Apple and Publishers Clash over iPad Magazine Subscription Plans

Posted: Wednesday, 28 July 2010 - 9:15pm Bookmark and Share

Time has been trying to roll-out a subscription program for its Sports Illustrated app, but so far Apple has prevented the New-York based company from moving forward with the program.

Unsurprisingly, the main reason for the disagreement seems to be money: Time is pushing for its readers to pay their subscriptions directly to the publishing company, while Apple wants the readers to pay via their iTunes accounts instead. When it comes to magazines, Apple’s position seems to be similar to the position it adopted with the music industry: iTunes should remain the sole delivery and payment mechanism when it comes to content for iOS-based devices, in order to secure a cut of the revenue for Apple.

Time has been trying to convince Apple to change its position, but so far the situation seems locked, and despite Time’s threats to simply remove its apps from the App Store, Apple hasn’t budged.

More ... http://www.padgadget.com/2010/07/28/apple-and-publishers-clash-on-ipad-m...

Comments

C Jordorson's picture

Submitted by C Jordorson on 29th July 2010
Publishers can sell subscriptions and have access to reader data via Zinio's iPad retail app which doesn't bill via iTunes
Robert's picture

Submitted by Robert on 29th July 2010
I have noticed a few iPhone / iPad apps that don't go through the iTunes platform. This route must be better for publishers.
eyemags.com's picture

Submitted by eyemags.com on 30th July 2010
It really is possible to create Magazine apps for iPad and iPhone without using iTunes. Here at eyemags.com we use an HTML5 capability called "installable webapp". This allows users to install webapps on their iPad/iPhone and read them online or offline and this can be done with or with iTunes involvement. That's the advantage of the HTML5 open standard and despite the publicity about Apple being closed, Apple are far more advanced and open in this area than any other supplier.

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