Comments on: Can the FT help publishers quit their Apple addiction? http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/ The industry leader in emerging technology research Sun, 22 Jan 2017 22:31:47 +0000 hourly 1 By: JOHN http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629898 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:10:49 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629898 I think this will fail. The app does not work well, and does not work offline (for me and many other readers it seems as of today).

What the FT and other publishers want is to distribute their content and make users pay for it while not paying anyone for distribution costs? Can’t work! There is no such thing as free distribution – Apple is providing the paper, printing presses, distribution channels, and if you subscribe within iTunes, payment systems etc.

FT readers can always subscribe online (and FT can promote that in app) in which case Apple would get 0 revenue.

I don’t understand the economic logic of people. I have experience in the content world and there always has to be a revenue split between the various actors in the value chain! Apple’s 30%, contrary to common perception, is far from being outrageously high.

What the FT could have done would be to be smart to continue partnership with Apple to ensure superior user experience (like on their iPad app) and negotiate a better deal than 30%, conditional on revenue brought by FT for example. Maybe Apple was tough in negotiations, but rightly so.

As an FT premium subscriber if the FT goes the web app route only I’d be hugely disappointed unless the web app manages to be on part with native app.

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By: John Dingler http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629718 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:16:47 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629718 You are lying; Apple does not preclude subscribers from opting in to giving personal info. to the publisher.

Read the Apple guidelines again.

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By: Magazine Design http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629690 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:51:05 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629690 Oh, this makes me so happy. I really hope more magazine publishers make this kind of move â€” or perhaps form an association to create a cooperative newsstand that circumvents the App Store and iTunes. Unless publishers have millions of faithful readers who will come looking for their content, I think it’ll be difficult for individual magazines to go it alone. More outlets equals more competition, and that can only be a good thing for readers.

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By: Steve Appenzeller http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629683 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:38:05 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629683 I don’t think anyone disputes the value of a newsstand. Being a content aggregator definitely adds value and the question for publishers is how to best capture that value. It may be in the Apple or Android marketplaces, it may be in some other model.

By the same token, “marquee” publications have substantial value to the newsstand as anchor tenants that should be accounted for. It would be premature for a publication, especially one like the FT with a substantial following, to put all their chips down with a single solution at this point. Only with actual usage data over time and a full knowledge of revenue and cost economics can decisions be made. Exploring options like FT is doing seems pretty smart.

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By: Mike S. http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629653 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:44:08 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629653 The one-sidedness in this article is amazing. Reading it, you would think there’s no value whatsoever in being part of a virtual newsstand, and that any company would be crazy not to go it alone on the web.
In the real world, those potential customers that the newsstand brings may have a lot of value, and if you go it alone, you’ve got to somehow drive new customers to your web app by yourself.
No recognition of this at all.

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By: KenG http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629628 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:20:42 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629628 The 30% cut that Apple takes is defensible if they are finding customers for the publishers – if you are selling an app that people don’t really know about, then paying Apple to direct people to your app makes sense. However, if you just want to use Apple for digital distribution, a 30% cut is exorbitant. Neither the FT nor the NYT needs Apple to reach new customers. They, along with many other publishers, would be happy to give away apps that enable paid subscriptions that they manage, but Apple doesn’t allow it. Once Android has a viable periodical distribution system, Apple will be forced to compete, or cede that market.

Yes, the cost of printing and distributing physical copies is a lot more than 30%, but also their revenue is less. This is not a fair comparison, what should be compared is how much it costs any company to run a content distribution network. However, Apple doesn’t allow publishers to do that, and that is what upsets them. the FT has implemented a work-around, and while it’s not the best solution possible, it is pretty good given Apple’s restrictions.

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By: Hoomy http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629625 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:15:53 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629625 Important: if you’re going to search for information never stop at the abridged “Wikipedia” page for dummies. Go to the source…

“Apple employees have contributed the majority of work on WebKit since it became an independent project. Apple uses WebKit for Safari on Mac OS X, iPhone and Windows; on the former two it is also a system framework and used by many other applications. Apple’s contribution has included extensive work on standards compliance, Web compatibility, performance, security, robustness, testing infrastructure and development of major new features.”

I’m so happy to learn that FT enjoys such a successful subscription system; I guess they don’t need anybody’s help then…

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By: Steve Appenzeller http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629604 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:34:27 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629604 I am not sure how this move by FT obviates Flash for readers. I think we can all agree that Flash has some issues, but at the present time browsing the web without it isn’t a complete experience.

I won’t debate whether Flash should be a part of the web in the future (the market will sort that out), but right now it is. When I browse on my iPad it’s not rare to run across elements that just don’t render properly, or at all. Yes, some are those dreaded Flash based ads, but on many sites it’s actual segments of the content that are missing.

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By: Kawika Holbrook http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629600 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:27:14 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629600 This is exactly what Apple wanted developers to do before the App Store launched like a rocket. Either way, Apple wins another round as FT’s move obviates Flash for readers.

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By: PXLated http://gigaom.com/2011/06/07/can-the-ft-help-publishers-quit-their-apple-addiction/#comment-629590 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:03:26 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=356601#comment-629590 But, if Apple hadn’t adopted it, enhanced it, and used it in Safari, we wouldn’t have heard of Konqueror and the KDE folk would be toiling in obscurity. Apple put some great people on it and got the ball rolling.

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