7 ms·

Apple is implementing a content paywall at the device level.

by lfam 11y ago

narrator 11y ago
Theory: Apple wants to defeat Google by eliminating ads and making the purchase of the device the amortized payment for content. Analysis: The problem with this strategy is that Apple is going to have to scale to all the content in the world, in foreign languages, on obscure or controversial topics on a million blogs. Super niche content will fade, starved of app revenue and have to rely on native IOS ad with unblockable ads for distribution.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- jameshart 11y ago
  Apple has done a pretty good job of building and supporting a long tail of apps. They're working on it with music. Why can't they take that model to content?
  - narrator 11y ago
    Prediction: Apple Blogs. It's like the app store, but for blogs. You need a mac to create content for it. Free and premium blogs, In blog purchase, etc.
  - meeper16 11y ago
    This is because Apple knows very little about algorithmic internet-wide Search or much of anything on the algorithmic level when compared to Google. Think about the maps debacle, its horrible email search, its purchase of Chomp to help it figure out app search. Apple builds the nice looking robots, Google builds the brains.
  - sangnoir 11y ago
    > Apple has done a pretty good job of building and supporting a long tail of app I think "adequate" is a better description of Apples efforts. Discoverability is still awful on the App Store, after many years.
- ChuckMcM 11y ago
  Well maybe not all ads, but it is clear that the carotid artery of Google is Ads (and web Ads to be specific) so carving off channels and feeding them into Apple at the source device is a way of "competing" without having to have better Ad reach. I continue to think the end of this is going to be some sort of 'content tax' (everythings a paywall) and people will complain about how they don't get any free content any more but the rest of us will get a respite from the increasingly egregious ads that were trying to monetize content.
  - ArekDymalski 11y ago
    The problem with this strategy is it's main assumption: that people want the content so much to switch the device / pay for it.
    - ChuckMcM 11y ago
      Well in this case it is the other way around, its that people who have already bought into the device are given this special "privilege" which perhaps makes them feel special. I think out of the set of possible Internet users, you can differentiate somewhat a group who reads their news on an iDevice. So Apple achieves a certain demographic, and they cater to them with a more curated news experience. Banking on the idea that the people involved will prefer it over the existing channel. Presumably they are already a good group to market to, after all they bought an expensive device and consume news on it, so Apple works to parlay that value into an income stream. The alternative of having some sort of alternate version of Wired if your user-agent says "iDevice" is much more difficult to control/authenticate relative to the advertiser's expected market. The next step would be to add blocking vs money as an option. Lets say you buy 1500 "Apple Points" and for 5 points you can "block" (in the sense of it is completely not there) an Ad from your Media. Now when a page comes up and your AdBlocker fires, it consumes 5 points. Perhaps Apple gives 2 points to the media provider to compensate them for not having an ad shown, and keeps 3 pts for itself. Once the user runs out of points and ads start reappearing they can buy more in the Apple Store. What this does is allows people to convert over from paying with Ad clicks to paying with Apple pts. If you make the conversion rate of Apple Points to dollars fungible, then you can tune the experience to get the most value for the publisher and thus insure them of an income stream, even if all their readers/viewers/players block all of the ads. That then would become the base line value (based on user views) for a property. Robots of course would not have Apple pts and so could be more easily distinguished. Its a clever plan, I don't know if they can pull it off but something to watch. The current Ad / AdBlocker nonsense is going to reach crisis level here pretty quickly.
- r00fus 11y ago
  Apple doesn't believe in the long tail. They target the profitable niches first and work downwards. They don't need to compete in all Googles markets.
  - sangnoir 11y ago
    > "Apple doesn't believe in the long tail" Thank - you've succinctly put into words what's been bothering me about this whole affair. Economically, I am in the long tail (middle class 3rd worlder) and I think I've found the disconnect between me & the anti-ad folk. They are bothered by ads, and think if ad-supported sites shut down, nothing of value will be lost. Whereas I am not bothered enough by ads to feel strongly about it, and I don't want the ad-supported sites I frequent to disappear. I most likely won't afford to pay subscriptions in a post-ad world. I don't mind individuals blocking ads, but I fear the entire ad-supported ecosystem will be destroyed if a critical mass is reached.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
voltagex_ 11y ago
Should I add a paywall warning for Wired to https://github.com/voltagex/hackernews-paywalltag/ https://github.com/voltagex/hackernews-paywalltag/?

