Since there are some that still just don't get it, let me spell it out a little more.
With the new rule from Apple this week, there may not be so many magazine choices on your iDevices for much longer.
Among the content distributors this new ruling will affect, Zinio is one of those for whom this could be the death knell on your iDevice.
As a content distributor and one stop shop for your digital magazine purchasing, their content is available for you to read on your Windows or OS X computer, your iOS devices and now Android. Pay one time and read anywhere on whatever device you have.
If it doesn't spell the death of their business model and you think you've been paying high prices already, well, Apple just put a new 30% tax on them.
So, for that single $19.95 subscription you bought, with Apple's new 30% tax on every single purchase you make from them on your iDevice, it'll now cost you about $28.50 for that same subscription in order for Zinio to still bring in their $19.95.
That's right - $19.95 to Zinio and $8.55 to Apple for the privilege of reading your magazine on your iPad.
All of the companies providing content that we have come to know and love on our iDevices will have to increase their pricing structure in order to maintain the same profit margins.
Your Hulu Plus subscription at $7.99 just went up to $11.40.
Your Netflix subscription at $8.99 just went up to $12.83.
Your Audible subscription at $149.50 a year just went up to $213.49.
Your Audible subscription at $229.50 a year just went up to $327.73.
Your National Geographic subscription at $54 a year just went up to $77.11.
The Kindle reader app is now gone.
The Nook reader app is now gone.
The Marvel comics reader is now gone.
...
I'm sorry. But, until the ramifications of this new rule Apple has implemented this week comes into full fruition, I cannot conscientiously recommend an iPad for these purposes any longer.
Of course these are worst case pricing scenarios since not all sales would be through the app.
Audible, likely they will just remove their app from the app store and pricing will remain the same and they'll go on like they always have. You'll have to go to your computer to download, import into iTunes and then sync to your device instead of having their own app where you can download the content directly to your device.
For most of the rest, they'll have to bring in the actuaries to figure up what percentage of their total sales are made on iDevices and then raise their price across the board to every individual across every platform in order to cover the 30% tax from Apple on that percentage of sales. So even that Windows user that purchases content available for sell from an iOS app, that's never even looked at an Apple product, will be paying a tax to Apple without even knowing it.
The Kindle and Nook readers, no, sorry, you'll be saying adios to those apps on your iDevices as those will just be in the history books. This is another in Apple's efforts to get the balance of the book publishers they've not been able sign come to terms with them.
This could result in Amazon, B&N and others to now go the route of putting their apps on Cydia, requiring a lot more of us to jailbreak our devices to get the content we want.
