3 ms·

Apple is using the iPad as a platform to leap into publishing, eager to also collect the 30% Apple tax in this industry. Smart move, but it will be a sad day wh

by mrich 15y ago

Apple is using the iPad as a platform to leap into publishing, eager to also collect the 30% Apple tax in this industry. Smart move, but it will be a sad day when schools/pupils will have to pay 30% of the price to the device manufacturer just to get an education.

objclxt 15y ago
...right...because currently textbook publishers pass all of their revenue back on the authors, right? I don't really get your point here.
- mrich 15y ago
  That 30% has to be paid without getting anything in return (bandwidth and storage only cost a fraction). Textbook publishers on the other hand provide value (advertising/lectoring...), which still has to be paid for. So prices will rise. I hope the Fire and especially Android tablets can give Apple a run for their money and get some competition going.
  - falling 15y ago
    > So prices will rise. You mean just like it happened for apps?
  - pooriaazimi 15y ago
    > That 30% has to be paid without getting anything in return Really? Considering Apple will introduce something groundbreaking for textbook publishing (I'm a little skeptical about that myself, but just let's assume that), is that really 'nothing'? Without them, you'd be stuck with dump, hard-to-read, un-zoomable PDFs. With their (imaginary) tools, you'll get some incredible, beautiful, multimedia textbooks (imagine CLRS's algorithm book, that is full of interactive demos showing various sort algorithms, ect. without you having to crawl the internet for a 12 year old JAVA applet that sucks). I think it's a good deal. (BTW, I think 30% is way too much. I think Apple should charge around 15% for everything they sell.) Also, note that the prices will certainly be less that paper textbooks in a few years.
tjogin 15y ago
The 30% cut Apple takes is a minuscule part of their business, you can pretty much round it off as irrelevant. Look at any of their financial reports for this presented in black and white. From their perspective that cut is just a way to not lose money on their digital deliverables. For Apple, it's all about the hardware. Their business is stupid simple to understand, and yet analysts and laymen alike confuse the hell out of it. Their software, services, and their ecosystem are only important in so far as it helps them sell more hardware.
- mrich 15y ago
  But that is irrelevant to the person who has to pay this added middleman.
  - tjogin 15y ago
    It's not an added middleman, it's replacing one or more other middlemen with Apple.
    - nirvdrum 15y ago
      But, at least you can have a secondary market or communal books with the current middleman. Once it's Apple's way, you can't get your books without paying for the middleman.

by mrich 15y ago

objclxt 15y ago

...right...because currently textbook publishers pass all of their revenue back on the authors, right? I don't really get your point here.

mrich 15y ago
That 30% has to be paid without getting anything in return (bandwidth and storage only cost a fraction). Textbook publishers on the other hand provide value (advertising/lectoring...), which still has to be paid for. So prices will rise. I hope the Fire and especially Android tablets can give Apple a run for their money and get some competition going.
- falling 15y ago
  > So prices will rise. You mean just like it happened for apps?
- pooriaazimi 15y ago
  > That 30% has to be paid without getting anything in return Really? Considering Apple will introduce something groundbreaking for textbook publishing (I'm a little skeptical about that myself, but just let's assume that), is that really 'nothing'? Without them, you'd be stuck with dump, hard-to-read, un-zoomable PDFs. With their (imaginary) tools, you'll get some incredible, beautiful, multimedia textbooks (imagine CLRS's algorithm book, that is full of interactive demos showing various sort algorithms, ect. without you having to crawl the internet for a 12 year old JAVA applet that sucks). I think it's a good deal. (BTW, I think 30% is way too much. I think Apple should charge around 15% for everything they sell.) Also, note that the prices will certainly be less that paper textbooks in a few years.

tjogin 15y ago

The 30% cut Apple takes is a minuscule part of their business, you can pretty much round it off as irrelevant. Look at any of their financial reports for this presented in black and white. From their perspective that cut is just a way to not lose money on their digital deliverables. For Apple, it's all about the hardware. Their business is stupid simple to understand, and yet analysts and laymen alike confuse the hell out of it. Their software, services, and their ecosystem are only important in so far as it helps them sell more hardware.

mrich 15y ago
But that is irrelevant to the person who has to pay this added middleman.
- tjogin 15y ago
  It's not an added middleman, it's replacing one or more other middlemen with Apple.
  - nirvdrum 15y ago
    But, at least you can have a secondary market or communal books with the current middleman. Once it's Apple's way, you can't get your books without paying for the middleman.