

Apple Is Now Dead To Me - mikecane
http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/apple-is-now-dead-to-me/

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j_baker
Based on other content on this site, it sounds as though Apple was already
dead to this author.

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baguasquirrel
Talk about sour grapes. Seriously. Where is the content in this article?

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Tycho
I suppose taken to the extreme, someone could just sell a 'myAppStore' app in
the Apple AppStore, and then use that to sell Apps without giving apple
anything. Obviously that wouldn't do. Similar principle with the iBooks store.

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spiralganglion
If I recall correctly, you can't even pull that sort of a stunt on Android,
now.

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jokermatt999
Correct. They even pulled a Kongregate app because it looked too similar to an
app store.

Of course, this being Android, it's easy to just install it from an apk.

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bryanlarsen
Ironically, there are reports that Amazon plans to release a "curated" Android
marketplace app which will have to be installed from an apk, although they're
trying to do an end-run by getting the manufacturers and carriers to do the
installing for them.

Between their marketplace and this 30%, Amazon may be preparing to go "all-in"
on Android...

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cheald
Given that installing from an APK is as easy as "Here's a download link, click
it on your phone, then select the APK from your downloads list", I don't see
that there will be much of a barrier to entry there. Even without carrier
support it won't be hard to get up and running.

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marknutter
I don't see Amazon offering Apple's ebooks on the kindle.

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ebiester
That has more to do with Apple. There is nothing stopping you from putting
other .txt and .mobi files (as an example) on your Kindle.

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technomancy
Indeed; my Kindle has no books from Amazon on it; it's all .mobi and .txt
files I've loaded in myself. That's what makes it such a great device: I get
to choose what I load onto it.

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tptacek
It really sucks that I can't put .mobi and .txt files on my iPad. Damn you,
Apple!

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jokermatt999
Non-iPad owner, so forgive me if I missed the joke, but can you seriously not
do that on the iPad/iPhone? Weird. I use my Droid as a USB drive all the time.

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tptacek
Of course you can do that on an iPad.

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eddieplan9
That's very different from what the press release said this morning on App
Store [<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/02/15appstore.html>]:

 _“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,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO._

In other words, for Kindle, if a new subscriber registered through channels
other than the Kindle iOS App, then Apple does not take a cut.

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panarky
It's not where the customer registers, it's where the sale occurs.

A publisher must make all content that's available elsewhere also available in
the app, and at the same price.

If the customer buys in the app, the transaction settles to the iTunes account
and Apple takes 30% off the top.

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haseman
I bought an iPad thinking I'd be able to access my Kindle books from it. In
fact, I bought more books on the Kindle system specifically because I could
read and sync them across the most number of devices. I'm not saying Apple
isn't within their rights to make this move, it just really pisses me off.
This is the kind of crap I'd expect from Verizon, not Apple.

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awolf
What's the argument here? That Apple isn't entitled to a slice of revenue
generated on its own platform?

I missed the part where the author explained why this is a reasonable stance
to take...

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soljin2000
I think you have this backwards. Apple doesn't provide distribution for Amazon
Kindle. This is like if you bought an HP laptop and charging 30% for each
purchase you make with an application simply because the content falls within
a certain category. Nothing is stopping Apple from declaring tweets news feeds
and charging per transmission. It's not likely to happen but they can do it at
any point. This just illustrates the danger of doing business on a closed
platform with absolute control. They are looking more and more like Microsoft
everyday. As developers or businessmen you would be a fool to support Apple.

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Dylanlacey
It's more like you bought a ticket to an event hosted by Apple and while
there, Amazon set up a free booth giving away carry bags.

Every time you buy something from Amazon (at the event) to put in the carry
bag, Apple takes 30% of the purchase price whilst screeching "WE ALLOWED YOU
TO GIVE AWAY THOSE BAGS!"

So, you've paid money for a platform. Amazon showed up on that platform and
gave away something for free, taking a freely available booth to do so. THEN
they used that to encourage you to buy things from them. And Apple went nuts
and demanded they get 30%, even though you paid for entry and they were giving
booths away for free.

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juiceandjuice
Apple should be careful about creating a MAP in a roundabout way.

<http://elr.lls.edu/issues/v21-issue3/elahi.pdf>

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ddemchuk
Apple provides a content distribution platform connected to a network of
millions of devices, of course they're going to take a cut of revenue
generated on their network

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ajscherer
That's all very fair, but I think what people are taking exception to is
Apple's attempts to prevent their customers from accessing other content
distribution platforms where Apple doesn't get a cut.

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ddemchuk
Why should they not be allowed to generate revenue from someone who is using
all of their technology and network distribution work to make their own money?

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koraybalci
I think you are missing the point here, as an example, Amazon cannot sell
ebooks in its own site if it's cheaper than the version in app store, if so
they remove it from app store. Apple is trying to control pricing outside of
its distribution network. That's what I understand from the whole story.

