.... Publishers on the other hand already have customers. Would you want to give up 30% revenue on customers you already have?
But they DON'T have digital media customers. The publishers attempts by themselves have been abysmal failures. And besides, the 30% is FAR less than the distribution and marketing costs of their existing media.
Man up, pay the 30% 'cause the publishers are getting a lift on Apple's huge financially streamlined iTunes user base.
Don't like it? The internet is a big big place. Go fish.
Are publishers being forced to do business with Apple?
Good question. At the moment, one might say yes.
Kind of like how some people need Money Mart - However Money Mart and payday loan companies are not allowed to just slap any fee they want on their services and charge people 30% of their cheque's. Not to mention that there is no way Money Mart could force someone to pay them 30% of their cheque if they get cash from another source or they can no longer use their service.
It's called extortion. It's against the law.
Apple knows this, don't fool yourself. They are just starting high so they can negotiate down.
Remember, a lot of the parasites here posting are shareholders with no conscious. If Apple came out and said they were going to slay puppies for fuzzy iPhone cases and it was the best thing ever... these people would cheer and defend Apple as long as their stock went up.
I've been thinking about that... if Netflix tells Apple to f-off, and pulls their service from Apple TV, that would basically kill that box. Not sure if Apple cares enough about Apple TV to make that a good negotiating position for Netflix, however.
Netflix isn't going to tell Apple to f-off. They need all the subs they can get and they compete against Amazon as well and soon Google for streaming eyeballs.
Observation: What's with all this pining for Amazon? Who really gives a sh*t about Amazon.com and their Kindle Books? They're the Walmart of the internet and haven't done anything good for e-commerce retail. Rather, they've destroyed it.
If it turns out that you can't buy Kindle crap on iOS, oh well. There's lots of other ways to get books into the always superior iBooks App. Being able to buy them directly from Amazon and download them to your iPhone while on the go isn't something I'll miss. I don't read books on the go. Audiobooks, Yes, and between iTunes and Audible I'm set.
If the book isn't available from iBookstrongarm, I'll take my time "locating it elsewhere", and convert it to epub or PDF and WHAM! its right there in iBooks for me to read.
I don't get all this kerfuffle over e-books. I'm really set on e-books. Finding them, downloading, and putting them on my iPad and iPhone is not hard at all.
Amazon still can use the website to charge for Kindle books, and they don't need to pay Apple anything!
If you don't like Apple's 30% cut, then don't use it. The only thing Apple doesn't like is to put a link in the Kindle app to link the user to the payment webpage.
Small developers has been dealing with this from day one. The big guys have been the exception. Time to level the playground.
I don't see any problem with Amazon, Sony.... however, I am not sure about eBay.
As much as I don't think Apple deserves a cut of Netflix subscriptions, the reality is quite simple.
If Netflix, as a business, feels they would lose money cutting Apple 30%, then they can pull it out an be done with.
Or, they might discover, that even though they make less money, the sheer number of Apple customers is enough to keep anyone in business.
And so, life will go on. Money will still be made. Customers still served.
Or they could just raise the price of the subscription by a couple bucs too. Not saying they should or will, but Apple doesn't dictate what developers and publishers charge, only that they can't undercut Apple and there is a 30% fee.
I can see why publishers are reluctant to do things Apple's way. Has iTunes been the saviour to the music industry? No. Sales were at a all time low last year despite millions of iPhones, iPods and iPads being sold.
I hate to tell you but they were the savior of the industry. Sales were already tanking. The music was being downloaded instead of bought on CDs. The difference is they weren't paying for it. Apple showed that people would pay. One of the biggest problems with the industry now is terrible music!
Kind of like how some people need Money Mart - However Money Mart and payday loan companies are not allowed to just slap any fee they want on their services and charge people 30% of their cheque's. Not to mention that there is no way Money Mart could force someone to pay them 30% of their cheque if they get cash from another source or they can no longer use their service.
It's called extortion. It's against the law.
