In a continuing development to Apple’s surprise announcement that it would enforce in-app and out-of-app purchase parity from now on, mocoNews reports that European publishers are convening an invitation-only roundtable in London February 17th to consider Apple’s new subscription rules.

Publishers report feeling “betrayed” by the change—after hyping the iPad and investing in apps for it, Apple is turning around and requiring them to make an option available that will rob them of 30% of their revenue and access to the analytical data that they use to make many purchasing decisions.

Adding to the sense of betrayal is the inconsistent nature of how Apple contacts publishers and others who make iOS apps.

“Apple has been contacting some publishers, and not contacting some. Some get emails, others get informal phone calls,” [Grzegorz Piechota, the European president of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association] said. “The whole process of accepting or rejecting apps is not transparent. It’s very hard to explain why some apps are being accepted and some are being refused; some apps allow you to read content that is bought somewhere else and others that won’t let you do this.”

Jim Dovey, Kobo’s Apple Platforms Team Lead, has posted an essay to his Tumblr blog explaining why these new rules are such a problem. Apart from meaning that Kobo’s entire profit for these sales would go to Apple, it would also mean that most people who read on iOS devices would purchase books that way just because it’s convenient. Apple could change the rules of the store, of course, reducing its cut, but it doesn’t seem likely.

And in obscuring purchase information, it makes Kobo’s recommendation system less workable.

Think about this: I buy 10 books. 8 of those are for other people. Based on that knowledge alone, any recommendations would be based largely upon what I purchased for someone else. However, if I bought 2 books and *gifted* 8 books, then the distributor can make much better recommendations. The analytics can also benefit when looking at gender & age groups in certain content, because it’s not seeing a 35-year-old man buying Twilight, it’s seeing it gifted to a 12-year-old girl. Additionally, we are able to determine what ago groups, etc most of our readers are in, not just the ones who hold the purse-strings. At present, Apple doesn’t make that much information available. We would be sacrificing that.

And this newly-enforced policy could have implications that reach beyond just e-books and periodicals. If Apple applies it consistently across all applications, it could also affect apps that are adjuncts to paid services available elsewhere—Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Dropbox, Evernote, and so on. What if these companies potentially had to give up 30% of their iOS device revenue by offering subscription buy-ins from within the apps themselves?

Of course, judging by what Grzegorz Pierchota said above, the only thing Apple seems to be able to do consistently is tick people off, so it’s probably premature to worry about it. But Apple could find itself in for an interesting time if it manages to arouse the ire of not just e-book and magazine publishers, but also major Internet media companies.

Android tablets are suddenly starting to look better and better.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Chris, I’ve already sold my iPad. I did it to raise cash for the iPad 2 and get a little more from the sale than if I waited.

    Now, however, I just might hold off on buying the forthcoming iPad, and I’d urge others to consider making similar threats in public as a way to show their wrath toward Apple.

    Maybe to Apple the iPad is nothing but a store in disguise. But Steve J and friends have sold it as a reliable source of entertainment and productivity. Apple will rob me of part of the value of my purchase if it goes ahead with its enforcement plans.

    Apple’s greed could be a disaster not only for e-books and consumers in general, but also for the newspaper business (http://www.solomonscandals.com/?p=9204).

    If I get an iPad 2 despite the control-freak factor at Apple, it’ll be because I like the ergnomics enough to move ahead, but for what it’s worth, I already have a Herotab MID816 Android tablet on the way. I bought it for $206 and shipping—far, far cheaper than an iPad even if the screen and ergonomics are not as good and there are other issues. Maybe I’ll go for a more expensive Android machine if Apple’s obnoxiousness continues.

    I just don’t want Steve Jobs to run my online life or steal so much from writers and publishers—which is what that 30 percent cut does indirectly (this is different from a normal retail markup since Steve is demanding it even from online bookstores that currently don’t use iTunes, etc., except to spread around their apps).

    Here’s hoping that Android can catch up, especially with Honeycomb tablets on the way!

    David
    (At least TRYING to bell the cat)

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