Sam Shrauger, a Vice President at PayPal, posted an insightful commentary on the PayPal corporate blog Wednesday, adding further speculation to the widespread belief that digital publishers are largely displeased with Apple’s new subscription policy for digital content providers.
In addition to Apple’s business practices coming under fire and facing a US Justice Department antitrust review with regard to the California-based tech giant’s digital subscription mandates, Apple is receiving little support from the publishing world on the heels of the iPad 2 introduction scheduled for next week at an Apple-sponsored media event in San Francisco, California.
“I found myself wondering if Apple will have any publishers on stage to tout its new subscription plan for digital content,” Shrauger writes. “Somehow I doubt it. “We have heard from a number of publishers since last week who are outraged at Apple’s 30 percent cut, as well as the specification that they cannot offer content outside their app at the same price or less.”
“Publishers need an easy way to monetize their content while also retaining information about their readers across multiple platforms,” he adds. “With Apple’s subscription service, publishers lose both these controls and have few options. They can charge consumers more, withdraw from the Apple apps store or continue status quo, knowing they’ll make far less money. This simply doesn’t work in the long run.”
Despite the hype this week surrounding Apple’s forthcoming second-generation iPad launch, Apple has been bruised and battered in the headlines over the company’s controversial subscription policy and the failure of iAds to reach their anticipated potential in the digital ad space.
Yesterday, MMW reported that Apple is slashing the minimum entry-level buy rate for iAds down to $500,000 from $1 million.