Apple knows this, don't fool yourself. They are just starting high so they can negotiate down.
Remember, a lot of the parasites here posting are shareholders with no conscious. If Apple came out and said they were going to slay puppies for fuzzy iPhone cases and it was the best thing ever... these people would cheer and defend Apple as long as their stock went up.
business 101. itunes/app store is just like a mall. if you want to pitch your tent at the mall and sell your wares you have to pay rent and fork over a percentage of your sales to the mall owner. the standard for lawyers representing their clients collect 33 percent of an award net of expenses. you want to sell chotchkies with the cowboys or yankees logo, get ready to pay initial licensing fee and per item fee to the steinbrenners and MLB and jerry jones and the NFL. you want to open up a mcdonalds or dunkin donuts be prepared to pay a franchise fee, dues and all your operating supplies directly from them. or you can save money and try to sell burgers and donuts without their help.
as an additional note: to sell products online on Amazon. pay $40 a month plus 20 percent (average) of each sale. again you're paying for access to the millions that make up amazon's customer base. those are millions that otherwise would not see your merchandise if you were to sell them on your own website. the downside is in many instances you are competing against amazon the price whore where you realize pennies on the dollar for each transaction.
I've been thinking about that... if Netflix tells Apple to f-off, and pulls their service from Apple TV, that would basically kill that box. Not sure if Apple cares enough about Apple TV to make that a good negotiating position for Netflix, however.
I'm sorry but this is just another example of US-centric myopia? The Apple TV sells well in many countries that don't have Netflix. It is not a deal breaker for a lot of people.
business 101. itunes/app store is just like a mall. if you want to pitch your tent at the mall and sell your wares you have to pay rent and fork over a percentage of your sales to the mall owner. the standard for lawyers representing their clients collect 33 percent of an award net of expenses. you want to sell chotchkies with the cowboys or yankees logo, get ready to pay initial licensing fee and per item fee to the steinbrenners and MLB and jerry jones and the NFL. you want to open up a mcdonalds or dunkin donuts be prepared to pay a franchise fee, dues and all your operating supplies directly from them. or you can save money and try to sell burgers and donuts without their help.
To use your example of a mall, having the Kindle, Hulu and Netflix apps in the store is like having anchor stores in a mall. Yes, they pay rent but they get better deals because of their ability to draw customers to the mall.
YOU CAN STILL SELL YOUR STUFF HOW YOU ARE DOING IT. YOU JUST HAVE TO ADD THE OPTION OF SELLING IT THROUGH APPLE.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SELL THINGS ON THE APP STORE. REALLY. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T SELL THERE.
If you want to tap into a market made by Apple, you need to give them their due.
How would you like it if someone came along and told you how much you had to set your prices to sell your own products in your own store? Apple isn't "getting their due" from sales on a publisher's own web site, the publisher keeps all that money. And yet Apple is forcing them to accept Apple's pricing guidelines for selling things on their own web site.
The ONLY thing this will accomplish is the price of your content will go up. Apple is forcing a 43% markup of the prices. Do the math and see for yourself. If you want to earn $7 for your content, Apple will force you to sell it for $10. Even if you sell it on your own web site.
Do you really love Apple that much that you want to spend an extra $3 on every $7 you spend for your subscriptions? 43% markup due to Apple's policy.
To use your example of a mall, having the Kindle, Hulu and Netflix apps in the store is like having anchor stores in a mall. Yes, they pay rent but they get better deals because of their ability to draw customers to the mall.
The interesting thing is that Apple built this incredible playground of opportunity and everyone is crying that it is not cheap, nearly free, or even free. Last I heard buying land, hiring people to design cool buildings to go on that land, then hiring more people to work in those cool buildings, and in some cases even having day care services for those peoples kidlets, etc is a pretty expensive operation on a daily basis.
