Apple raised the ire of many digital content publishers when the company announced it would not share user subscription information (names, email addresses and zip codes) without the expressed permission of subscribers.
Initially, the publishing world possessed anything but high hopes that most iPad content subscribers would ultimately click “Allow” when prompted by Apple to “Share Your Information?” with publishers. But as the smoke now begins to clear, publishers may have been concerned all along without good reason.
Incredibly, close to 50% of all iPad content subscribers click “Allow.” And publishers couldn’t be happier about it – a major reason why the amount of digital content made available through Apple’s groundbreaking touchscreen tablet has surged in recent months.
Mark Edmiston, founder of the tablet magazine studio Nomad Editions, first heard that figure from other publishers, so he ran it by Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of internet services. Cue confirmed it. “So, all the sudden, what was an insurmountable obstacle no longer is,” says Edmiston.
“It turns out,” writes Forbes‘ Jeff Bercovici, “that the publishers’ fear that Apple’s policies would deny them the consumer data they need to do business was unfounded. As often as not, to get the customer’s email’s name and email address, all you have to do is ask.”
