Traditional publishers -- concerned that Apple's anticipated tablet computer could affect their business the way the iPod disempowered music publishers -- are discussing possible strategies, including an industry-wide digital storefront where tablet users could buy digital issues or subscriptions without going through iTunes or the App Store.

It's true that magazine and newspaper publishers are eager to sell digital editions tailored for the tablet and other devices -- but they're just as determined to prevent Apple from getting between them and their readers along the way. They saw how Apple dictated music prices on iTunes, where for a long time the world learned that every song was worth 99 cents, no less and no more. And they've watched Amazon exert total control over the magazine and newspaper subscriptions it sells on the Kindle, refusing to provide publishers any information about their own subscribers through the Kindle Store.

If the Apple tablet that many expect early next year proves popular for flipping through tailored editions of magazines and newspapers, Apple's iTunes or App Store could become chokepoints between readers and publishers.
"There's a lot of activity right now at all of the major newspaper and magazine publishers around 'What is our role?'" said one magazine executive this week, who declined to speak on the record because of the sensitivity around interactions with Apple. "A lot of the conversations are around 'We need to control the customer relationship.' We are not interested in doing an Amazon thing or even an Apple thing where they own the data."

Information about subscribers is important in a number of ways. Details about the audience make advertising more attractive to marketers, help publishers sell other titles and products to their existing subscribers and underpin the database-marketing services that publishers are increasingly offering.

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