Straight from a publisher, Forbes: “Pam Horan, publisher of the Online Publishers Association, says the trade organization’s members — a group that includes Time Inc., Hearst, Conde Nast, Bloomberg, National Geographic and, yes, Forbes — are worried the new regime doesn’t give them the flexibility they need to serve their customers.“
The flexibility to serve their customers,” Kontra writes. “What does Apple do to deny publishers that ‘flexibility’ then? One click to opt in to data sharing.”
Pam Horan, again: “Anything that requires the consumer to take yet another step is always going to reduce the number of people that participate in the process. It limits the ability to gather audience insights to build the right products. With this inability to know who your consumers are, it really affects the ultimate product for the consumer.”
“Put simply, publishers don’t want readers to opt in, because they know readers will prefer to opt out. Transparency is not a friend of publishers who for decades made a mint by selling out readers to advertisers and list brokers,” Kontra writes. “Most readers may not be aware of this, but those who are don’t like it. Publishers know that and hate Apple for calling their bluff. If personal info harvesting isn’t essential for publishers’ business model and it is in the interest of readers, then why would they be against an instant referendum in the form of the opt in button?”
Kontra writes, “This, of course, isn’t about the readers. It’s not even about Apple’s App Store. It’s about the clash of two different business models. One that sells the customer to the highest bidder through a product and the other that sells a product directly to the customer.”
Much more in the full article – very highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Kontra nails it. Please click through and read the excellent full article. Don’t be fooled by media companies who try to say that what Apple has set up is a bad thing for consumers. As we wrote the day Apple unveiled their App Store subscription rules: “Apple’s on the side of the consumer yet again.”
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Chas” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Google follows Apple, announces subscription plan for digital content – February 16, 2011
Apple’s subscription rules cause some to utter ‘antitrust’ – February 16, 2011
App Store subscription terms for content providers to focus on the consumer – February 15, 2011
Analyst: App Store subscriptions another plus for Apple’s ecosystem – February 15, 2011
Apple’s App Store subscription rules cause concern at media companies – February 15, 2011
Apple debuts subscription service on the App Store; Steve Jobs: ‘Brand new opportunity’ for content publishers – February 15, 2011