Publishers leery of doing business with Apple

I understand the desire for privacy, but that amounts to cutting off your nose to spite your face.

What publishers want is detailed information about how users are using the apps, for how long, how often, at what level of engagement, so that they can build a business middle that advertisers will buy.

As a result they will be able to charge more for their ads, and invest more into higher quality content and UE. Personally I love my iPad, but would love more great content from the publishing world. Professionally I buy advertising, and there is no way I am giving my client's money to advertising here until I can quantify what I am buying.

Please don't be so naive as to think that every second you are on the web isn't being tracked and analyzed to enhance someone elses bottom line. And definitely don't interpret this as Apple protecting you, this is about power, and we are part of the power that Apple is wielding in their ongoing negotiations. It is great that they innovated the hardware and the OS, now they need to find a way to allow the developers take this to the next level.

Just two words about this issue:
- Apple is not a publisher, it is just (for now) a vector or electronic media distributor, if you will. It is true that some contents are excluded from distribution, but this business is just a service, content is not created or edited by Apple. Therefore, it has little to do with establishing the business model of others, or disclosing it's own...
- the real question here, before barking up the tree, should be the sustainability of the traditional press. It sure will see economies of scale, as all the industry turning to electronic media has seen, but which departments/activities will take the hit? I would dare to hope that the press will focus on content creation, as the electronic media tends to harmonize publications...

I say "THANK YOU, APPLE!" for limiting analytics. No one else is, and I for one am glad Apple is saying "enough" to how much data-mining publishers can do. That's one of the benefits of a "curated" environment, and I'm happy there.

Until Apple handles publishing as they do their podcasts (wide open - links to outside RSS and all of the data-trac can be done externally) don't expect any traction - ever. Apple should get a portion of profit (if it's not free) for the app used to gather the RSS - but the data stream should be open-ended.

One point has to be made clear: a book in the book store should be worldwide release. If it is not then the publisher gets the sales info he deserves, for just the territory released.

That's fair.

If they want geo data split down finer, then globally, and paper at the same time as digital, and then expect Apple to help them.

" Only 19% of those surveyed said that they were satisfied with the iTunes app business model, and a paltry 11% were satisfied with the analytics and customer data that Apple shares with publishers. "

It is hard to form a reasoned opinion without knowing exactly what the Apple iTunes Business Model ( or iBook Business Model is ) and what Business Model the publishers want or what analytics Apple collects and which ones they share compared to what analytics the publishers want.

I am also guessing that "publishers" is a huge umbrella covering a diverse business population of totally different needs and desires that would not agree on any one solution anyway or be able to totally meet uniform requirements that they may have to comply with.

Would the publishers of Textbooks, Manuals, Religious, Newspapers, Self-publishers, Not-for Profit, or 'Pornography' have the same analytics requirements or be able to meet the same standards or compliance requirements of an "Apple iPublisher Store"?

To add complexity to an already complex situation, I am also guessing that there are a patchwork of laws, licensing, and regulation that Apple would also have to comply with in order to become a publishing distributor and run this kind of "store".

Sounds like something that is both complicated and complex, from both sides. Since the 'study' makes it sound simple and vaguely Apple vs. [poor little] Us, it is probably some sort of grab to seed conventional wisdom in a negotiation or PR effort.

Publishers who delude themselves that they can succeed in the electronic publishing game without Apple are doomed to failure. End of story.

The iTunes Store model makes money for everybody. What the publishers are afraid of is relinquishing control. Too bad for them if they don't wake up and smell the coffee.

That's like asking walmart to change their supplier relations policy.

Publishers don't get purchaser information from bookstores either because there is no way for bookstores to get and send them the information. Why they should think Apple would give it to to them ...

Since we are doing business with Apple, it's in their best interest to do business with Apple as well.