Publishers frustrated as Apple blocks iPad subscriptions
Publishers looking to offer subscriptions to digital versions of their magazines on the iPad have been blocked by Apple, as the company has allegedly rejected subscriptions from the App Store without an explanation.
Last month, Time Inc. submitted a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad application to the App Store. Apple, at the last minute, rejected the software, forcing the magazine to sell single copies of the publication, according to Peter Kafka of MediaMemo.
It's not just the publishers who want subscriptions: reviews for magazines like Sports Illustrated are overwhelmingly negative as users are dissatisfied with the $4.99-per-issue price on the App Store. Currently, out of 147 reviews, 97 users have given the magazine's application one star. The average review is two stars.
"Not gonna pay what SI charges per issue," user Russ1409 wrote. "Lower the cost, SI, get behind the new technology, but don't gouge us."
Sources with Time Inc. told Kafka that executives at the company "have been going nuts" in an attempt to get Apple to approve subscription plans. Subscriptions are an important part of the print business model, as they provide recurring revenue and customer data for advertisers.
Time Inc. officials were reportedly surprised by Apple's rejection, as the company made a major effort to reach out to them and others. Officials were reportedly under the impression that subscription plans were acceptable to Apple.
"So what happened?" Kafka wrote. "The Time Inc. insiders I talked to don't have a clear answer, presumably because they can?t get one from Apple itself. One theory: Apple is concerned about the publisher?s plans for the consumer data it would collect with each subscription. A darker one: Steve Jobs loves the idea of digital magazines and wants to control the market for himself."
Some App Store software, such as Amazon's Kindle, or The Wall Street Journal's application, does allow for customers to be charged directly. But other content providers, like The New York Times, have yet to offer digital subscriptions.
Last month, Time Inc. submitted a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad application to the App Store. Apple, at the last minute, rejected the software, forcing the magazine to sell single copies of the publication, according to Peter Kafka of MediaMemo.
It's not just the publishers who want subscriptions: reviews for magazines like Sports Illustrated are overwhelmingly negative as users are dissatisfied with the $4.99-per-issue price on the App Store. Currently, out of 147 reviews, 97 users have given the magazine's application one star. The average review is two stars.
"Not gonna pay what SI charges per issue," user Russ1409 wrote. "Lower the cost, SI, get behind the new technology, but don't gouge us."
Sources with Time Inc. told Kafka that executives at the company "have been going nuts" in an attempt to get Apple to approve subscription plans. Subscriptions are an important part of the print business model, as they provide recurring revenue and customer data for advertisers.
Time Inc. officials were reportedly surprised by Apple's rejection, as the company made a major effort to reach out to them and others. Officials were reportedly under the impression that subscription plans were acceptable to Apple.
"So what happened?" Kafka wrote. "The Time Inc. insiders I talked to don't have a clear answer, presumably because they can?t get one from Apple itself. One theory: Apple is concerned about the publisher?s plans for the consumer data it would collect with each subscription. A darker one: Steve Jobs loves the idea of digital magazines and wants to control the market for himself."
Some App Store software, such as Amazon's Kindle, or The Wall Street Journal's application, does allow for customers to be charged directly. But other content providers, like The New York Times, have yet to offer digital subscriptions.
Comments
Btw, hasn't Time heard of Zinio?
Subs are overpriced - which i why I haven't even experimented with them, yet.
Haven't tried Zinio in years; but, current reviews say it sucks as much as ever!
Somehow, I think apple might be preparing it's own newspaper/magazine store to rival the kindle. There is no solid way to get many magazines or newspapers, something I thought should have been in there from the get-go
You would think they would share that with time. Not only a huge magazine publisher, but one apple indicated they worked with when creating the iPad..
My original thought is that Steve is trying to strong arm the magazine industry. I don't know why, but I wouldn't be surprised. Perhaps to give people "freedom from subscriptions" (along with their freedom from other things). Just a stab in the dark. Any other guesses?
Just one example does not a trend make.
Btw, hasn't Time heard of Zinio?
My original thought is that Steve is trying to strong arm the magazine industry. I don't know why, but I wouldn't be surprised. Perhaps to give people "freedom from subscriptions" (along with their freedom from other things). Just a stab in the dark. Any other guesses?
If you look through the comments for the magazines already in the app store, people WANT subscriptions and refuse to pay by the issue. Check out the comments for Men's Health.
If you look through the comments for the magazines already in the app store, people WANT subscriptions and refuse to pay by the issue. Check out the comments for Men's Health.
What they really want is a cheaper price. They ask for a subscription because that' show you traditionally get a cheaper price. I'm not saying what Apple is currently doing is right ( or even if there's some other purpose for it ), but I just wanted to point out that fact.
"So what happened?" Kafka wrote. "The Time Inc. insiders I talked to don't have a clear answer, presumably because they can?t get one from Apple itself. One theory: Apple is concerned about the publisher?s plans for the consumer data it would collect with each subscription.
That is probably the correct theory.
More specifically, magazine publishers are not gonna lower the price without commitment and there needs to be a way to pay once and forget about it for 6 months to a year. I think that is obvious enough with magazines. As commenters pointed out Apple can integrate this with iBooks if they don't want publishers to create their own processing systems, or have the transactions go through app store, and work out some sort of agreement of how much will go to publishers.
But adding refunds would create a massive administrative headache for Apple, possibly necessitating hiring large call centres full of people, in multiple languages, when half the point of going digital is to make life more automated and therefore efficient and cheap.
If publishers want to do subs, let them handle that headache through their website and give people who paid a password to type in to the app.
Just one example does not a trend make.
Btw, hasn't Time heard of Zinio?
According to Zinio, Apple has veto power over the magazines Zinio sells for the iPad.
Apple will not let Zinio sell magazines with nudity on the iPad, for example, even though Zinio will sell a Mac/PC version of Playboy.
I suspect that they'll add it as an option via iBooks.
Bingo! I've been saying this since launch.
Apple have essentially lost out on eBooks because Amazon are already offering the same (or better) product that works across platforms.
If Apple let the magazine publishers do it their own way there is going to be nothing that defines the "Apple experience"... subscribing and reading magazines will be the same on a $499 iPad as it will be on a $99 Android tablet. This is not good for Apple.
However if they sell subscriptions through the iStore they not only have a unique Apple experience they also lock you into the iTunes ecosystem.
Another point for delivering subscriptions through iBooks is the advertising. I think we'll eventually see eMagazines delivering personalised advertising through iAds.
However, some of this doesnt make sense. I have subscriptions already to Netflix (OK that's really outside of the App store), WSJ and the Financial Times... Hulu Plus will be next, so someone here is not being honest...