News of the long awaited Apple Tablet is coming thick and fast recently - it seems that there are certain sectors who are not eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Tablet as many consumers are.
Exactly what Apple"s iTunes seems to have done to music industry giants in making them concerned about sales, along with the blow they have had to retailers of music, seems to be happening again with the arrival of the Apple Tablet. This time however, it is a more obscure industry that Apple seems to be affecting. Publishing.
According to an article published on Advertising Age"s website, publishers of magazines have become concerned that Apple"s anticipated tablet computer could affect their business the way the iPod disempowered music publishers. To this end traditional publishers have begun to assess possible strategies in order to prevent Apple"s next arrival on infringing upon their business. One of the ways in which they hope to limit damage to their business is to include an industry-wide digital storefront where tablet users could buy digital issues or subscriptions without going through iTunes or the App Store. This will not only provide users of non Apple tablet computers the opportunity to view digital publications, but also possibly allow Apple Tablet users to do the same.
According to the article on Advertising Age, it is popular knowledge that "magazine and newspaper publishers are eager to sell digital editions tailored for the tablet and other devices - but they"re just as determined to prevent Apple from getting between them and their readers along the way." Publishers of magazines and newspapers have seen and know well the effect iTunes has had upon the music industry and know, moreover, Amazon"s total control over the magazine and newspaper subscriptions it sells on the Kindle, and their refusal to provide publishers any information about their own subscribers through the Kindle Store.
"There"s a lot of activity right now at all of the major newspaper and magazine publishers around "What is our role?"" said one magazine executive this week, "A lot of the conversations are around "We need to control the customer relationship." We are not interested in doing an Amazon thing or even an Apple thing where they own the data."
It seems that what the publishing industry is eager to do is retain as much control over its own industry as it can, avoiding being taken over by the likes of Apple. According to a spokesperson speaking to Advertising Age, an industry storefront would let publishers retain subscriber specific information, not to mention full control over pricing. "That storefront would live on the Apple tablet," this person said. "You"d have an icon for this store where you could get your magazines or newspapers."
Whether or not Apple would be willing to consider this as a reality for its Apple Tablet remains to be seen. However, putting aside the publishing industry"s concerns, this news may give us an idea as to some of the more interesting changes tablet computing can make to how we view our media.