Apple is implementing a content paywall at the device level.

by lfam 11y ago

Apple is implementing a content paywall at the device level.

Theory: Apple wants to defeat Google by eliminating ads and making the purchase of the device the amortized payment for content. Analysis: The problem with this strategy is that Apple is going to have to scale to all the content in the world, in foreign languages, on obscure or controversial topics on a million blogs. Super niche content will fade, starved of app revenue and have to rely on native IOS ad with unblockable ads for distribution.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
jameshart 11y ago
Apple has done a pretty good job of building and supporting a long tail of apps. They're working on it with music. Why can't they take that model to content?
- narrator 11y ago
  Prediction: Apple Blogs. It's like the app store, but for blogs. You need a mac to create content for it. Free and premium blogs, In blog purchase, etc.
- meeper16 11y ago
  This is because Apple knows very little about algorithmic internet-wide Search or much of anything on the algorithmic level when compared to Google. Think about the maps debacle, its horrible email search, its purchase of Chomp to help it figure out app search. Apple builds the nice looking robots, Google builds the brains.
- sangnoir 11y ago
  > Apple has done a pretty good job of building and supporting a long tail of app I think "adequate" is a better description of Apples efforts. Discoverability is still awful on the App Store, after many years.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
Well maybe not all ads, but it is clear that the carotid artery of Google is Ads (and web Ads to be specific) so carving off channels and feeding them into Apple at the source device is a way of "competing" without having to have better Ad reach. I continue to think the end of this is going to be some sort of 'content tax' (everythings a paywall) and people will complain about how they don't get any free content any more but the rest of us will get a respite from the increasingly egregious ads that were trying to monetize content.
- ArekDymalski 11y ago
  The problem with this strategy is it's main assumption: that people want the content so much to switch the device / pay for it.
  - ChuckMcM 11y ago
    Well in this case it is the other way around, its that people who have already bought into the device are given this special "privilege" which perhaps makes them feel special. I think out of the set of possible Internet users, you can differentiate somewhat a group who reads their news on an iDevice. So Apple achieves a certain demographic, and they cater to them with a more curated news experience. Banking on the idea that the people involved will prefer it over the existing channel. Presumably they are already a good group to market to, after all they bought an expensive device and consume news on it, so Apple works to parlay that value into an income stream. The alternative of having some sort of alternate version of Wired if your user-agent says "iDevice" is much more difficult to control/authenticate relative to the advertiser's expected market. The next step would be to add blocking vs money as an option. Lets say you buy 1500 "Apple Points" and for 5 points you can "block" (in the sense of it is completely not there) an Ad from your Media. Now when a page comes up and your AdBlocker fires, it consumes 5 points. Perhaps Apple gives 2 points to the media provider to compensate them for not having an ad shown, and keeps 3 pts for itself. Once the user runs out of points and ads start reappearing they can buy more in the Apple Store. What this does is allows people to convert over from paying with Ad clicks to paying with Apple pts. If you make the conversion rate of Apple Points to dollars fungible, then you can tune the experience to get the most value for the publisher and thus insure them of an income stream, even if all their readers/viewers/players block all of the ads. That then would become the base line value (based on user views) for a property. Robots of course would not have Apple pts and so could be more easily distinguished. Its a clever plan, I don't know if they can pull it off but something to watch. The current Ad / AdBlocker nonsense is going to reach crisis level here pretty quickly.
r00fus 11y ago
Apple doesn't believe in the long tail. They target the profitable niches first and work downwards. They don't need to compete in all Googles markets.
- sangnoir 11y ago
  > "Apple doesn't believe in the long tail" Thank - you've succinctly put into words what's been bothering me about this whole affair. Economically, I am in the long tail (middle class 3rd worlder) and I think I've found the disconnect between me & the anti-ad folk. They are bothered by ads, and think if ad-supported sites shut down, nothing of value will be lost. Whereas I am not bothered enough by ads to feel strongly about it, and I don't want the ad-supported sites I frequent to disappear. I most likely won't afford to pay subscriptions in a post-ad world. I don't mind individuals blocking ads, but I fear the entire ad-supported ecosystem will be destroyed if a critical mass is reached.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

voltagex_ 11y ago

Should I add a paywall warning for Wired to https://github.com/voltagex/hackernews-paywalltag/ https://github.com/voltagex/hackernews-paywalltag/?