Computer and software firm Apple Inc., US, is reportedly looking to take on the publishing industry with a set of new rules governing how digital publications will be sold on its iPad and iPhone devices. As part of the rules, Apple has stipulated that it will take a 30 percent cut on sales of books by rival publishers.
It has been observed that as consumer demand for e-books and new electronic versions of newspapers and magazines grows, Apple's iPad remains the only popular device for reading all three. Publishers are finding that their options are limited.
Apple has sold nearly 15 million iPads since the product's release in April 2011. According to market research firm IDC, the device now accounts for close to 90 percent of all tablets shipped worldwide. Apple reportedly has 160 million users who have credit cards on file, which means that if publishers want to sell books or magazines to tablet readers, they have to go through Apple.
Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader is aimed more closely at books than digital news and magazines. Google-powered Android tablets from Samsung, Dell and others have not gained the traction with consumers that could present publishers with a clear alternative. Apple's devices have attracted so many users, in fact, that even Apple's rivals have set up camp on its devices. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Google have all created applications for the iPhone and iPad that allow readers to access books they've bought through the companies' websites.
Apple has now said that those booksellers must also sell their books through Apple's store or risk getting their applications booted from the iPad. Apple is also requiring that any e-book a company sells outside of Apple's store must be the same price - or higher.
According to industry experts, Apple is trying to repeat its strong-arm strategy that had earlier worked against the music industry. Unlike Apple's assault on the bricks-and-mortar music industry, some of its publishing competitors, including Google and Amazon, are formidable technology companies themselves and may be more difficult for Apple to muscle around, observers point out.
Earlier this month, Google announced its own mechanism for publishers to sell subscriptions to consumers on an array of tablets and other devices. The company said its product, One Pass, would charge publishers only 10 percent of the sale price for processing user payments. But it offered few details about how the system would look to consumers or how publishers would work it into their online offerings.
It is not clear whether Google's service would be a direct competitor to Apple's subscription system. Google has said that it would be 'weeks' before the first publishers would implement the service.
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