Adobe Publishing Suite Corrals Both Apple Subscription Plan & Google One Pass

Lately I've bad-mouthed Apple's subscription plan for newspaper and magazine publishers for being too damn greedy (Apple takes 30%) and for not properly managing subscribers' demographics and detail data (Apple NOT releasing subscriber info to the newspapers and magazines they subscribed to, for goodness sakes!)

And I've talked about Google's One Pass (a pay-per-issue-read rather than a whole subscription plan)

But, we're going to have to live with whatever shitsky, greedy plans these neophyte entities come up with until the growing market competition levels the playing field.

Adobe, in the meantime, comes riding to the rescue a little with a publishing solution that combines BOTH Apple's subscription plan and Google's One Pass payment plan.

From Adobe web site: "The Adobe Digital Publishing Solution consists of digital publishing applications, software technologies, and service solutions that allow publishers to cost-effectively author, produce, and distribute groundbreaking content to the broadest possible audience on a wide variety of digital devices. With this solution, Adobe is helping publishers and advertisers revolutionize how they create and deliver digital content, and how their audiences consume it."

More details here by Business Wire:

Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Supporting Major Subscription Models

End-to-End Solution for Digital Publishing Will Include Support for Apple Subscriptions and Google One Pass

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) today announced that Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite will support both Apple App Store Subscriptions and Google One Pass for magazine and newspaper publishers. Currently available as pre-release technology, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite is already being used by leading global publishers to create and distribute their iconic titles on tablet devices.

With 130 Adobe produced titles available for purchase and download today, the addition of subscription capabilities increases the business opportunity for publishers – including more than 3,000 publishers and content authors currently participating in the pre-release program for Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.

“The publishing industry has been eager to deliver subscription editions of their magazines and newspapers – and our Digital Publishing Suite will support both Apple subscriptions and the Google One Pass service,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Creative and Interactive Solutions, Adobe. “We think Google One Pass will open up the market for publishers and that healthy competition between technology providers will ensure a vibrant future for digital publications. Whatever device readers choose, they can now expect a lot of great digital editions heading their way.”

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Apple's subscription Plan for iPad & Mobile Publishers: Good or Bad?

I personally think Apple's subscription plan for digital newspaper and magazine publishers leans more to the bad side of the scale.

Why do I think this? For two main reasons:

First, the 30% Apple-keeper-cost is too damn high, and

Second, Apple's withholding of subscribers' info from the publishers (so the publishers cannot manage this vital info for future sales and service improvements).

Unless something has changed, these are the two negatives of the Apple subscription plan that weight it down to hell.

I have posted on this subject in recent posts on this blog (go here) and on my Publishing/Writing: Insights, News, Intrigue blog here. You are cordially invited to read those posts for more detailed background on this fascinating issue.

This from PaidContent.org by Robert Andrews:

Apple Subs: Publishers Seek Clarity, FT Concerned, Some Sign Up

The response from many publishers to Apple’s subscription announcement has been a shellshocked “errrr…” - many are confused exactly how they are impacted and are quickly seeking clarity from Apple.

“It is still unclear how Apple’s proposed new subscription business will work for publishers,” a Financial Times spokesperson tells paidContent:UK. “But we obviously have concerns over changes to an approach that has so far worked well for our readers and the broader publishing ecosystem around tablet devices, and that may compromise our business model.

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“We have a fair and open approach for customers whereby we offer digital access to FT journalism for one price and enable access across multiple platforms for no additional fee. It is necessary to have a direct relationship with the customer to enable this to happen. The iPad and iPhone are two of those channels, but it is a market that is developing quickly and new devices are coming to the market at an increasing rate.”

See our maths on how the FT could be affected.

News International is believed to be assessing what the changes mean via its U.S. mothership News Corp. (NSDQ: NWS), whose The Daily app was a template for Apple’s subscriptions and was developed closely with Apple.

Telegraph Media Group is understood to be considering using Apple’s system for a paid upgrade to its debut iPad app, due in the next couple of months.

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Read MG Siegler's (TechCrunch) special article to CNN for even more on this topic.

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