Then in this playground of opportunity you can load something up there called an App that plays fart sounds, solves algebraic equations, or lets you watch cat videos. AND YOU GET TO CHARGE WHATEVER YOU WANT. WHATEVER YOU WANT FOR THAT APP!
I have noticed that people who do this often change the price whenever they want too. Yup, whenever they want. Sometime I get free farts on Friday, but they are $2.99 on Monday......Hmmmm, sounds like an incredible playground of opportunity to me. You get to try whatever the hell you want and you are complaining?
So for those who want to mess with Apple, just give it away for free. 30% of free is free. Apple still lets you play in their yard all you want and it is 100% free for you to do so. Heck you might even have the bestest ever free app of all time and be rated numero uno forever. The funny thing is you could get stinkin filthy rich doing this...... How?
Advertising. See you could do a daily publication, weekly, monthly, or whatever you want and sell ADVERTISING space within your publications pages, and Apple won't make one cent. It has been done for years that way, and that has always been the secret of a publications profitability, not its rack rate.
You just better have a worthy publication. Which, oh, by-the-way, requires that you might have to take a risk, just like Apple did when then bought the land and built the buildings to make this incredible playground of opportunity that you are all complaining about.
As far as Amazon goes, its simple. Apple does not have to carry another merchants products. Apple wants deals with publishers, not merchants - it's really that simple. They are competitors. Oh, and Netflix is just like Amazon. They are competitors with Apple and I am sure when Apple gets their data center up and deals in place it may be forced out too.
Apple's only obligation is to stay true to its brand and shareholders. They have no obligation to build Amazon's or Netflix's brand identity or sales over their own. It would actually negligent to do so.
These outcries reflect how big Apple is, for good and for bad. And I think it's a bit overblown much like Antennagate.
For example people talking about Amazon or Netflix pulling the app. Why should they? All they need to do is delete any link to outside store or subscription service, then nothing will change. No price change. No need to pull off.
Amazon can delete in-app links to their store. Make it purely a reader app. Have people go to Safari to purchase book. Once it's purchased it'll be on your account. Go back to the app, sign in and read. Apple get nothing.
Netflix? Just don't put any subscription service in the app. Have people subscribe on website then if you want to watch it on your iPad, pick it up, sign in and watch. Apple also get nothing.
If you want the convenience of Apple system then pay. If you don't want to pay, don't use it.
Comments
.... Publishers on the other hand already have customers. Would you want to give up 30% revenue on customers you already have?
But they DON'T have digital media customers. The publishers attempts by themselves have been abysmal failures. And besides, the 30% is FAR less than the distribution and marketing costs of their existing media.
Man up, pay the 30% 'cause the publishers are getting a lift on Apple's huge financially streamlined iTunes user base.
Don't like it? The internet is a big big place. Go fish.
Are publishers being forced to do business with Apple?
Good question. At the moment, one might say yes.
Kind of like how some people need Money Mart - However Money Mart and payday loan companies are not allowed to just slap any fee they want on their services and charge people 30% of their cheque's. Not to mention that there is no way Money Mart could force someone to pay them 30% of their cheque if they get cash from another source or they can no longer use their service.
It's called extortion. It's against the law.
Apple knows this, don't fool yourself. They are just starting high so they can negotiate down.
Remember, a lot of the parasites here posting are shareholders with no conscious. If Apple came out and said they were going to slay puppies for fuzzy iPhone cases and it was the best thing ever... these people would cheer and defend Apple as long as their stock went up.
I've been thinking about that... if Netflix tells Apple to f-off, and pulls their service from Apple TV, that would basically kill that box. Not sure if Apple cares enough about Apple TV to make that a good negotiating position for Netflix, however.
Netflix isn't going to tell Apple to f-off. They need all the subs they can get and they compete against Amazon as well and soon Google for streaming eyeballs.
If it turns out that you can't buy Kindle crap on iOS, oh well. There's lots of other ways to get books into the always superior iBooks App. Being able to buy them directly from Amazon and download them to your iPhone while on the go isn't something I'll miss. I don't read books on the go. Audiobooks, Yes, and between iTunes and Audible I'm set.
