Apple announced that it will enable subscriptions for print, game, and music platforms. However there will be tight controls on pricing, customer data, as well as a 30% cut of revenue. Publishers can now sell subscriptions on their respective websites, keeping 100% of revenue, and collect consumer data. Sounds good, but the catch is when a subscription originates from the itunes App store, Apple is entitled to 30% of the profit. It gets better, Apple requires publishers to offer their subscriptions to iTunes at the same price or lower than elsewhere. Coincidentally, publishers are seeing much more generous terms from Google’s Android platform. Since Apple’s announcement only Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily has opted in for this subscription plan.
In the past many magazines opted to steer clear of Apple’s ipad subscription system, which kept publishers in the dark about their own subscribers. Apple will not tell publishers who is subscribing to the app store unless a consumer specifically “allow” the brand to do so when they are prompted to share their information.
It will be interesting to see how this situation pans out, whether publishers will opt to stay with the #1 tablet platform in the market, or join the Google wave
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