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

computerworld.com

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

#31

Post by mlinsey »

randrews wrote: post #20
evilduck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

I doubt their margin is over 30%.

Personally my bet is on an HTML5 kindle reader webapp. Only disadvantage is that you'd need a web connection, which you don't always have on iPad and iPod touch.

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

#32

Post by randrews »

mlinsey wrote: post #31
randrews wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I doubt their margin is over 30%. Personally my bet is on an HTML5 kindle reader webapp. Only disadvantage is that you'd need a web connection, which you don't always have on iPad and iPod touch.

Safari on iOS does client-side storage, you could let someone read a stored book offline. It would make pirating them a little easier though. Not much easier because it's not exactly hard now, Calibre has a plugin that imports them and breaks the DRM.

Heh, we could buy books from Amazon, de-DRM them, and read them in iBooks. It's probably the best reader software for the iPad other than Kindle.

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

#33

Post by bryanlarsen »

randrews wrote: post #20
evilduck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Amazon's margin is exactly 30% for out of print ebooks they buy directly from the author. For others it varies depending on their deal with the publisher.

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

#34

Post by mrcharles »

barista wrote: post #29
mrcharles wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

ha! If that were the case then AMZN would take their business somewhere else. Make the app only for android and WP7. Would they do it? Of course they won't. It's a massive platform that nobody can ignore and if you want to make some money on it better pay the piper.

You forget that the kindle isn't an app, it's a device, and the convenience of the kindle on alternate platforms is just that. It's still simply added value to those platforms which get the app. This won't hurt Amazon -- they'll pull their app and Apple will lose some value on their platform.

Realistically, it has cost Amazon nothing to support the iOS platform other than a few weeks of dev time to build the app and deploy it to the store. Complying with these ridiculous demands would cause a zero cost platform to suddenly have a very noticeable cost.

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

#35

Post by jon_hendry »

YooLi wrote: post #15

"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 des…

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.

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

#36

Post by tzs »

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.

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