Amazon is negotiating deals with newspaper and magazine publishers to bring content to its upcoming tablet, reports theWSJ. In the interest of getting deals in place, Amazon is also reportedly willing to consider cutting these providers a better deal than they get for providing content on Apple’s iPad.
Apple currently charges providers a 30% cut of any sales and subscriptions that are made through the app directly. If publishers are unwilling to comply with this, they are unable to place a direct purchase link inside the app or make any reference to sales. Users must purchase items directly from their websites instead.
The terms that Amazon is currently negotiating are said to be “in the same ballpark” as Apple’s and are being referred to as deals for ‘tablets and other devices’ in order to stay cagey about the release of its as-yet unannounced tablet device.
Amazon itself has felt the effects of the terms that Apple requires of publishers on the iPad and had to remove the link to its own Kindle store recently. Amazon has sincelaunched ‘Cloud Reader’, an HTML5 based reading app for tablets.
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There was no detail given on whether Amazon was willing to compromise on another key Apple requirement, that publishers explicitly ask the customer whether they can record and collect information about them. This subscriber information is often used to determine strategy as well as garner additional income through its sale to publishers and mailing lists.
There has been someconjectureabout the fact that publishers were, in fact, more upset about this requirement than in the new subscription rules.
Amazon’s tablet is still in stealth mode but is expected tomake an appearanceas a 7″ tablet device that will appear in time for the holiday season for $250.
Story byMatthew Panzarino
Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He’s no longer with the company, but you can follow him on Twitter.(show all)Matthew Panzarino was Managing Editor at TNW. He’s no longer with the company, but you can follow him onTwitter.
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