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Is Amazon the new Apple?
Deozaan:
So there was a fiasco a few years ago when Amazon removed a book from Kindle devices without user authorization. That sounds like something Apple would do. Well, I have come across two new stories today that show an unpleasant trend for Amazon to become more like Apple:
From App103:
Consider this to be your dismaying PSA of the day: Apparently, if you're a Kindle owner with a magazine subscription, and you decide to stop subscribing, the back issues you previously downloaded are also lost—for good.-http://ca.gizmodo.com/5793334/when-you-cancel-your-magazine-subscription-on-your-kindle-your-back-issues-disappear-too
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[EDIT] Update: Looks like Gizmodo was wrong about that. [/EDIT]
And Implications of the Amazon-IGDA spat:
Many journalists have noted the unusual nature of Amazon’s current store terms, but little has been said about the potential implications of those terms. In brief: Amazon reserves the right to control the price of your games, as well as the right to pay you “the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price.” While many other retailers, both physical and digital, also exert control over the price of products in their markets, we are not aware of any other retailer having a formal policy of paying a supplier just 20% of the supplier’s minimum list price without the supplier’s permission.
Furthermore, Amazon dictates that developers cannot set their list price above the lowest list price “available or previously available on any Similar Service.” In other words, if you want to sell your content anywhere else, you cannot prevent Amazon from slashing the price of your game by setting a high list price. And if you ever conduct even a temporary price promotion in another market, you must permanently lower your list price in Amazon’s market.
These Amazon policies could have far reaching effects on game developers. The IGDA has identified five potentially problematic scenarios in particular:
1) Amazon steeply discounts a large chunk of its Appstore catalog (imagine: “our top 100-rated games are all 75% off!”). Some developers will probably win in this scenario, but some developers — most likely, those near the bottom of the list — will lose, not gaining enough sales to offset the loss in revenue per sale. Amazon benefits the most, because it captures all the customer goodwill generated by such a promotion.
2) By requiring all developers to guarantee Amazon a minimum list price that matches the lowest price on any other market, Amazon has presented developers with a stark choice: abandon Amazon’s market or agree never to give another distributor an exclusive promotional window.
3) Other digital markets that compete with Amazon (both existing markets and markets yet-to-be-created) may feel compelled to duplicate Amazon’s terms, and perhaps even adopt more severe terms in an effort to compete effectively with Amazon. In essence, we’re looking at a slippery slope in which a developer’s “minimum list price” ceases to be a meaningful thing.
4) Amazon steeply discounts (or makes entirely free) a game that has a well-defined, well-connected niche audience. The members of that niche audience snap up the game during the promotional period, robbing the game’s developer of a significant percentage of its total potential revenue from its core audience.
5) Amazon steeply discounts (or makes entirely free) a hit game at a time when the game is already selling extremely well. This sort of promotional activity may attract consumers away from competing markets and into Amazon’s arms. But it might actually represent a net loss for the developer, which was already doing quite well and didn’t need to firesale its game at that moment in time.-http://igdaboard.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/important-advisory-about-amazon%E2%80%99s-appstore-distribution-terms-2/
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On their developer blog, Amazon responded the following day, stating simply that the policy in question was from a dated text file, and that a PDF elsewhere on the site contained the correct terms.
The response seems fishy. The IGDA's letter states that they reached out to Amazon several times and that Amazon were unwilling to change terms. If it were simply a matter of referencing the wrong terms, surely they would have pointed that out. Secondly, Amazon's response doesn't actually address the concerns stated in the IGDA letter. Even taking Amazon's 'correction' into account, many of the IGDA's concerns still seem valid.-http://www.kimpallister.com/2011/04/implications-of-amazon-igda-spat.html
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I would expect these kinds of shenanigans from Apple, but not Amazon... :-\
Renegade:
I would expect these kinds of shenanigans from Apple, but not Amazon... :-\
-Deozaan (April 19, 2011, 07:30 PM)
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But they're delivering infinite growth and managing stakeholder benefits with increased value propositions for stock holders and buzz market 3.0 showing social network integration success that raises brand recognition and promotes sustained market penetration and higher market share in value-added markets in socially driven...
I'm not surprised at all.
Deozaan:
But they're delivering infinite growth and managing stakeholder benefits with increased value propositions for stock holders and buzz market 3.0 showing social network integration success that raises brand recognition and promotes sustained market penetration and higher market share in value-added markets in socially driven...-Renegade (April 19, 2011, 08:42 PM)
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That was pretty good. Keep going. :D
Cloq:
But they're delivering infinite growth and managing stakeholder benefits with increased value propositions for stock holders and buzz market 3.0 showing social network integration success that raises brand recognition and promotes sustained market penetration and higher market share in value-added markets in socially driven...
-Renegade (April 19, 2011, 08:42 PM)
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wow..! all in one breath too.. don't suppose you are willing to negotiate a house purchase for me? ;D
I noticed that I am unable to download my past purchased music (singles and albums) from amazon. Wish Amazon would have put any past mp3 purchases into their cloud storage (assuming you signed up for it.. free) especially since they mentioned that purchased mp3 doesn't count towards used storage.
Renegade:
But they're delivering infinite growth and managing stakeholder benefits with increased value propositions for stock holders and buzz market 3.0 showing social network integration success that raises brand recognition and promotes sustained market penetration and higher market share in value-added markets in socially driven...
-Renegade (April 19, 2011, 08:42 PM)
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wow..! all in one breath too.. don't suppose you are willing to negotiate a house purchase for me? ;D
I noticed that I am unable to download my past purchased music (singles and albums) from amazon. Wish Amazon would have put any past mp3 purchases into their cloud storage (assuming you signed up for it.. free) especially since they mentioned that purchased mp3 doesn't count towards used storage.
-Cloq (April 19, 2011, 10:09 PM)
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I'm afraid that you made the all too common mistake of assuming that Amazon is out to serve you as a customer and provide you with services that are in your best interests rather than in the best interests of their stakeholders, stockholders, executive, and public relations officers who will tell you just how wonderful they are and that you're going to have a better life by spending more of your money on their products and services, and then repurchasing whatever you originally purchased from them because that enables them to stay in business and serve their stakeholders and stockholders which in turn enables them to further sell you more products and services all the while touting awesome stuff that they'll never deliver on because if they did then you'd not have to purchase more from them of stuff you had already purchased and assumed that you actually had when in fact you didn't because they've shifted to a business model that favors stakeholders over customers because they are big enough that they could effectively start eating babies for lunch and nobody would care because they have the media power to overshadow your pathetic squeals for fairplay and stick it to you where the sun don't shine because that gets them your money.
<breathes />
:D
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