A group of news publishers sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook seeking similar deal terms in its App Store that Amazon gets for its video-streaming service.
Gerry Smith and Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
A group of news publishers sent a letter to Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook seeking similar deal terms in its App Store that Amazon.com Inc. gets for its video-streaming service.
Apple takes 30% of the revenue from most subscriptions in its App Store, then 15% after the first year. But in late July, a congressional antitrust panel disclosed internal emails showing a more-favorable deal struck between Apple services chief Eddy Cue and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. They agreed to a 15% revenue share for Amazon Prime Video customers who signed up through the iPhone app and no revenue share for users who already subscribed via Amazon or elsewhere, the emails showed.
“We would like to know what conditions our members — high quality digital content companies — would need to meet in order to qualify for the arrangement Amazon is receiving for its Amazon Prime Video app in the Apple App Store,” Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, wrote in the letter to Cook.
Digital Content Next represents several news outlets that rely on subscriptions for much of their revenue, including The New York Times, News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The group also represents Bloomberg LP, owner of Bloomberg News.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Amazon can offer Apple access to their online store, so Apple and Amazon have a wide-ranging deal that delivers benefits to both companies for working together. (See: Amazon strikes deal with Apple to sell new iPhones, iPads, and more worldwide – November 9, 2018) All The New York Times et al. have to offer Apple, besides a seemingly endless stream of cheapskate complaints, is worthless fiction and slanted propaganda masquerading as journalism. (Ironically, The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.)
Visit Apple’s store on Amazon.com here.