Springer challenges Apple with the iKiosk

The German publishing group Axel Springer, owner of Bild, the most widely read newspaper in Europe, sets out to conquer the Apple business by opening its "virtual newsagent", iKiosk, to other publishers.
“We will open the iKiosk to other publishers and their products probably at the end of the summer,” Georg Konjovic, head of premium content, told the business newspaper Handelsblatt today. Discussions are ongoing and "will develop in a very constructive way," he added.
The new platform will aim to promote alternatives to the iTunes Store: in fact it will charge less than 30% of Apple's rate.
Konjovic reiterated the importance for the publishing sector to soon develop means of dissemination outside the sphere of Apple, to quantify and evaluate them. Even Axel Springer, who has launched himself strongly into the development of new formats, is very critical of the Apple model which obliges content providers to go through its iStore and have to pay a commission.
The iKiosk platform has been broadcasting the group's publications, such as Bild and Die Welt, since May 2010. The iKiosk can be downloaded as an application for the Apple bases and gives access, through a subscription, to the German publisher's publications. If the iKiosk opens up to others, it will be a tool for those to dodge Apple, since Axel Springer plans to charge a "significantly lower" fee than the California firm's.

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