French newspapers team up for leverage in negotiations with Apple
The group of French publications are said to have joined together and begun negotiating with Apple as a collective, according to Reuters. The participating parties include newspaper Le Figaro, sports daily L'Equipe, business daily Les Echos and news weekly le Nouvel Observateur.
The participating parties reportedly plan to keep their publications from Apple's Newsstand application, which will be a part of the forthcoming iOS 5 software update. Newsstand will sell newspapers and magazines much like Apple sells e-books through its iBookstore for the iPad and iPhone.
Though the French publications are usually "fierce competitors," they have put aside their differences and come together to take on Apple, a company that the head of new media of Le Figaro said is "infinitely powerful."
Disputes between Apple and publishers over content on the iPad have persisted since the touchscreen tablet first went on sale in 2010. Most significantly, a subscription disagreement led international business paper the Financial Times to pull its application from the iPhone and iPad App Store.
Rather than comply with Apple's rules for the App Store, the Financial Times opted to create an HTML5-optimized version of its website. That allows readers to continue to view the publication in the iPad's Safari Web browser without the need for a native application.
Apple oversees all content that is available for download on the App Store, and also takes a 30 percent cut of all transactions that take place. That policy applies to paid applications, as well as in-app purchases and recurring subscriptions.
23 Comments
So, eight French newspapers think they're going to accomplish in negotiations with Apple what the entire magazine publishing industry has already failed to do? Ooooookaaaaay.
And the name of this consortium is?
Reuters doesn't mention it either. Strange, no?
Maybe because it is ePresse, which released an iPad app a couple of weeks ago. What's their answer to Apple" Giving away PDF versions of the print newspaper.
I don't see Apple shaking in their boots over free PDFs.
Rather than comply with Apple's rules for the App Store, the Financial Times opted to create an HTML5-optimized version of its website. That allows readers to continue to view the publication in the iPad's Safari Web browser without the need for a native application.
I usually hate iOS formatted websites. They almost always suck and they often prevent you from breaking out of the crappy design and visiting the real website. It is particularly aggravating that you can't zoom on those types of sites. Companies should just optimize their regular web site for viewing on iOS devices rather than squeeze you into such a dumbed down design. Mostly a problem with iPhone. They usually don't auto detect the iPad for that purpose.
What are they going to do about it when Apple says Non?
Are they going on strike like the peasants do all the time over there if the price of their apples is to low.
How much do magazines or newspapers usually give to retail? 30% seems to be decent cut.