
The Apple ebook apocalypse draws nigh  - apress
http://theorangeview.net/2011/05/the-apple-ebook-apocalypse-draws-nigh/
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ender7
Is it possible for 3rd party ebook readers to display books bought through the
iBook store? If the answer is "no" then this seems like a great way to ensure
bad ebook software on your platform.

Case in point: no one seems to really like the iBook app very much.

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dstein
What Apple is doing here is not new. They want to eliminate the middleman of
any type, and thus become the only middleman.

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rsl7
Apple is saying: you may not innovate on our ridiculously innovative platform.
We will hold the tantalizing promise of this star trek device just beyond your
reach.

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tzs
In some industries being a middleman could be innovative. I don't see how
ebook publishing is one of them.

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recoiledsnake
Maybe the App could be unique? iFlow eschews the paradigm of pages and
provides autoscrolling. This will kill innovation in any new UI for ebook
reading.

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semanticist
Then sell the app.

The only value iFlow-as-a-company added to the world was their apparently
awesome app. Being an unnecessary middle-man in the ebook retail market didn't
bring any new value to the world.

They should've just charged for their app, and allowed people to add epubs to
it in the same way as Stanza.

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junklight
So as far as I can tell the kindle app is a big reason why a lot of people use
the ipad - kicking it off is going to hurt Apple in terms of publicity and
users.

Apple tend to be quite good at acting in their own interests.

What worries me more is that if I was Amazon I would be aiming to get my
kindle app kicked off the store (by doing something that pissed Apple but not
my customers off) about the time I launched my shiny new kindle tablet.....

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hugh3
Does Apple have its own ebook store yet? If not, I'm amazed and assume it's
coming soon. If it does, you can hardly expect 'em to be kind to direct
competitors running on their own platform.

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recoiledsnake
It does, it's called iBooks. Being kind is very different from pushing out
outright.

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hugh3
Well, they're not pushing it out, just demanding a 30% share. The fact that
most of the publishers want a 70% share is the icing on the cake, but no
reason you couldn't still deal with a _minor_ publisher, or be your own
publisher.

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throwaway32
do you really think its a co-incidence apple is demanding exactly the same
amount that publishers designate as "allowed margin"?

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hugh3
No idea. But here's another question: do you think Apple has an obligation to
help your bottom line at the expense of their own bottom line?

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bradleyland
When it comes to competitors, I'm indifferent. When it comes to being a user,
I get a little aggrivated that my options are limited because Apple has
decided they need to compete not just in the consumer electronics market, but
in the eBook reseller market as well.

I fear the same fate awaits services like Netflix and Pandora as well. Two
apps that I flatly will not trade for Apple offerings. I will cease to be a
customer if either of these two companies are pushed off the platform, and I'm
an aboslute die-hard iOS fan.

