By Erin L. Cox
In this week’s issue of The New Yorker, Media Reporter Ken Auletta reports on the digital publishing questions, such as publisher and bookseller opinions on the agency model, windowing, branding to readers instead of bookstores, whether Apple will be a better partner to publishers than Amazon, and featuring some of the usual suspects in digital publishing stories.
Much of the story wasn’t new to those who have been following this battle in the publishing trade news, but Auletta was able to get an Apple insider to provide a little insight into Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ mindset, “‘Ultimately, Apple is in the device—not the content—business,’ the Apple insider said. ‘Steve Jobs wants to make sure content people are his partner. Steve is in the I win/you win school. Jeff Bezos is in the I win/you lose school.’”
But, as Auletta mentions in the article, Jobs has a history of fighting for reduced prices, as he did with the music and television industries, so, while he’s a partner to publishers now, how long will it last?
Read the article and make your decision. Or, listen to the podcast interview with Ken Auletta on Thursday at 3pm ET on newyorker.com.
One Comment
It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Apple and publishers develops, given what Apple has done with music. I think it’s also important to note that a lot of the “issues” publishers have with e-books are the same arguments they made against paperback books when those first came onto the scene. Now, who can imagine publishing without paperbacks? E-books represent a new way to market books, and everyone is now trying to figure out how to do it right.