Developer Blames Apple For Ruining eBook Business

PC Pro:

A book seller and app developer has accused Apple of pushing it out of business by changing the pricing structure for eBooks.

BeamItDown Software, developer of the iFlowReader book-reading software for iOS, sold e-books through its app.

Read the whole story: PC Pro

Comments

[dead WASP]

02:39 AM on 05/12/2011

Though the headline is misleading, it's not exactly misleading.

[Anthony Dodd]

08:01 PM on 05/11/2011

Wow. Bad headline. It should read ---

Developer Blames Apple For Ruining THEIR eBook Business

There's a difference between ruining their business and THE business of eBooks. If they feel they've been wronged, and have a case, hire lawyers and sue Apple.

[FZliveson]

04:11 PM on 05/11/2011

Business is survivalist.
One cannot produce a product or service without the expectation that predators will appear and, sans defense or on-going improvements, everything that is "state of the art" today, will be yesterday's buggy whips in short order.

[drjasonmd]

01:35 PM on 05/11/2011

And in other news, a librarian has blamed the internet for ruining the library business.

[2crudedudes]

01:41 PM on 05/11/2011

not a very good analogy

[FZliveson]

04:09 PM on 05/11/2011

(The above is) not a sentence

[hairydodger]

11:53 AM on 05/11/2011

I don't understand the math here. If I have an ebook for sale in the iTunes store I get 70% and apple gets 30%. Has there been a change that I don't understand?

[Jenae Ash]

02:58 PM on 06/14/2011

There is something that changed, the price structure for the sale of ebooks. Now the publisher sets the price and the retailer can not sell it for less on their websites or more via an Apple device. The publisher gets 70% of what the ebook sells for and the retailer gets the remaining 30% (Apple sat down with publishers and helped come up with and put this price structure into effect). Now if the ebook is purchased in-app, the 30% that the retailer would normally get is taken by Apple. So companies like Amazon, B&N, Kobo, etc. won't make any money if ebooks are purchased in-app. The ebooks can still be purchased through Safari without the 30% cut going to Apple, so companies will either need to pull their apps so they can make money or make sure their customers know that purchases need to be made through the internet and out of the app if customers want the app to remain an option on Apple devices.

[LearnMe]

10:11 AM on 05/11/2011

As is often quoted in the business world, "you gotta roll with the punches." http://learnmeproject.com/2010/11/16/verging-on-hysteria/#more-32