If the book isn't available from iBookstrongarm, I'll take my time "locating it elsewhere", and convert it to epub or PDF and WHAM! its right there in iBooks for me to read.
I don't get all this kerfuffle over e-books. I'm really set on e-books. Finding them, downloading, and putting them on my iPad and iPhone is not hard at all.
Amazon still can use the website to charge for Kindle books, and they don't need to pay Apple anything!
If you don't like Apple's 30% cut, then don't use it. The only thing Apple doesn't like is to put a link in the Kindle app to link the user to the payment webpage.
Small developers has been dealing with this from day one. The big guys have been the exception. Time to level the playground.
I don't see any problem with Amazon, Sony.... however, I am not sure about eBay.
As much as I don't think Apple deserves a cut of Netflix subscriptions, the reality is quite simple.
If Netflix, as a business, feels they would lose money cutting Apple 30%, then they can pull it out an be done with.
Or, they might discover, that even though they make less money, the sheer number of Apple customers is enough to keep anyone in business.
And so, life will go on. Money will still be made. Customers still served.
Or they could just raise the price of the subscription by a couple bucs too. Not saying they should or will, but Apple doesn't dictate what developers and publishers charge, only that they can't undercut Apple and there is a 30% fee.
I can see why publishers are reluctant to do things Apple's way. Has iTunes been the saviour to the music industry? No. Sales were at a all time low last year despite millions of iPhones, iPods and iPads being sold.
I hate to tell you but they were the savior of the industry. Sales were already tanking. The music was being downloaded instead of bought on CDs. The difference is they weren't paying for it. Apple showed that people would pay. One of the biggest problems with the industry now is terrible music!
Good question. At the moment, one might say yes.
Kind of like how some people need Money Mart - However Money Mart and payday loan companies are not allowed to just slap any fee they want on their services and charge people 30% of their cheque's. Not to mention that there is no way Money Mart could force someone to pay them 30% of their cheque if they get cash from another source or they can no longer use their service.
It's called extortion. It's against the law.
Apple knows this, don't fool yourself. They are just starting high so they can negotiate down.
Remember, a lot of the parasites here posting are shareholders with no conscious. If Apple came out and said they were going to slay puppies for fuzzy iPhone cases and it was the best thing ever... these people would cheer and defend Apple as long as their stock went up.
This is a joke, right?
This is a joke, right?
Unfortunately, not. Just another of his typical rants.
Looks like it`s the Xoom for me.
as an additional note: to sell products online on Amazon. pay $40 a month plus 20 percent (average) of each sale. again you're paying for access to the millions that make up amazon's customer base. those are millions that otherwise would not see your merchandise if you were to sell them on your own website. the downside is in many instances you are competing against amazon the price whore where you realize pennies on the dollar for each transaction.
I've been thinking about that... if Netflix tells Apple to f-off, and pulls their service from Apple TV, that would basically kill that box. Not sure if Apple cares enough about Apple TV to make that a good negotiating position for Netflix, however.
I'm sorry but this is just another example of US-centric myopia? The Apple TV sells well in many countries that don't have Netflix. It is not a deal breaker for a lot of people.
business 101. itunes/app store is just like a mall. if you want to pitch your tent at the mall and sell your wares you have to pay rent and fork over a percentage of your sales to the mall owner. the standard for lawyers representing their clients collect 33 percent of an award net of expenses. you want to sell chotchkies with the cowboys or yankees logo, get ready to pay initial licensing fee and per item fee to the steinbrenners and MLB and jerry jones and the NFL. you want to open up a mcdonalds or dunkin donuts be prepared to pay a franchise fee, dues and all your operating supplies directly from them. or you can save money and try to sell burgers and donuts without their help.
To use your example of a mall, having the Kindle, Hulu and Netflix apps in the store is like having anchor stores in a mall. Yes, they pay rent but they get better deals because of their ability to draw customers to the mall.
