14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon has had a significant amount of success with its Kindle store and device. But the iPad is a very big threat to both and Amazon is trying to better position itself. One way it's doing this is with a new revenue share program for magazine and newspaper publishers.
Previously, Amazon had a rather onerous revenue split in which the publishers got as little as 30 percent of the subscription. Now, they'll be eligible to get as much as 70 percent, provided they meet several criteria.
"We are constantly working at improving the Kindle magazine and newspaper experience for both customers and publishers," Peter Larsen, Director of Kindle Periodicals at Amazon, said.
"Building on the recent introduction of Wi-Fi-enabled Kindles and the upcoming availability of newspapers and magazines on Kindle Apps, we're pleased to add an increased revenue share and a great new tool for making Kindle better and easier than ever for publishers," he added in a statement.
There are several requirements that publishers have to meet to qualify for the new program. The first big requirement is that the content has to be available on all devices the Kindle is available on.
The second is that the content has to be available in all the regions where the publisher has rights to distribute it.
The first requirement basically prohibits publishers from signing exclusive deals on some platforms. For example, a newspaper that might want to offer its own iPad app won't be able to block its content from being available in the Kindle app.
While Amazon enjoyed a rather solid position for a while thanks to big sales of its Kindle device and the availability of the store on most platforms, the iPad has been selling extremely well and newspapers are seeing it as the miracle cure which will solve all of their revenue problems.