This is what galls some: Apple is doing this because they can, and no other company is in a position to do it. This is not a fear that in-app subscriptions will fail because Apple’s 30 percent slice is too high, but rather that in-app subscriptions will succeed despite Apple’s (in their minds) egregious profiteering. I.e. that charging what the market will bear is somehow unscrupulous. To the charge that Apple Inc. is a for-profit corporation run by staunch capitalists, I say, “Duh”.
If it works, Apple’s 30-percent take of in-app subscriptions will prove as objectionable in the long run as the App Store itself: not very.
News Corp.‘s The Daily launched Feb. 2 with a two-week free trial sponsored by Verizon, ostensibly enough time to give potential subscribers a full taste. But launch glitches that stretched out for a week kept a lot of those potential subscribers from getting a good picture of the News Corp iPad app. The first update came with extensions—and now Publisher Greg Clayman tells paidContent the free trial extensions will continue for several more weeks, at least.
Yep, there were and still are bugs. The other response to this news is that, yeah, subscriptions obviously aren’t going as well as The Daily had hoped. But Clayman won’t talk about subscriber numbers, nor will he say how often the app has been downloaded (though The Daily is currently the No. 1 “top grossing” app in the App Store).
Anyone out there still reading it regularly? I only check in maybe twice a week. As I’ve noted before, if you read the wider Web, glance at your local daily, watch morning TV and/or the evening news, you’ve pretty much already consumed The Daily before you even download the latest edition. “Actual reporting” indeed.
Today’s the day News Corp. unveils its iPad-only news publication, The Daily. New Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will make the announcement today in New York along side Apple’s head of Internet services, Eddy Cue. What do we know so far?
CNN got an early look at the app. It blends multimedia content, has social media functions and even boasts crosswords and sudoku.
Poynter has a list of some of the Daily’s 100 staffers, who have a range of broadcast and print media experience, hailing from such national media outlets as The New York Post, the Associated Press, The Atlantic and Gawker.
The other part of this, which is what publishers will be watching, is whatever new subscription model Apple may allow for apps in its App Store. There’s no ongoing subscription system that allows regular, automatically billed payments via the App Store. Speculation is that Apple will tweak is App Store model for publishers looking to do this very thing.
What They’re Saying
Sight unseen, media pundits are already weighing in on whether The Daily will work:
Alan Mutter says it will work because it carries no legacy media baggage, News Corp. has deep pockets, promotion will be huge and Rupert has access to a wealth of content.
Alan Mutter says it won’t work because it’s not free, there’s a limited market, there’s a lot of competition on the Web and it’ll be a challenge to generate enough reader interest to make the numbers work.
It’s a tall order for Apple, whose fan base expects each big keynote to deliver more than the last. And considering Apple’s track record of innovation in the last 10 years or so, expectations are justifiably high.
Another Disruptor?
Gizmodo's oft-posted Apple Tablet mockup
And Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ tablet (or iPad, or iSlate, or “new” iBook, whatever) has the potential to be another iPod/iPhone-class disruptor, a device that literally Changes Everything. (Jobs apparently believes it’s the “best thing he’s ever done”.) It’s a device that aims at the heart of most major media sectors: software, book publishing, video games, music, movies, TV, newspapers and magazines. It might even alter how we physically interact with computers, depending on what innovations it contains in its user interface, most likely dominated more multi-touch enhancements.
Or, Apple will show up, unveil iPhone 3Gses in assorted colors, “Thanks, that’s all folks,” show’s over and the Internet explodes. Which would be nearly as entertaining!
So what market is Apple going for with its tablet? Netbooks? E-readers? Laptops? Portable gaming devices? The answer is probably a mash-up of all of the above, with emphasis on the portability of netbooks and the functions of an e-reader.
In fact, one can imagine the classic Jobs keynote unfolding on Wednesday, where Jobs talks about the current marketplace for both devices, runs through their limitations and shortcomings, and remarks how ugly and cheap those devices are before unveiling his solution: the powerful, elegant, multimedia powerhouse that will be the tablet.
The business models behind the device might be just as compelling, particularly to publishers and developers. Will this device be backed by an ecosystem that allows magazines, books and newspapers to thrive digitally? Will the software’s capabilities add to a publisher’s toolkit, allowing him to create truly interactive, valuable electronic products that finally justify the price of purchase or advertising?
It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print.
Whatever Apple unveils on Wednesday, it’ll be another chance at seeing some truly great innovations, leaps in hardware and software that soon reach down into our everyday lives.
To get you ready for Wednesday, we’ve posted videos of some of Jobs’ most notable keynotes, including the first iMac, the first iPod and the Mac Mini, after the jump. Boom.
