Apple’s App Store subscription rules cause concern at media companies

13 years ago

“Apple Inc. launched a new service for its App Store that allows for magazine and newspaper subscriptions for its popular iPhone and iPad devices, but publishers and other suppliers of content aren’t rejoicing,” Nat Worden reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The service is setting up a conflict with some major media companies that are wary of allowing the computing giant to come between them and their customers.”

Worden reports, “Most publishers have yet to reach agreement with Apple to sell subscription apps, due to issues such as pricing disputes and the company’s privacy policy, which requires subscribers to opt-in to share their names and addresses with the publishers of the magazines or papers they will get digitally.”

MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s on the side of the consumer yet again.

Worden reports, “Under the new service, companies can no longer provide links in their apps that allow customers to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app—a requirement that could have major repercussions for the way movies and books are consumed through Apple devices. An Apple spokeswoman said apps that currently aren’t in compliance with this requirement will have to change. Popular media apps that could be affected include Netflix Inc., Amazon Inc.’s Kindle app, Hulu LLC’s Hulu Plus app and The Wall Street Journal.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Publishers who don’t like Apple’s terms are more than welcome to invest in the creation of apps for tablets not named iPad if they mistakenly believe that will net them more profits.

“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing. All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.” – Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, February 15, 2011