Amazon has taken great pains to assure consumers that its forthcoming tablet device will not only rival the iPad in technology but also in content. All Things D reports that Amazon has already cut deals with Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith to offer magazine subscriptions and today the company announced a deal with Twentieth Century FOX that allows all Amazon prime members to stream FOX videos and movies. Presumably this will carry over to the new tablet — you can watch Mrs. Doubtfire sitting on the subway! Hurrah.
More importantly, however, Apple’s dominance in digital magazine apps will likely be broken, and publishers are salivating at the prospect of a duopoly. Will Amazon strike a subscription deal with Time, Inc., a feat that Apple has yet to accomplish? Will this give magazine publishers the power to re-negotiate the 30 percent cut retailers traditionally take for magazine apps?
“You’ve got beauty and design with Apple, which we love,” a publisher tells All Things D. “But with Amazon you have marketing, and ease of use. We’ve very optimistic.”
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