For the past 15 months or so, Apple has allowed companies to have apps on the app store which had provisions inside the app for consumers to buy things at another site. In such instances Apple received no money for that. Anything sold through the app store nets Apple a 30% cut. All this time, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony Books and others had apps through which they sold books to I-Padsters. Apple did not profit from this. It was very nice for us, and incredibly magnanimous of Apple to allow us to use their app store to buy books from their competitors.
When you think about it, that was incredibly decent of Apple. I think it was also good for business, as far as selling I-Pads goes. It was not a closed system. You were not locked in. What I mean is, if you have a Nook, you buy from Barnes and Noble. If you were to say, "Dang it! Those I-Pads look cool and can do so much. I'll buy one." Well, guess what? Those 78 books on your Nook? They don't transfer to your I-Pad, is my understanding. Also, you can't cruise to I-Books and buy a book with your Nook, I don't think.
It's the same deal with Kindle, I understand. With Kindle, you buy from Amazon and only books from Amazon can you read on a Kindle.
On my I-Pad, I have books from Kobo, Sony Books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Stanza, Google Books and others. I like that. It feels, tastes and smells like freedom.
Now, things are about to change. As of today, Apple demands that for any app on their store, that app cannot have listed on it a means of buying something outside the app store. That would seem to negate buying a book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Apple wants their 30% cut. When a vendor sells you a game, Apple gets 30% of the price.
Will Apple truly enforce this, beginning today? Gee, I hope not. I can see where it would be beneficial in some instances where game companies have done some unsavory things once they got people to other sites. No, I'm talking about the book thing. I truly understand how Apple feels slighted. They are helping their major competitors sell books and getting no cut. But the way they have handled this up until now has been so darn big and visionary, successful and magnanimous that I feel it would be a mistake to change now.
Many folks chose the I-Pad for the ability to get books from all over. Let's not change the status quo which has made you the dominant, almost the only, figure in the tablet market. What part of that 14 billion dollar app store pie don't you like? Isn't it enough to be one of the most admired and successful companies on earth, a true trendsetter? Don't risk all by closing your fist on something that is certainly yours by every legal and moral standard. Are you justified in doing this? Yes. Does it make good sense, business wise? Absolutely. But is it what is best for you? I think not.
Think about Dell computers. If you had a Dell PC and Dell wanted a cut from everything you bought off it, you'd freak out, right? Well, that's not a good analogy because Dell doesn't have an app store, but you catch my drift. This tablet of mine is a computer. Give me freedom to enjoy it. People knock you, Apple, for being proprietary. Don't fall into this scenario. Don't allow this tendency in you to sour things now, when you are on top of the world. How can things get better for you? Let's have detente, free trade and all that. Let's see Kindle and Nook allow books from Apple and vice-versa. Then, when the Amazon tablet comes out, Steve Jobs can say, "Hey, Jeff Bezos, where's the I-Books app? Where's the App Store app on that thing? I want people to buy app store games on the Amazon tablet. "
Let every e-reader work for any book from any store. If we're into this e-book thing, let's get all the way in. Let's not hinder a great new opportunity. Go in peace, my children.
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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