I think Googles is primarily web-based is it not? I understood that part of their play was to allow a means for newspapers and others to construct a paywall around their online versions. Which may in part explain the lower commission.
If the natural conclusion to these efforts is that we have primarily a few points of entry (single log-ons) for commerce and communication (at least via our mobile devices) it’s going to be brutal if someone grabs your account details.
Seems to be, which makes it a different product than what Apple is offering (even though all the headlines suggest that Google is undercutting Apple on the same product). If it’s competing with the web, then they are trying to charge for content that people are currently used to getting for free. And if it’s competing with Apple, then Apple’s product is better since I can use it offline and don’t have to wait for pages / pictures / audio / video to load.
[quote=“mabagal”]I would imagine the rent at Taipei 101’s shopping mall is more than the rent in a less trafficked / less spend happy area, amirite?
Yet retailers have locations at multiple malls, all with different rents.[/quote]
However products sold at Taipei 101 tend to be more expensive than the same products sold in cheaper districts. Apple however wants their Taipei 101 to have the lowest price around. 
[quote=“Adam_CLO”][quote=“mabagal”]I would imagine the rent at Taipei 101’s shopping mall is more than the rent in a less trafficked / less spend happy area, amirite?
Yet retailers have locations at multiple malls, all with different rents.[/quote]
However products sold at Taipei 101 tend to be more expensive than the same products sold in cheaper districts. Apple however wants their Taipei 101 to have the lowest price around. [/quote]
Not at the same retailer in another district, however.
Here’s an example of what I was talking about:
[quote=“The Very Rich Indie Writer”]Meet Amanda Hocking. She’s been in the news for quite a bit now, and I’ve been meaning to write about her since January (or really, to write about the phenomenon she represents – and what it means for web fiction). But if you don’t already know of her, allow me:
Amanda Hocking is 26* years old. She has 9 self-published books to her name, and sells 100,000+ copies of those ebooks per month. She has never been traditionally published. This is her blog. And it’s no stretch to say – at $3 per book1/70% per sale for the Kindle store – that she makes a lot of money from her monthly book sales. (Perhaps more importantly: a publisher on the private Reading2.0 mailing list has said, to effect: there is no traditional publisher in the world right now that can offer Amanda Hocking terms that are better than what she’s currently getting, right now on the Kindle store, all on her own.)
And that is stunning news.
KINDLE STORE ECONOMICS
Why this is happening, and how it can happen, is a question that’s been explored by other indie writers experimenting with sales on the Kindle store. J.A.Konrath is arguably the best authority on this, and the logic goes roughly as follows:
[quote]If you’re an indie writer, you get to sell books at a price way, way lower than what a Traditional Publisher can sell at. And yet you make more money, because your only costs are to an ebook and cover art designer (whereas the traditional publisher has to support a legacy system, plus the traditionally published author gets a 30% cut, while you get 70%).
In the meantime, readers are more inclined to buy your stories, even if you’re an unknown author, simply because your book prices are cheaper. So you get high sales, low ebook prices, but high revenue once you’ve hit sufficient scale. And the best thing is that it’s infinitely scalable: your ebooks are out there, getting sales every single day. No shelf-space, no print runs to worry about.[/quote]
You’re making a killing, and are able to compete with traditional publishers at their own game.
Well, in the context of an ebook store, that is.[/quote]
I’ve read some stuff by Brandon Sanderson – now very well established – on trying to make it as an author, and the primary barrier – obscurity – and some of the risks taken to overcome it. I don’t know how this model helps overcome that, but still… damn.
The internet did for a lot of bands…but e-books look like an empowering force for original authors. I absolutely agree that pricing is the key, I have been turned off purchasing far too many books by sticker shock, I just can’t justify 500-1000 NTD on something that might be a chapter of original material.
It’s a similar situation in the app store, where indie developers like me can now compete with larger software companies. The #1 game on the app store now - Tiny Wings - was developed by an indie developer.
It’s great for the consumer because:
It’s great for the developer since:
It seems like this is happening with e-books now. Maybe in the future, indie magazines and newspapers will be out there competing with the big boys.
ARS: Apple quietly drops special subscription requirements for iOS apps
Good. Apple’s knuckled under. I got their argument, but 30% was overreach. I very much hope Apple doesn’t knuckle under on providing subscriber information without permission.
Kobo creating HTML5 Web app to buffer Apple
The iOS Kindle app (along with Kobo and other ereading apps) has been updated to remove the link to purchase content from their website. They are not even allowed to mention their site. So new users who download their app won’t have any content, nor will they have instructions on how to add content. So Apple is forcing these companies to update their apps to provide a worse customer experience.
Hopefully Apple will relinquish as this means the same app on competing platforms now provides a better user experience.
[quote=“Adam_CLO”]They are not even allowed to mention their site. So new users who download their app won’t have any content, nor will they have instructions on how to add content. So Apple is forcing these companies to update their apps to provide a worse customer experience.
Hopefully Apple will relinquish as this means the same app on competing platforms now provides a better user experience.[/quote]
Feels like extortion, doesn’t it?
But you do overstate the case, a little. Amazon COULD send direct e-mails to their Kindle customers reminding them that they can get content from the web site and indicate they want it sent to their iOS Kindle.
Amazon has no way of knowing which Kindle customers of theirs use their iOS app. So they would have to spam all their Kindle users with information that only applies to iOS users (their other users aren’t affected by these changes).
In any case, existing iOS Kindle app users already know how it works - it just adds a couple of steps more to the buying process (which is poor service on Apple’s part). I was thinking more of new users who downloaded the app for the first time. There would be no indication to them on how to get content into the app.