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Friday, February 18, 2011

Bye Pandora, My iPhone Misses You Already


Thanks to Apple’s new subscription policy, I fear that some of the most beloved aps on my iPhone might be going away in the near future. Since Apple released the details of their updated subscription guidelines a few days ago, announcing that they will be taking 30 percent of what subscribers pay through iOS apps, a steady uneasiness has crept into iPhone and iPad owners that use such apps as Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and Pandora on their devices.

As the post Apple’s New Subscription Model: Pros and Cons by Ian Paul of PCWorld points out, there are some advantages of this new policy to smaller content publishers that don’t have royalties like the major publishers. Paul explains that if you create your own news or written content, it will be easier to gain new views and subscribers to your products. However, the same post also validly describes how unfair the changes are to music and video content publishers that are already paying large royalties to many parties, just to be able to deliver that content to their customers. And music and video are the types of content that consumers really want, especially on their mobile devices.

Personally, I think 30 percent is just too much. I believe major content providers will either withdraw their services from iOS apps out of protest, or try to stay and find that they just can’t sustain the extra costs in the long run without passing the cost on to the consumer. If the most popular content providers do end up revoking their iOS app subscription options or raise subscription costs 30 percent, I think it would be a real disservice to consumers on Apple’s part.  If Apple wants to keep their mobile products at the top of the heap, potentially pitting customers between their devices and the content they want doesn’t seem to make sense.



Your thoughts? Leave us a comment below. Of course Twitter and Facebook are options too.



About the Author: Jandee Ferland is the Social Network Engineer at IC. She is an avid fan of any technology that makes life a little easier and can often be found checking out new apps, posting on Twitter (@ICtweet), or learning how to podcast.

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