Analysis: iPad Is an iDRM Storefront For Apple Ambitions To Dominate All Digital Media Sales

Nice analysis, Tom. Really laid things out clearly.

What do you think of the EPub standard? Do you think publishers respect it? Do their content management systems play well with it? That's my homework for next month. :-)

Excellent analysis, Tom goes along the one by Nicholas Carr, in my view this all Apple concept drm usable and all in one will build a new consumption of media and in the end people will seamlessly accept paywalls.

Thanks Sam and Carlo. As for EPub, I haven't been paying much attention to it. I think publishers will respect it if it offers them additional ways to make money.

" You can stream video in any iPhone app currently with the video APIs. No reason you can't do that on the iPad. Hulu and Netflix could certainly release apps to do just that.

BBC iPlayer works fine on Mobile Safari without Flash support (I'm guessing Hulu, Netflix and others aren't far behind - not to mention YouTube or Vimeo, which are already there)

There must be a big, open discussion about Apple's policies, but proper research would do the debate some good.

Yes, some sites can stream video but its not Flash because Apple does not support Flash or Silverlight. And it costs those sites a lot more because they have to set up an additional infrastructure to support Apple devices. On the desktop/laptop Apple's Safari and Firefox do support Flash and Silverlight. But not on iPhone, iTouch or iPad and there is a clear reason for that, because of Apple's commercial ambitions.

" they have to set up an additional infrastructure to support Apple devices"

At the moment, yes. However, this is an infrastructure that is set to become a standard, it's open (not proprietary, like Flash), more stable than Flash and lighter on resources (RAM).

Mobile Firefox has also just dropped Firefox, for technical reasons: it's buggy and a memory hog.

I see a lot of potential problems with Apple's decisions, but streaming video will actually benefit from manufacturers dropping Flash support, in many ways.

Ultimately, its the consumer that has to pay, because of the higher costs by vendors in having to install media servers for each video technology, open or otherwise.

Well, switching from one technology to another, superior one costs money, I guess. Native video and audio in HTML 5 is a stable, easy, plugin-free way to serve those kinds of media, and if Apple accelerates the adoption of that open standard, I applaud them for it.

It will take some time for all browsers to support the format, but I'd personally be happy to help carry that transition by paying a bit more for, say, my TV license - just an example, as the iPlayer is the only service I use of the ones you mention.

Is Apple dropping Flash support because HTML 5 is just around the corner, or are they primarily trying to drive developers towards producing for the App Store and we're just lucky that a better way of serving video is arriving just in time? I don't know - but you chose to open your article with the point about streaming video:

"You won't be able to stream video from anyone but Apple."

This is simply not the case.

Michael: You are right, you can stream video from non-Apple sources provided you use the Apple method. And, in the near future, if HTML5 succeeds as a standard, there will be more such sources.

No, you can stream video from non-Apple sources - full stop.
Mobile Safari already supports HTML5 video, which is not an "Apple method".

Thanks Michael.

So.

You can buy MP3s off Amazon and put 'em on the iPad.

You (apparently) can buy books off an ePub publisher (like say PragProg) and put them on the iPad.

You can open a H.264 video stream in Safari and watch it no problem.

So, Apple is CLEARLY preventing content from coming on the device. Clearly.

It is worth having a broad discussion about Apple, DRM, and the chokehold of app approval, but let's remember this iPad widget has a web browser as part of its central experience.

The app store (and iBookstore, et al) is about promotion, not distribution.

Emanuele, Apple is making it difficult to put other content on the iPad. But it'll make sure that its 'i-media' looks better on the iPad than everyone elses' media,' or 'e-media.'

"Emanuele, Apple is making it difficult to put other content on the iPad. But it'll make sure that its 'i-media' looks better on the iPad than everyone elses' media,' or 'e-media.'"

So let me get this straight

1) Viewing content via the web or syncing the iPad with iTunes (same as the iPhone and iPods and the best sync experience out there) in your mind is Apple making it difficult to put other content on the iPad?

2) Because Apple designs really nice software interfaces you are bashing them for making their media look better ?

Besides, won't an ePub book downloaded from another source be read in that same beautiful interface that is iBooks? Won't an MP3 file downloaded from Amazon play inside of the great iPod software on the iPad? Won't movies that I've ripped from my own DVDs play in the native movie player the same as if I purchased them from Apple?

The success of the iTunes store is because of its simplicity, not because Apple is forcing anyone to use it by making it the only way to load media onto your iPhone or iPod. I guess in your perfect world Apple would make horrible interfaces so that people would want to buy their media elsewhere? Oh wait, you can already do that on your HP Slate with your Zune or Android phone.

Your article is a complete and utter joke.