“Time Inc. likes to show off its iPad apps as a symbol of the company’s future. But inside the publisher, the digital editions have become a source of hair-pulling frustration,” Peter Kafka reports for AllThingsD. “That’s because the magazine giant has been unable to get Apple to let it sell and manage subscriptions for its iPad apps — much to Time Inc.’s surprise.”
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“Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple’s iTunes, but would pay Time Inc. directly,” Kafka reports. “But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me.”
Kafka reports, “Since then, Time Inc. executives ‘have been going nuts,’ trying to figure out how to get Apple to approve a subscription plan.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Isn’t this what In-App Purchase is for? Just add the new issues and let the users buy them using that process. What are we missing? Is it just that the magazine publishers don’t want to give Apple their 30% cut even though they’re distributing through Apple’s App Store to devices running Apple’s iOS platform?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
How come magazines on Zinio are able to be bought with subscriptions — and the issues viewed on their iPad app? Is that too different from what Time wants to do?
well i would like for a nice version of the NYT to be automatically uploaded to my ipad every morning with pictures and all so when im running out of my house i can just grab it and go and its in their that is kind of dumb having to download it every-morning even that sucky editors choice from NYT if i dont open up the app before i leave the house im stuck with yesterdays news and if i didn’t open up each article before i left i cant see the pictures apple loves the pay as u go but they let you buy seasons dont they so y cant magazines have things like that you purchased the years worth but not at an individual price or maybe the auto download thing wont work until multi tasking comes to iPad but wouldn’t put be able to do that???
Time magazine for starters needs to lower their rates to reflect derivative content pricing, then pay the appropriate dues that Apple deserves for providing it a gateway through it’s App store.
With a subscription you get to pay for all of the editions up front whether you want them all or not. With in-app purchase you get to buy issue at a time when you feel like it (or not). That’s not a guaranteed revenue stream!
MDN comments are right on the money, no pun intended
they want to have a direct relationship with the end user so they can track readers and tailor advertising
they still don’t get it
They and a lot of other people (Android, Windows users) have a case of free-itis. They think because try want everything for free that they should be able to get it for free. Good for Apple saying, “No, we paid to develop the whole platform on which you’re operating and pay to maintain it. Thre’s no reason on earth why everything should be free within it.” whatever happened to paying someone for the things they create?!
The problem, for Time, seems to be that with the current Apple model, Apple will keep the subscribers’ data. Time wants this data for themselves.
Feel free to speculate on why…
My own personal speculation: There’s a lot of money to be made by selling subscribers’ data to advertisers.
There’s no way in a cold hell I’m paying the current prices on any of those magazines, and frankly, I think given the recurring nature of these things, maybe apple could meet the publishers halfway and take 15% of periodicals. But until there are subscriptions that cost LESS than subscriptions to the physical delivery, I’d rather start paying for access to news websites than for what is currently offered thru apple.
Elgarak….. I think it’s just for the recurring commission. Apple isn’t a ‘sell it’s customers info, kinda company… At least I’d b real disappointed if they did
Apple should sell mags through the bookstore. And as was stated above, Zinio sells subs. Finally, Time is too expensive for content available elsewhere.
I never would have bought an iMac if the only software I could install had to be purchased at an Apple store or through iTunes. I never would have bought an iPod if I hadn’t been able to transfer music purchased outside of iTunes.
In each case, much of the motive in my choosing Apple hardware was not because of Apple’s content, but because of the content I could get from other sources.
The issue, no pun intended, is that people like me, who currently subscribe to Time magazine, don’t want to pay $4.99 an issue since I currently pay only $0.85 an issue. Based on all the paper and postage and therefore money that Time would save by converting subscribers like me to iPad apps, I should pay even less than $0.85 an issue. Finally, as a subsriber, I shouldn’t have to go to the iTunes store each week to get my magazine. It should show up every Friday as an app update, just like it does in my mailbox.
This user comment on the article says a lot.
“It seems to me that magazine publishers want “business as usual”. They want that subscriber list because there is big money in selling it, I would guess. It may be their big money maker. The magazine is just the lure, to get the big list they sell to marketers who fill your mailbox with junk mail and call you at supper time.”
