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Apple Impasse With Magazines Over Subscriber Data

Pickens writes "Peter Kafka reports at All Things Digital that Apple and the publishing industry haven't been able to come to terms over magazine app subscriptions. Publishers want the ability to sell the subscriptions themselves, or at least the opportunity to hang on to subscribers' personal data, and Steve Jobs won't let them. Publishers also don't like the 30 percent cut that Apple wants to take in the iTunes store, but their real hang-up is lack of access to credit card and personal data. It's valuable to them for marketing because the demographic data helps magazines sell advertising, and without it they can't offer print/digital bundles. All Apple is willing to offer is an opt-in form for subscribers that would ask them for a limited amount of information: name, mailing address, email address."

5 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. bummer by bigmo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I feel so dirty when I agree with Steve Jobs.

  2. Re:Music Industry by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, they should totally sell your personal information for profit.

  3. Re:Credit Card data? by IsaacD · · Score: 4, Funny

    I (might?) live in Atlanta, but each month I hire nineteen different homeless people in nineteen different cities and give them each enough money to hire another homeless person that buys one random magazine and an envelope for it. I also give them nineteen different addresses that I have in a one time pad, but only one of those addresses is my neighbor's. When a magazine arrives, I steal it from my neighbor's mailbox, but only after disguising myself as the neighbor's sister. The bulge is hard to hide in a dress, the bums sometimes steal my money, and I never know what magazine I'll get - but damnit if I am going to let anyone target me in an advertisement!! Oh, and I chose nineteen because it's a prime number, but the government is working to fix that.

  4. Re:Credit Card data? by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just because you can't work at home doesn't mean you have to wear pants.

    --
    If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
  5. Re:Credit Card data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is why went droid, google is the best advertiser, they make sure companies get access to my data