every e-book and e-comic out there. Just under the surface, they are PDFs and text files, sometimes zipped, sometimes with DRM locks.



    I'm not expecting Apple to do it because they are in bed with the content providers, (music industry, publishing industry etc.), but they could easily allow individuals to sign up as publishers and sell e-books through iTunes in the exact same way as developers now sell their apps.



    What do I do after I export to PDF? I can reach a publisher or I can create an iPhone app with my PDF inside. With the first, I give money to an intermediary, that's whaMct I'm trying to avoid; with the later, it will hardly be found because the AppStore is not a bookstore and people looking for books don't go there. Also, it is still a poor PDF, no videos included, interactivity, updateability etc. That's where Apple could add value over our current options.



    Finally, I don't see how Apple could profit more by giving 70% to the publishers instead of giving it to the authors directly. I'm not talking about NYT, ABC, Warner publishers, as these are the big-time content providers, and they can keep having their hosts of journalists, bloggers, artists etc and feeding the Apple BookStore if they wish. I'm talking about McGraw-Hill, HarperCollins, Pearson etc.
  • Reply 46 of 60
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    References to Hitler and Fascism should not be used in sarcasm.



    For some reason I find that charmingly loopy.



    At any rate, you may have missed the ambient chatter as to how Jobs is not unlike Stalin, App Store policies are identical to those of a totalitarian state, and the relentless control of Apple in general is reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
  • Reply 47 of 60
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    It would be like trying to get a deal from any dead person.



    Interesting. So you're saying that Hitler's deadness trumps Hitler's evil? I disagree! For no earthly reason other than there's a literal-minded streak in this thread that makes me laugh!



    Say more about dead Hitler's powers of negotiation.
  • Reply 48 of 60
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Dear mstone, we have detected a malfunction in your sarcasm meters-- please power down the unit for at least 30 seconds and reboot your computer.



    sarcasm and/or jokes that include any-hitleresq references usually don't fly all too well***





    *** History of the World Part I (specifically the teaser for a nonexistent HotW Part 2) is of course the exception that proves the rule...
  • Reply 49 of 60
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaveGee View Post


    sarcasm and/or jokes that include any-hitleresq references usually don't fly all too well***





    *** History of the World Part I (specifically the teaser for a nonexistent HotW Part 2) is of course the exception that proves the rule...



    However: (takes off hilarious hat, puts on slightly less hilarious cultural critic hat)



    The fact is that the putting forth of ludicrous Hitler equivalencies have become a staple of politics and the internet-- to the point that we even have Goodwin's "Law" to address the topic.



    Thus, it's possible to sarcastically reference Hitler references without getting anywhere near Htiler per se. Unless you can show me where Hitler has been formally quarantined so the very utterance of his name, outside of pro forma denunciations, are taboo, I'm afraid you're going to have to give me license to mock the penchant to escalate to Hitler at the drop of a hat.



    Unless, of course, there's some bizarre metric at work that claims that declaring a relatively benign thing "Hitleresque" in earnest (see also the entire American political right) gets a pass, while making light of that very tendency triggers the Hitler trip wire? Which would be insane. Say, why am I having to explain this?
  • Reply 50 of 60
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    For some reason I find that charmingly loopy.



    At any rate, you may have missed the ambient chatter as to how Jobs is not unlike Stalin, App Store policies are identical to those of a totalitarian state, and the relentless control of Apple in general is reminiscent of Nazi Germany.





    Very well. Let this be the definition of your thinking on this matter.
  • Reply 51 of 60
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Very well. Let this be the definition of your thinking on this matter.



    Which, that the Hitler no-fly zone is sort of funny or that there is demonstrably a great deal of specious Hitlerizing about?
  • Reply 52 of 60
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Ignoring all the Godwin's Law crap...



    For everyone who thought that Amazon adopting the Apple pricing model was coincidence:



    http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000476231



    Someone tell Bezos that rumbling sound is an Apple freight train headed in his direction!



  • Reply 53 of 60
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000476231



    Someone tell Bezos that rumbling sound is an Apple freight train headed in his direction!



    Next step, announce a colour Kindle with video. I think they?ll be forced to go with Pixel Qi thinking that best of both worlds will make the device awesome.
  • Reply 54 of 60
    icyfogicyfog Posts: 338member
    Sounds like Amazon believes all the iPalette rumours.

    Amazon is scared.

    And so were the record companies when they allowed Amazon to sell DRM-free songs prior to Apple being able to do the same.
  • Reply 55 of 60
    benicebenice Posts: 382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by iGenius View Post


    That sounds like chaos. It would be much better if the only place you could get content was from the App Store.



    Well purchasing books only from the app store sounds like a totalitarian state to me. Imagine if you could only buy food from one grocer, or clothes from one store. Imagine a communist state.



    In some ways competition is always courting a bit of chaos, I accept that, but to not have some choice over where things come from meets with a familiar problem: less choice and higher prices.
  • Reply 56 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Despite e-ink being better with regards to your eyesight / eye-strain you are correct.



    Get ready for an automatic "e-ink" setting integrated in the new Apple device.



    .... also, get ready to eat your hat!



    PS: By x-mas 90% of the Ebook readers will no longer be available, and those remaining will be 200.- or less, possibly free with a 2-year subscription plan to an ebook store.
  • Reply 57 of 60
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by benice View Post


    Well purchasing books only from the app store sounds like a totalitarian state to me. Imagine if you could only buy food from one grocer, or clothes from one store. Imagine a communist state.



    But for books and ebooks today, isn't that "totalitarian state" Amazon.com?
  • Reply 58 of 60
    benicebenice Posts: 382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    But for books and ebooks today, isn't that "totalitarian state" Amazon.com?



    Well amongst my circles almost no-one I know buys from Amazon.com, so clearly other choices are being made. The argument remains that having a variety of vendors is key here, as evidenced by Amazon's very reaction to the expectation of more competition.
  • Reply 59 of 60
    icyfogicyfog Posts: 338member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    But for books and ebooks today, isn't that "totalitarian state" Amazon.com?



    It certainly seems that way to me at times.

    However I buy from B&N or Borders primarily, because I like their sites better amongst other reasons.
  • Reply 60 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Go back to your café where you can eat a croissant and some French fries closely followed by a Saturday matinée. And then we can bitch about how we've nothing in common with the French.



    Just as above, I see no partnership coming.



    Wow, guess you can eat that $hit huh? Oh that's right, cafe side we don't know anything. Piss off.
Sign In or Register to comment.