Time Inc. Signs Magazine Deal With Apple

redletterdave writes "Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the U.S., has decided to embrace digital distribution. On Thursday, Time Inc. announced that it will make all of its magazines available over the Newsstand application built by Apple. The agreement was confirmed by Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang and Apple's senior VP of Internet software development Eddy Cue. The two company executives agreed to allow Apple Newsstand users to subscribe to more than 20 magazines owned by Time Inc., including Sports Illustrated, People, and Entertainment Weekly."

Apple's extortive prices

[jbwolfe]

have been the issue all along. And Time have done the right thing by holding out for better terms. Thirty percent (though not sure if that's on a continuing basis, regardless) is absurd. Relevant quote:

"They want you to be subscribing to them, and the last time we looked they weren't making the magazines," Bewkes said of Apple.

Re:Time embraced digital distribution long ago

[cpu6502]

Beat me to it.
The summary "embraced digital distribution" makes it sound like Time, Inc has never provided e-magazines before. But most of them are available through Amazon. Or online websites. The REAL news here is that Jobs was charging 30% and Time said "no" to that. The new Apple arranged for lower rates.

Wrong. Apple's cut was NEVER the issue

[jamrock]

When Apple announced the terms for Newsstand, the 30% cut was not the major bone of contention between the magazine publishers and Apple. It was the fact that Apple refused to pass on subscriber information automatically. Instead, subscribers had to click an "Allow" button in a dialog box asking if they wanted their personal information sent along to the publishers. The publishers were outraged that Apple made the process opt-in, dramatically reducing the treasure trove of information they could sell to advertisers.

I have no idea if Apple made concessions to Time on the issue of subscriber privacy, but knowing them I think it's unlikely. As far as Apple is concerned, folks with iTunes accounts are Apple's customers, and subscriptions through Newsstand are just some of the services that they offer. I'm actually with Apple on this one. The terms for Newsstand make it clear that subscribers should have a choice about the disposition of their personal information, while the publishers treat it as something to which they are automatically entitled.

Re:Apple's extortive prices

[BasilBrush]

Apple is up front and honest about what their take is. It's 30%. Amazon has deceptive practices - they've fooled you and they've fooled many more.

A $9.99 ebook, same price at both Amazon and Apple iBooks. Apple takes $2.99. Amazon takes $4.89. (49%)

http://andrewhy.de/amazons-markup-of-digital-delivery-to-indie-authors-is-129000/ [andrewhy.de]

Speaking as yet another person who does actually know about digital downloads, having sold them myself, Apple's 30% is indeed a bargain. Prior to them being on the scene the distributor for my mobile software downloads was taking 43%.

Anyone who says Apple's 30% is unreasonable is simply showing that they don't know what they are talking about.