One more time publishers:
YOU CAN STILL SELL YOUR STUFF HOW YOU ARE DOING IT. YOU JUST HAVE TO ADD THE OPTION OF SELLING IT THROUGH APPLE.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SELL THINGS ON THE APP STORE. REALLY. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T SELL THERE.
If you want to tap into a market made by Apple, you need to give them their due.
How would you like it if someone came along and told you how much you had to set your prices to sell your own products in your own store? Apple isn't "getting their due" from sales on a publisher's own web site, the publisher keeps all that money. And yet Apple is forcing them to accept Apple's pricing guidelines for selling things on their own web site.
The ONLY thing this will accomplish is the price of your content will go up. Apple is forcing a 43% markup of the prices. Do the math and see for yourself. If you want to earn $7 for your content, Apple will force you to sell it for $10. Even if you sell it on your own web site.
Do you really love Apple that much that you want to spend an extra $3 on every $7 you spend for your subscriptions? 43% markup due to Apple's policy.
To use your example of a mall, having the Kindle, Hulu and Netflix apps in the store is like having anchor stores in a mall. Yes, they pay rent but they get better deals because of their ability to draw customers to the mall.
What rent is Amazon paying? The app is free.
What rent is Amazon paying? The app is free.
It's an imperfect analogy but the revenue share is the rent. I just think the "rent" should be less than 30% of the revenue.
Then in this playground of opportunity you can load something up there called an App that plays fart sounds, solves algebraic equations, or lets you watch cat videos. AND YOU GET TO CHARGE WHATEVER YOU WANT. WHATEVER YOU WANT FOR THAT APP!
I have noticed that people who do this often change the price whenever they want too. Yup, whenever they want. Sometime I get free farts on Friday, but they are $2.99 on Monday......Hmmmm, sounds like an incredible playground of opportunity to me. You get to try whatever the hell you want and you are complaining?
So for those who want to mess with Apple, just give it away for free. 30% of free is free. Apple still lets you play in their yard all you want and it is 100% free for you to do so. Heck you might even have the bestest ever free app of all time and be rated numero uno forever. The funny thing is you could get stinkin filthy rich doing this...... How?
Advertising. See you could do a daily publication, weekly, monthly, or whatever you want and sell ADVERTISING space within your publications pages, and Apple won't make one cent. It has been done for years that way, and that has always been the secret of a publications profitability, not its rack rate.
You just better have a worthy publication. Which, oh, by-the-way, requires that you might have to take a risk, just like Apple did when then bought the land and built the buildings to make this incredible playground of opportunity that you are all complaining about.
As far as Amazon goes, its simple. Apple does not have to carry another merchants products. Apple wants deals with publishers, not merchants - it's really that simple. They are competitors. Oh, and Netflix is just like Amazon. They are competitors with Apple and I am sure when Apple gets their data center up and deals in place it may be forced out too.
Apple's only obligation is to stay true to its brand and shareholders. They have no obligation to build Amazon's or Netflix's brand identity or sales over their own. It would actually negligent to do so.
I have adding some omitted words into that press release.
They weren't omitted. The insertion is from your imagination.
For example people talking about Amazon or Netflix pulling the app. Why should they? All they need to do is delete any link to outside store or subscription service, then nothing will change. No price change. No need to pull off.
Amazon can delete in-app links to their store. Make it purely a reader app. Have people go to Safari to purchase book. Once it's purchased it'll be on your account. Go back to the app, sign in and read. Apple get nothing.
Netflix? Just don't put any subscription service in the app. Have people subscribe on website then if you want to watch it on your iPad, pick it up, sign in and watch. Apple also get nothing.
If you want the convenience of Apple system then pay. If you don't want to pay, don't use it.
Do I understand something wrong?
What rent is Amazon paying? The app is free.
They still pay $99 a year (which I'll admit is trivial) and I'm sure the Kindle app has sold more than a few iPads.