ComiXology Retires App, Debuts New Read-Only Version After Amazon Purchase

[JonLa]

Yes, thanks for clarifying. While the price increases are not directly related to the buy-out, there certainly hasn't been a corresponding decrease in price by 30% now that they've moved away from in-app purchases. I suppose that was more my point. But yes...the VAT issue is why we're going to see an increase in the cost of apps/songs in the near future. I wish Apple's comic offering was a little more robust through iBooks, because they offer some better deals than Comixology did. But the beauty of Comixology was the simplicity of a dedicated app for that purpose, not to mention the handy cell-by-cell reading method.

To be clear - they had to open UK and EU stores so that people here could still purchase stuff in local currencies once the in-app purchases vanished (people are wary of buying in dollars for some reason). Once they did that, VAT was liable, but it's probably Luxembourg VAT (where amazon is registered) rather than UK (and thus lower). I've been exploiting the exchange rate to undercut the in-app prices by buying from comixology.com and that route has now been closed to me.

They didn't have to open the UK store at all, but once they did, they have to charge us some VAT...

 

[0098386]

Comixology were perfectly content with this model. This is pure amazon crap.

Breaking news! Small company okay with being slightly screwed over by bigger company so long that it means they can support their small company, big company not happy with a cut of their sale going needlessly to a 3rd party.

 

[jordanm86]

Or Android will become the de-facto comics reading platform, and hopefully it will be another stab in the heart for the Apple 30% tax on in-app purchases they have nothing to do with (as will the eventual EU investigation into such a clearly anti-competitive move).

30% tax?

Granted, it may seem high but Apple are acting as the retailer and regardless whether it is online or not, retailing incurs costs.

If you accidentally download the wrong app, who do you contact? If there is a fault with the app and you want a refund, who do you contact? Apple.

When you go to buy some snazzy new shoes from a store, how much money do you think the retailer makes? I bet it will be more than 30%.

If this was challenge as "anti-competitive", all of trade/retailing would be called into question :-/

 

[Chupa Chupa]

30% tax?

Granted, it may seem high but Apple are acting as the retailer and regardless whether it is online or not, retailing incurs costs...

When you go to buy some snazzy new shoes from a store, how much money do you think the retailer makes? I bet it will be more than 30%.

To be even more precise here, that shoe retailer in the mall has to pay the landlord a % of total sales (not profit, sales). That is on top of the normal rent. In iTunes case, Apple is the landlord, and the app dev is getting benefit of Apple marketing and customer base.

Apple's 30% cut is fairly normal, even low in some regards, if one truly understands retail. The grocery business is even more brutal w/ brands having to pay stores for the best shelf locations.

 

[japanime]

Yes, we all know that Apple takes 30 percent. But how many here are aware that Amazon takes even more than 30 percent from indie comic publishers?

For every comic ebook sold through the Kindle Store, Amazon takes not only 30 percent of the sale, but also charges the publisher for the "delivery" of the book to the customer's Kindle. The publisher must pay a bandwidth charge of 15 cents per megabyte — an amount that really adds up when the comic consists of several megabytes of high-resolution images. (Apple, on the other hand, charges a flat 30 percent. There are no additional "delivery" charges involved.)

So, you see, Amazon isn't putting more money into the comic book publisher's pockets by removing IAP from the Comixology app — it's putting more money its own pockets.

 

[Tiger8]

It seems whenever a big company buys a smaller one they ruin things.

Amen... You should check out all those companies that big red (Oracle) bought over the years...

 

[The Phazer]

To be clear - they had to open UK and EU stores so that people here could still purchase stuff in local currencies once the in-app purchases vanished (people are wary of buying in dollars for some reason). Once they did that, VAT was liable, but it's probably Luxembourg VAT (where amazon is registered) rather than UK (and thus lower). I've been exploiting the exchange rate to undercut the in-app prices by buying from comixology.com and that route has now been closed to me.

They didn't have to open the UK store at all, but once they did, they have to charge us some VAT...

No, it's not related to that.

If you have operations in the EU, as of legal changes coming in this year, you must charge the applicable VAT in country of reception, not of the sender's origin (there's a list of six criteria that you can use to help determine this, such as IP address, customer address, BIN code of the payment method etc.

Even if Comixology was going to continue selling through the app store, they still were going to have to start charging UK customers UK VAT. The Luxembourg loophole has been shut.

----------

30% tax?

Granted, it may seem high but Apple are acting as the retailer and regardless whether it is online or not, retailing incurs costs.

If you accidentally download the wrong app, who do you contact? If there is a fault with the app and you want a refund, who do you contact? Apple.

When you go to buy some snazzy new shoes from a store, how much money do you think the retailer makes? I bet it will be more than 30%.

If this was challenge as "anti-competitive", all of trade/retailing would be called into question :-/

The anti-competitive part is where Apple dictates that hardware manufactured by them can only have items sold to it using them as the retailer, even if they offer uncompetitive terms.

The blunt truth is that for in-app purchases Apple was doing nothing more than credit card processing and protecting their own payment monopoly. That would attract no more than a 5% commission in the market, and there is no market, as Apple blocks competitors because it knows it cannot compete.

