eBooks and the Greedy Apple

[macUser2007]

After Steve Jobs pronounced that "nobody reads books anymore," Apple discovered eBooks in order to push the iPad. The it screwed up ebook buyers everywhere, by ushering in the agency model.

Now Apple is screwing its own developers, too:

Dear iFlowReader User,

Thank you for being one of our valued customers. We are writing to you today to make a very sad announcement. BeamItDown Software and the iFlow Reader will cease operations as of May 31, 2011. We absolutely do not want to do this, but Apple has made it completely impossible for anyone but Apple to make a profit selling contemporary ebooks on any iOS device. We cannot survive selling books at a loss and so we are forced to go out of business. We bet everything on Apple and iOS and then Apple killed us by changing the rules in the middle of the game. This is a very sad day for innovation on iOS in this important application category. We are a small company that thought we could build a better product. We think that we did but we are powerless against Apple’s absolute control of the iOS platform.
....

 

[SPEEDwithJJ]

Come to think of it... It is actually not too bad..... At least, Mr. Jobs is not running for president....

 

[fizzwinkus]

It's truly is a sad day for middlemen. May they find another place to suck your money dry.

 

[SPEEDwithJJ]

Isn't similar kinds of things happening to magazine publishers too? Except that I think those magazine publishers transfer those burden of having to pay Mr. Jobs & Co. 30% for distributing content through the App store to us (consumers).

On a side note & I'm just curious. I just renewed my subscription for BusinessWeek for another 100 issues. However, I noticed that I'm paying like more than 50% of the price I had previously paid for a 100 issue subscription. Maybe it is just me, but did those guys really increase their subscription fees that much just because it is also now offered through their BusinessWeek App?

 

[NeroAZ]

no big loss, they sold books in adobe digital editions which sucks. id rather buy kindle or barnes and noble ebooks. both of which i can read on my ipad2, or my kindle or my nook color.

 

[macUser2007]

It's truly is a sad day for middlemen. May they find another place to suck your money dry.

Seriously? Apple is muscling everyone else out, so they can be the only middleman in iOS. Which means that there is no competition, which also means that you end up paying through the nose.

But you are happy about this....

no big loss, they sold books in adobe digital editions which sucks. id rather buy kindle or barnes and noble ebooks. both of which i can read on my ipad2, or my kindle or my nook color.

Huh, what do you have against ePub and PDF? Particularly since this is exactly what the Nook you supposedly have uses?

These are open formats, adopted by the vast majority of publishers, with much greater capabilities than Amazon's mobi iteration, and not proprietary and non-transferable, as what you get if you buy from Apple.

Virtually all public libraries use Adobe Digital Editions to lend ebooks out....

 

[Piggie]

Another article here: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2070093/apple-kills-ebook-company-pricing-greed

 

[Michael CM1]

I have ranted about this 30 percent thing in the past, but honestly is anybody complaining that you can only use Kindle books on an Kindle, Sony Reader books on a Sony Reader, Nook books on a Nook, etc? Yes yes, I know about PDFs. But major publishers use a format with DRM. Apple is really doing nothing worse than its big competitors.

I do think the 30 percent deal needs to be revisited because I'm invested in Kindle books and plan to stay that way. If there's some small service charge for buying books through the app, so be it. But it's not costing Apple 30 percent of whatever to allow ebook purchases. Apple rarely pulls a "that was really dumb" move, but that was really dumb.

 

[fizzwinkus]

Seriously? Apple is muscling everyone else out, so they can be the only middleman in iOS. Which means that there is no competition, which also means that you end up paying through the nose.

But you are happy about this....

authors will find ways to distribute through itunes or amazon directly, either through ibooks or kindle, or their own app. i'm sick and tired of all the games distributors and publishers have been playing over the last ten years with ebooks.

maybe you think amazon was more fair with their 70% cut (before ibooks drastically reduced it to 30%)?

 

[macingman]

maybe you think amazon was more fair with their 70% cut (before ibooks drastically reduced it to 30%)?

+1 OP you fail get your facts straight before posting a rant. And also no one really cares about books these days too. Believe me in 100 years time books would be a thing of the past.

 

[Piggie]

+1 OP you fail get your facts straight before posting a rant. And also no one really cares about books these days too. Believe me in 100 years time books would be a thing of the past.

And perhaps the Video Recorder will kill the Cinema's
I mean no one will ever want to go to the cinema when they can enjoy the film for a lower price in the comfort of their own home?

Can you just imagine how horrid it would be now if eBooks has been invented 100's of years ago?

All the lovely leather bound volumes, the glorious artwork, the quality of the actual books themselves, hand stitching on the very expensive one.
With gold leaf inlays, how wonderful it is to have just physical objects in the world, some in museums for future generations to treasure.

How horrid it would be, if all we had of the past was the e'data on a hard drive

 

[Janet1]

After Steve Jobs pronounced that "nobody reads books anymore," Apple discovered eBooks in order to push the iPad. The it screwed up ebook buyers everywhere, by ushering in the agency model.

If Mr. Jobs really believes that, then when my iPad is stolen at the beach, he can buy me a new one.

Sorry Stevie, but I'm not about to sit on the shore in the hot sun all day, just to protect my iPad. Paperback novels and magazines are rarely stolen, if ever.

I even have my subscription to the Gamestop magazine sent to me via hardcopy. I enjoy relaxing by turning the pages. I like some ebooks, but even though most of my business publications are available electronically, I prefer ordering them in hard copy too.

Yes, all this has killed off a lot of newspaper businesses as well.

VCRs and DVDs have harmed the movie theater industry, but people still enjoy going to the movie, just to get out of the house, go on a date, or to hang out someplace different with their friends. Most of us are social creatures and don't really want to become recluses, sitting alone at home by ourselves, behind a computer screen.

 

[btrav13]

This is a pathetic thing to complain about. If BeamItDown wants to have it's product on APPLE'S platform, then Apple should get some cut of being the "gateway". Just because Apple's devices are popular does not give these developers a carte blanche free ride to Apple's base of customers. If you can't survive keeping 70% of the profits, then you're a poorly run business.

I'm tired of people saying "Apple pushes people around". I see it the other way around...these publishers want a cushy job just sitting around all day making Apps for a popular platform, then complain that they actually have to pay the platform innovator to use their platform. How stupid of an argument is this?!

 

[jb1280]

The only book readers on iOS that fundamentally matter are what happens with Kindle and Nook. Call me cynical, but part of me thinks that this company is using the 30% rule as a convenient way to bow out without having to acknowledge any failure on their own part.