iFlowReader: Another Apple Victim?
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In the past few months, we have been quite critical of the policies Apple has adopted in its App Store. Forcing e-book app developers to part ways with 30% of their sales was always going to put a few of them out of business. iFlowReader seems to be one of those businesses that failed to survive Apple’s greedy policies. The following statement was posted on iFlowReader’s website:
BeamItDown Software and the iFlow Reader will cease operations as of May 31, 2011. We absolutely do not want to do this, but Apple has made it completely impossible for anyone but Apple to make a profit selling contemporary ebooks on any iOS device. We cannot survive selling books at a loss and so we are forced to go out of business.
It is true that the fees Apple is charging some of these app developers will put many of them out of business. Companies such as Amazon and B&N always have enough leverage to work something out with Apple. Small businesses will have to look for other ways to survive. Independent sellers often end up paying 60% of their sales to Apple and publishers. It is tough to stay in business that way.
We bet everything on Apple and iOS and then Apple killed us by changing the rules in the middle of the game. This is a very sad day for innovation on iOS in this important application category. We are a small company that thought we could build a better product. We think that we did but we are powerless against Apple’s absolute control of the iOS platform.
iFlowReader developers made a major mistake along the way. Being so reliant on Apple was never going to have a good outcome for these folks. It is always tough to see entrepreneurs who work hard be treated this way. But Apple has always been known for its controlling and greedy ways.
We put our faith in Apple and they screwed us…. Apple’s response to our detailed inquiries was to tell us that our plans did not infringe their rules in any way, which was true at the time, but there is one little catch. Apple can change the rules at any time and they did.
That’s the key statement here. One should never put faith in a company such as Apple. Is Apple one of the most innovative companies around? There is no question. At the same time, Apple is after more profits. The company was going to get involved in the e-book business sooner rather than later. It is sad to see iFlowReader go. This should clearly show iOS developers that Apple is not their friend. Developers should never put all their eggs in one basket.
