Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Apple's new subscription service, Rhapsody is not

The new subscription system introduced yesterday by Apple will extend to all online content, not only to newspapers. The services of films, music and ebooks will have to pay a share to Apple. "Our philosophy is simple: when Apple brings a new subscriber, Apple earns a percentage of 30%, when a publisher makes a new user for the application, the publisher holds 100% and Apple gains nothing," Steve Jobs said in a recent interview.

This new policy, however, has already found an antagonist: Rhapsody subscription music provider, and there are promises to move even a lawsuit. "A top-down agreement that obliges us to pay 30% of our sales to Apple, in addition to the taxes we pay for the music labels, publishers and artists, is economically unsustainable," the company said in a statement.

"We simply are not able to offer our service via the iTunes store if we are subject to 30% of the charges held against the typical 2.5% credit card." The only possible solution put forward by Rhapsody is the abandonment of the Apple platform within the deadline set for June 30. The company has not ruled out a U.S.

antitrust action.

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