Thursday, January 28, 2010

It's Not the iPad, It's the iModel

Interesting article from Publishers Marketplace: 

It's Not the iPad, It's the iModel
There are plenty of sites and blogs to debate in advance whether the iPad meets or exceeds expectations, but we remain focused on the all the geeky financial business details. Yes, it is hugely significant that Apple is putting their brand power behind an iBookstore, right alongside their game-changing iTunes and App stores, with the accompanying iBooks app. And that significance will magnify once the international rollout of their ereading combination becomes clearer. For now the company notes that iBooks will be available in the US only, but clearly whatever levels of success Apple reaches with the iPad will be attained internationally so even though in the US it is but the latest entrant in the ereading market, it should serve as the first major, truly international ereading market of note. (With, of course, their own App store as the meaningful precursor.) As Penguin ceo John Makinson told us, "I sent a message to Penguin employees around the world to think about how we can make this an exciting opportunity for us and for our readers." Though Apple has not said anything yet to the company, "my working assumption is that this will be a global project and we will be engaging it everywhere in the world."

But for book publishers as important as the iBookstore (and a potential worldwide rollout) is the business model behind it, which the biggest trade publishers see as an opportunity to reset the terms of business in the still-emerging ebookmarket. We have a far longer version of this story in today's Deluxe. Since our big scoop a week ago explaining publishers' negotiations with Apple and the "agency model" of selling was a Deluxe-only story, too, it's going to take some more time to figure out how to rewrite some of this information. As ever, for our most comprehensive coverage every day by e-mail and 24/7 at our website (along with many other web-only tools and databases), we encourage you to join us as member of PublishersMarketplace.com.

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