It is a scummy concept, and Apple should be ashamed over it. It protects them from putting out bad products that hurts customers.

 

[boraxatude]

Hope it's a positive for the Creator-owned comics

One has to remember that there are a lot of indy, creator-owned titles on Comixology and this Amazon buyout could benefit them (me) by reducing distribution fees, resulting in a higher net split between Comixology/Amazon and creator... Or not. It's a wait and see.

The obvious plus is that the distribution network will grow exponentially.

Not being able to purchase titles in app of course defeats the purpose and popularity of the app, to begin with. Hopefully readers will not abandon ship too hastily. Marvel and DC don't care... But we small people do!

 

[pmau]

Lets just assume for a moment that you work for a big company.

This company has also Apps on Apples App Store because they offer services to iOS users worldwide.

These Apps are all free of charge. And here's why:

It is the companies policy that they do not split their revenue with another company. They are unwilling to subsidize Apple based on the number of users of their products and services.

That's policy. Plain and simple.

Now if you are a small company and App revenue is part of your business, that's fine. But big companies are allergic to cross-finance other companies that way.

Amazon simply cannot give Apple that 30% from App Store In-App Purchases.

I have been a long time comiXology user and I will not give Amazon any more money than I already do. The main advantage was the ease of purchase, which is gone now.

 

[Atycho]

Lol, did anybody even use this app?????
Like... at all??!
I am an avid comic book reader, going on three decades now. I definitely am a part of the "community". I go to my local shop... I order the variant covers.. I read more than a dozen titles monthly... I am VERY in-touch w/ the comic book scene. Everybody I know that reads comics on iPad (which is.... practically everybody I know that reads comics) has shied away from the two WORST comic book reader/store apps on the marketplace - sadly, one is Marvel's, & the other is ComiXology...
We all read our .cbr files with an app like Comic Zeal. Unfortunately... since not that many good stores exist for digital comics beyond the indie scene, piracy is understandably rampant. It will be curbed & somebody will make a lot of money when an approach like that Apple took with mp3s is applied.
I would LOVE to buy all my comics in digital form & at a reasonable price.. NOBODY will sell them to me!!

 

[shandyman]

One has to remember that there are a lot of indy, creator-owned titles on Comixology and this Amazon buyout could benefit them (me) by reducing distribution fees, resulting in a higher net split between Comixology/Amazon and creator... Or not. It's a wait and see.



The obvious plus is that the distribution network will grow exponentially.



Not being able to purchase titles in app of course defeats the purpose and popularity of the app, to begin with. Hopefully readers will not abandon ship too hastily. Marvel and DC don't care... But we small people do!

As someone already said, amazon take more money with books on kindle, so this will probably apply to comics now too.

Lol, did anybody even use this app?????

Like... at all??!

I am an avid comic book reader, going on three decades now. I definitely am a part of the "community". I go to my local shop... I order the variant covers.. I read more than a dozen titles monthly... I am VERY in-touch w/ the comic book scene. Everybody I know that reads comics on iPad (which is.... practically everybody I know that reads comics) has shied away from the two WORST comic book reader/store apps on the marketplace - sadly, one is Marvel's, & the other is ComiXology...

We all read our .cbr files with an app like Comic Zeal. Unfortunately... since not that many good stores exist for digital comics beyond the indie scene, piracy is understandably rampant. It will be curbed & somebody will make a lot of money when an approach like that Apple took with mp3s is applied.

I would LOVE to buy all my comics in digital form & at a reasonable price.. NOBODY will sell them to me!!

I used to pirate until comixology came out. I read mostly marvel and DC and the nearest comic book store for me was a £30, 3 hour round trip. Just because you and some of the people you know didn't use this app, which is only the worst in your opinion, doesn't mean no one used it. Me and most the comic book fans I know use comixology all the time now and buy more than we normally would. This added hassle has frustrated everyone I know. Some are talking about going back to old ways.

 

[mw360]

Lol, did anybody even use this app?????
Like... at all??!
I am an avid comic book reader, going on three decades now. I definitely am a part of the "community". I go to my local shop... I order the variant covers.. I read more than a dozen titles monthly... I am VERY in-touch w/ the comic book scene. Everybody I know that reads comics on iPad (which is.... practically everybody I know that reads comics) has shied away from the two WORST comic book reader/store apps on the marketplace - sadly, one is Marvel's, & the other is ComiXology...
We all read our .cbr files with an app like Comic Zeal. Unfortunately... since not that many good stores exist for digital comics beyond the indie scene, piracy is understandably rampant. It will be curbed & somebody will make a lot of money when an approach like that Apple took with mp3s is applied.
I would LOVE to buy all my comics in digital form & at a reasonable price.. NOBODY will sell them to me!!

I'm not sure I understand. Why do you say nobody will sell them to you? What is wrong with all of the comic stores that already exist? Is it just the prices that, after decades, you've suddenly decided you don't like?

 

[shandyman]

For those that haven't seen this, Gerry Conway makes great points. Amazon are ruining the sales of comics digitally. http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2014/04/30/the-comixology-outrage/