More on Apple's 30% cut of Kindle book sales, etc.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9209580/Apple_s_new_App_Store_rules_affect_Amazon_s_Kindle?taxonomyId=12

by dctoedt • 15 years ago

17 34 15 years ago

bowmande2• 15 years ago

I find this absolutely insane. Apple is acting as a payment processor that is charging 30%. I thoroughly enjoy Apple's product, but taking 30 percent of in-app purchases seems crazy.

barista4• 15 years ago

They made the platform. You need to realize that if the platform didn't exist, there wouldn't be all these mobile apps in the first place.

bowmande2• 15 years ago

I am not suggesting they don't take a cut, but when running the financials for the startup I am working on, 30 percent of every item is a huge chunk.

mrcharles4• 15 years ago

And you should realize that things like the Kindle app provide added value to the iOS devices that otherwise wouldn't exist. It's a two way street, and it is not just magical handwaving that lets Apple's actions become justified.

invertd2• 15 years ago

So did the shopping mall owners for their tenants but I have never seen such a mall charges you 30% commission for the privilege and convenience (parking, indoors, cleanliness, food court etc) of buying stuff there.

ezy3• 15 years ago

Why do people argue this point? It's not insane because people have to do what Apple wants, no one except for a few entitled folks are arguing this. They can do what they please.

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.

jordanroher• 15 years ago

I wonder if it's going to extend to content as well. If Amazon is forced to sell books directly through the Kindle app, will Apple get veto power over the books they sell? Will they be able to ban an "Android for Dummies" book?

gst• 15 years ago

Based on Apple's current track record: Yes

invertd2• 15 years ago

Completely agree!

barista4• 15 years ago

Their greed is a good thing for the AAPL stockholders though :)

mrcharles4• 15 years ago

Until their greed chases potential app developers away from the platform and in to the waiting hands of competing devices.

barista4• 15 years ago

ain't gonna happen. AAPL is the biggest and best platform out there when it comes to mobile devices. I don't see anything wrong in they trying to make money out of it.

bpodgursky• 15 years ago

Not really, because Apple has never paid dividends.

randrews3• 15 years ago

Well, this invalidates what I thought Amazon should do: remove all purchasing of books from the Kindle app and make it only able to download and read books bought from the website (which it would not link to).

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.

evilduck• 15 years ago

Some alternatives to yanking the app would be to adhere to the rule but make it laborious and sufficiently buried beneath menu layers that it becomes too difficult to use versus a link that breaks out to the web browser. Or begin charging on the AppStore for the Kindle app at a price point they believe will compensate for the losses.

randrews3• 15 years ago

I didn't think of that but it's a good idea: charge $5 for the app (or whatever). People who have already bought it don't lose anything, people who do buy the app don't cost Amazon any money.

Or maybe Amazon's margin is over 30% and they just won't care.

ryandvm2• 15 years ago

> 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.

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...

mrcharles4• 15 years ago

Anyone want to place bets on when Amazon pulls the iOS app? Seems the only possible retaliation at the moment.

This is absurdly anti-competitive.

ghshephard• 15 years ago

Actually, I'd argue it's absurdly competitive. How would you maximize the value of your 160 million IOS Device platform?

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.

YooLi• 15 years ago

"That link [Shop in Kindle Store Link], which opens the iOS browser and displays Amazon's Web-based e-bookstore, is currently the easiest way for Kindle app users to purchase new books."

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?

jon_hendry• 15 years ago

I've occasionally bought books via my Kindle device. More often I buy using my computer's web browser and have the book delivered to the kindle.

ROFISH• 15 years ago

What about incumbent subscription services? For example, Hulu requires you to be paying $8/mo to view their shows on an iPhone or iPad. Since a subscription is required, MUST they be required to Apple's subscription service, or can they just not do anything until you sign up elsewhere?

tallanvor• 15 years ago

This behavior is a great example of why I'm unlikely to ever buy another Apple device.

On the bright side, once my Nano dies, I'll finally be able to drop iTunes for good!

trotsky• 15 years ago

US Department of Justice: Tying and Bundling Involving Intellectual Property

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/hearings/ip/chapter_5.htm#...

ezy3• 15 years ago

I have to say that this article is horribly unclear.

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?

tzs• 15 years ago

Here's how Amazon, Sony, B&N, etc., can get around this.

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.

More on Apple's 30% cut of Kindle book sales, etc.

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