TED Books launches iOS store, with subscriptions
Conference organization TED already publishes ebooks. Now it is selling them through a new app, Ted Books for iOS. Readers can also buy subscriptions. — TED's book apps is built on the platform developed by Brooklyn-based publisher and developer Atavist.
Context & Ripple Effects
TED has been publishing its short-form ebooks for a while; what changes with this launch is the storefront. Instead of relying on other retailers, TED now sells Ted Books directly through its own iOS app, with individual purchases and subscriptions side by side — a path that only opened up after Apple launched App Store subscriptions in February 2011 and began positioning Newsstand as a home for periodical-style publishers (AllThingsD made that case in December 2011).
The second notable fact is who built it: the apps run on the publishing platform of Brooklyn-based Atavist, which now has a marquee consumer brand as a reference client. The pickup across MacRumors, Ars Technica, TUAW and other Apple-focused outlets shows the story landed mainly as an App Store ecosystem item rather than a publishing-industry one.
First-order effects
- TED gains a direct-to-reader sales channel inside iOS, keeping the relationship (and recurring subscription revenue) under its own brand rather than inside a general ebook store.
- Atavist converts its publishing platform into a proven product for third-party brands, with TED as the flagship customer it can show other publishers.
Second-order effects
- Other media and conference brands weighing their own apps get a lower-cost template: rent Atavist's stack instead of building an iOS storefront from scratch.
- Apple's subscription and Newsstand infrastructure becomes more valuable as non-magazine publishers adopt it, reinforcing the App Store as a default distribution rail for long-form content.
Third-order effects
- If brand-owned apps on rented platforms keep proliferating, ebook retail splits between general stores and branded direct channels — with Apple collecting the toll either way through its subscription terms.
The trend: Publishers are moving from listing titles in shared ebook stores to running their own subscription apps on third-party platforms like Atavist, riding infrastructure Apple opened up in 2011.