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No good deed goes unpunished. But really, apps and books are apples and oranges. Similar in one regard, both are digital goods, but not in important ones that m
by CapriciousCptl 6y ago
No good deed goes unpunished. But really, apps and books are apples and oranges. Similar in one regard, both are digital goods, but not in important ones that matter strategically. Apple doesn’t have the stranglehold on ebook reading that they have on apps. For those who don’t know, you can’t buy ebooks on iOS without paying an Apple tax, but as many kindle users know, you can of course buy kindle books via a browser and then read them in the kindle app. Not to mention the work that goes into custom developing an iOS app compared to simply compiling text an editing to whatever format Apple requires.
- intricatedetail 6y agoIs it really that different? You can think of it as an app that shows information you can navigate. It just needs a runtime e.g. pdf viewer just like apps need e.g. java runtime.
- CapriciousCptl 6y agoThat’s an interesting point, because I guess nothing stopping an author from publishing their book wrapped in an ereader app and getting the commission discount, although they lose some of the market discovery benefit. Different contexts and ecosystems. The tech behind it has very little to do with the business/production and user end use.
- intricatedetail 6y agoI think some religious books are actually delivered this way and are quite successful.
- politelemon 6y agoYes it's quite different. It's a deliberate platform lock in. Its pervasiveness does not make it the same as alternatives, it's far worse.