Dear Apple, quit being douchebags, I love my iPad, please don't make me go out and buy a kindle as well which is what I will end up doing if Amazon pulls out of the App Store.
Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
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Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#92So, what do HN recommend that Amazon do now? Or at least expect them to do. * Leave the app as-is. (With what specific motive?) * Jack up the prices. (Perhaps they'll include a notification when the user is on the relevant purchase page.) * Leave the prices as-is and take the 30% hit. * Let Apple kill the app.
I would like them to let Apple kill the app and focus on other devices and operating systems. I do not wish this due to a dislike for Apple, but rather as incentive for Apple to open up the iOS platform. I find it a shame that there is so much focus on Apple devices due, it seems, almost exclusively the market buzz around their products. Competing platforms have similar user numbers, good technology, and far better m…
"Competing platforms have similar user numbers, good technology"
Citation needed.
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't fully analyzed it but my gut instinct would be to raise the prices by 30%, then explicitly state to the end user that the 30% surcharge is because of Apple. This way its transparent to the end user, and it could put some pressure on Apple to lower its fees.
Initially I thought this, but Amazon has to pass on 70% of the sale to the publisher, and with Apple taking 30%, regardless of how much the ebook was sold for, Amazon is left with nothing.
Do you think this is deliberate on Apple's part to force a change in publishing contracts?
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#94First off, if you trace the article to its source, you'll end up on a WSJ article that says something slightly different: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870477560457612... As far as we know, Apple has not directly set a deadline for Amazon. In fact, there's no knew information other than the date: meaning there's still a lot of questions about the subscription rates and the actual requirements Apple wil…
Gruber recently said that contracts with publishers are generally set up in a way so that they get about 70% from all revenue. This would obviously make it impossible for Amazon to sell books on the iPad. (The publisher taking 70% and Apple taking 30% leaves them with nothing at all. Increasing prices, even if it were possible, wouldn’t help.) That's obviously not a workable situation, if Apple doesn’t change anything Amazon will just stop selling books on the iPad. (Gruber speculates that Apple will drop its cut for at least some in-app purchases down to about 5%.)
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#95Yet another demonstration of the folly of purchasing DRMed media. Why subject your ability to read your books to the possibility of bizarre, irrelevant problems like this? It's like O'Reilly had a falling-out with Barnes & Noble and suddenly I can't read a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a year. Is the convenience really worth it?
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#96I still think this whole thing only applies to apps that let you shop/browse internally and then whisk you away to Safari to coplete the payment. And apple's reason for objecting to this is to protect users from fraudulent payment gateways. Just one customer who had their credit card ripped off after making a 'purchase on an iPhone app' would be extremely damaging to the reputation of the whole iOS ecosystem.
If that was the case, they could require Amazon to use their inapp purchasing platform without taking a 30% cut. It seems pretty clear to me that 30% of all Amazon's iOS business would be a nice addition to anyone's bottom line, and Apple feel like they're in a position to take it.
I don't think they're actually requiring Amazon to do anything, at least not until either party actually confirms this situation. Amazon can sell eBooks from their website to be opened in the Kindle app, just as long as you don't select the product inside the Kindle app. They could allow Amazon to use Apple's payment gateway free of charge, but why bother?
It's a simple separation of concerns: if you're going to initiate inapp purchases that are completed in Safari, then to prove trustworthiness you need to offer purchases via Apple in parallel; if you're going to avoid Apple then you lose the privilege of making the purchase seem sanctioned by the iOS ecosystem.
How big is 30% of Amazon's ebook sales to iDevices really? I'm betting less than what Amazon's presence means as a boost to Apple unit sales. The parallel purchase option is really a sign of more flexibility from Apple.
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#97What if Apple started demanding 30% of all sales transacted on every device they produce? What makes an iPhone so different from a MacBook?
I'm tempted to call the 30% the AppleVAT at this point... What makes iOS purchases different are two things: 1. Apple has oversight of content being sold (helps avoid malicious software in many cases, and age appropriate content). 2. Ease of use - one password to buy stuff, not multiple accounts everywhere. That's what you get as a customer. As a developer, you don't have to deal with the payment processing and other…
>What makes iOS purchases different are two things:
1. Apple has oversight of content being sold (helps avoid malicious software in many cases, and age appropriate content).
So you mean now Apple is going to have to approve eBooks before they appear on the iOS Kindle app? Oh boy.
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kindle books are purchased through a WebKit view of Amazon.com in the iPad app now. That's what Apple is saying can't continue and that there needs to be In App Purchasing support. While it has been implied, I haven't heard specifically that they require the pricing to be the same (so you can't charge more for In App purchases to cover the 30% Apple VAT).
I'm not seeing this in the Kindle app on my iPad. Clicking on "Shop in Kindle Store" kicks you out of the app and into MobileSafari.
MobileSafari = WebKit view
Re: Apple sets deadline for Amazon's Kindle app to change - They want 30% per book
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh, yes, because of course, cell providers whose phones run Android would never think of charging any kind of data tariff or making money in other ways.
No more or no less than on Apple's platform. In truth, with unlocked devices like the Nexus series cell providers have little to no say in the matter any ways. That is, so long as net neutrality remains. If they start doing packet introspection and charging based on destination or traffic type, well, that is going to be bad for all mobile users.
I didn't imply, and also didn't mean, that it was more likely than on iOS. I simply meant, this is going to happen everywhere in the industry.
As for net neutrality, I'm viewing that as a mostly-lost battle at this point, until proven otherwise.