Is it just that the magazine publishers don’t want to give Apple their 30% cut even though they’re distributing through Apple’s App Store to devices running Apple’s iOS platform?
Bingo!
Here’s what the real story is:
The magazine publishers want to continually charge somebody’s credit card every single month without that person’s explicit permission,and leave it up to the person to figure out how to cancel the recurring charges when they don’t want the magazine anymore.
However, Apple is a pro-consumer company and wants to make sure the customer always knows what they are purchasing and when. They want the user to explicitly authorize each charge as it is being made by manually choosing to do the in-app update for the next month’s (or next week’s) subscription.
I am on Apple’s side in this matter. Almost everything that Apple does is in the consumer’s best interest, and this is another example of that.
I can’t stand you socialists who think that everything needs to be given away to your sorry, unemployed, fat, lazy, living in your mommy’s basement asses. Give me a break. I know that you Apple ass kissing retards think that Apple does nothing wrong, but it does. I also know that the dead tree publishers have yet to get a clue about digital publishing, but maybe there’s two parties trying not to tango here.
First, let’s talk about pricing. The reason you pay a small amount per issue is because you pay in advance. Accounting rules allow publishers to book income immediately, even if you’re paying for 52 issues. If you go to the newstand, you pay “list price”, and that’s how it works with buying it online. That being said, I agree that $4.95 an issue is stupid. If I like the magazine (say ESPN’s magazine), I’m willing to pay a bit more.
Second, the 30% distribution cut to Apple is high, but let’s say everyone agrees to that. Why aren’t you Apple kiss-asses not taking Apple to task for not allowing a subscription model? Oh, because Apple is the some mythical demi-god to you retards. In fact, they are no different than BP, save for the polluting the Gulf thing. They want to make profits, you socialist nutjobs.
Third, let’s talk about Zinio. It provides a pdf-like experience, not very interactive. There are no links. Nothing. The reason it’s cheap, it’s a subscription model. Why doesn’t Apple allow that? Oh wait a minute, I forgot, Steve Jobs is some sort of god.
You guys really should go back to downloading porn, because you are clueless.
If provided the option of paying $4.99 for one issue or $12.00 for a one year subscription, I’d pay the $12 upfront for the entire subscription. I’m certainly not going to pay $4.99 per issue.
Zinio’s method of distributing periodicals is crippled. Text cannot be captured to the clipboard. It’s just a copy of the paper version, and is no more interactive than the paper version.
For the time being, I’m subscribing to the Wall Street Journal for the iPad. In many ways, this is a much better example of how to present a periodical in electronic form. But it’s also crippled in important ways. I can’t capture an excerpt to the clipboard; if I want to do that, I’ve got to pay for Web access as well. If free Web subscription came with the app subscription, I might continue subscribing, although the current price is still too high even if Web access were included.
@leftcoastdude
WOW! you seem really bent out of shape for: 1. being from the left coast and 2. being a ummm errrrr a dude….
Dude, you need to chill…from my view point, publishers have been over charging for text books for a very long time and Apple is about to change that. Despite rumors Steve Jobs is NOT God, but he is probably in direct contact with God. We can argue about price, and subscriptions but in the end, the world of the printed media is pretty much over. I want the information and I don’t really care what media I use to get it. I am willing to pay but I am not willing to pay 10x the printed version.
For the record, Zinio does have links. Not much else, tho.
Greedy publishers.
Remember the music industry?
That’s EXACTLY what it is they’re trying to go around apple. But apps like Zino do it that way so…
I hope the emags have better punctuation and are easier to read than whatever MAC_KID posted . . .
I’m not sure I understand – I have several magazine subscriptions thru Zinio that work just fine – why can’t Time set up something like that model? A free reader app that you feed the issues to…
@leftcoastnutcasedude…option one, get your facts straight…the reason you get discount for annuals is because the mags increase their subscriber digits and their rates go up..getting ten dollars up front for a year of a mag doesn’t get near the ad revenue from distribution…also, i buy apple stuff and don’t think twice that apple wants their 30% for their work….
option two…chill a bit,,,rants like this usually, from guys i know, result from a lack of getting laid…try it..you might like it…no app required..