I’m really excited to see Reeder 3 go live tonight in the App Store. Shawn Blanc and Ben Brooks wrote great reviews of it. I just set it up on my iPhone to sync with my Fever install. No more Google Reader. Pretty slick update to an already great app.
Tag: Ben Brooks
The Argument for 3G MacBooks. I’m wholeheartedly in agreement here. My 11″ MacBook Air is, in most ways, the ideal computer. Persistent web access with 3G built in would cover the last remaining hole in its features.
The Cable Internet Racket. Or, how not to provide customer service and why monopolies are bad.
You Can’t Replace Email if You Require Email. Interesting post from Ben Brooks about how Twitter and Facebook are attempting to replace email even as both services rely mightily upon email to work.
The downside to outsourcing subscriptions
Ben Brooks has written two great posts about Apple’s plan to take 30% of subscription revenues sold through its App Store. In the first one he notes:
Apple is giving you an out from customer service. If someone needs to unsubscribe or has issues with their subscription — it is no longer your problem, Apple needs to fix that.
While that can certainly be seen as a benefit for small iOS development shops or small publications it’s a dangerous risk for a business to take.
When users struggle with your payment gateway or feel that you’re unwilling to provide a refund or cancellation when things go wrong you are dead in the water. No money, no business.
iOS developers already give Apple control over a lot of the financial side of their business. Now Apple will control the downloading, billing, recurring subscription charges, and unsubscription process/support.
App developers will be passing more control over the revenue side of their businesses to Apple, who is probably not focused on crafting the same happy experiences for your paying users.