“Apple’s In-App Subscriptions policy hasn’t always been favourable with magazine and newspaper publishers, forcing some to avoid the App Store altogether, but a recent change to the guidelines may lead to an influx of new content on our iOS devices,” Killian Bell reports for Cult of Mac.
“Previously, Apple’s guidelines on In-App Subscriptions forced publishers to charge the ‘same price or less’ than subscriptions outside the app,” Bell reports. “Now there are no guidelines on price at all, and Apple has eliminated the requirement that external subscriptions must also be offered as an in-app purchase… The only stipulation Apple does demand is that publishers do not provide customers with a ‘buy’ button in their applications that links to an external subscription page and circumvents the App Store.”
Bell reports, “While these changes will certainly lead to a larger selection of content for us consumers, they’re also guaranteed to lead to higher prices as publishers attempt to claw back the 30% cut that Apple takes from all subscriptions. They will also enable existing video and music subscription services to remain in the App Store without having to offer in-app purchases.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dow C.” for the heads up.]
Any company that attempts to mark up their in-app subscription to get back money that they’re not actually losing (as physical distribution cost a lot more then 30%), will not be getting my business.
Open the floodgates & unleash the Kraken!!!
I am glad that Apple decided to change their subscription policies. While it might seem like a bad move in terms of grabbing profits, in the long run it will help to maintain a vibrant iOS ecosystem and Apple will profit more later by taking less now.
It is not clear to me that Bell’s reasoning is valid. Magazines companies already pay big fees to acquire new customers – trial subscriptions, discount subscriptions through Publisher’s Clearinghouse and other avenues, etc. In addition, they avoid the costs of printing and shipping and the product is “produced” as needed to meet demand rather than overproducing to ensure a sufficient supply, thus ensuring costly waste.
I meant “avoiding” costly waste.
This is a surrender by Apple? Why would I even bother offering the in-app subscription if Apple’s going to take 30% and I don’t have to?
I suppose I could just mark up the price of in-app subscription for the fools, and advertise alongside it – “23% DISCOUNT — GO TO http://WWW.MYMAGAZINE.COM FOR DETAILS!”
Publishers win. I guess Apple noticed that not that many of their customers wanted to read The Daily, after all.
–Rob
Completely disagree. It’s worth it to me to pay a bit extra thru Apple to keep my personal info from being sold by publishers. And the convenience and simplicity of the subscription functionality will likewise make it a smoother process to subscribe thru Apple.
This isn’t “surrender” at all – I’m pretty sure this was Apple’s fallback position all along.
You forget that Apple provides more than a point of sale. They are the accomting and distribution parts of the equation as well.
I think Apple may have put the cart before the horse, and is now correcting. While their initial restrictions made business sense, they would only work if the publishers were sufficiently convinced of the value of the platform to go along. Magazine and newspaper publishers are a timid sort, and they may simply not have been sold enough on the concept to submit to the restrictions.
So Apple backs off. Magazines and newspapers hop on board in large numbers. Once Apple’s newsstand becomes a significant part of these guys’ business models, you may start seeing the restrictions come back in some form.
——RM
30% does sound like too high of a cut, though. They really need magazines to be a success on the iPad and so far they have not been. Even if they trimmed it down to 25%, that’d only be a quarter instead of nearly a third.
Publishers may squeal, but they are paying 70%+ for distribution for print. I work at a publishing house and we can find nothing but good in the 30% rate.
Kudos to Apple for reversing their subscription policy!