2. Description
• Service: K-12 category of a famous
online podcasts platform
– Audio and video in periodically updated
feeds
– Crowdsourced podcasts creation
– Distribution via freeware proprietary
program
• Users: teacher and students
• Main actors: content creators and Apple
3. Description
• Didactive objective
– Provide a categorization of content to
help navigation
– In order to add value to the iTunes
platform
• Business model
4. Business model
• iTunes is free to download
• Podcasts cannot be sold according to
Terms of Service
• Where is the money?
– Selling DRM-free music (low margin)
• Profits go to Apple and record labels
– Selling iOS devices
• Profits go to Apple
– Selling a service/product where podcasts are
a complementary good
• Profits are retained
8. Browsing the website:
example of podcast
• Description
• List of episodes
– Number
– Description
– Date
– Price, which must always be free
• Customer ratings
• Related content
– From the same publisher
10. Browsing the website: no
web fruition
• Proprietary, free of charge software
– No HTTP link to the podcasts
• Gives access to the iOS
(iPod/iPhone/iPad) market
• Platforms
– Windows 32/64 bit
– Mac OS X
12. Browsing the website:
software
• Features
– Library management
– Music purchasing
– Playlist
– Device loading
• Only way to
– Access podcasts content
– Load content on iOS devices
14. Browsing the website:
marketing
• Downloading the software is an additional
step and must provide value
– Single platform to access all multimedia content
– Mandatory integration with iOS devices
• iTunes can load content on an iPod
– In-application purchase (of songs and movies)
• The only web-based component is the
directory for discovering podcasts
– It is replicated inside the application
– Continuously links to the software
15. Strengths & weaknesses
• Network effects from the diffusion of
iTunes
• Integration with iOS devices
• Content cannot be sold
– Not that the market for digital content
allows for a good price margin
16. Conclusions & take-aways
• The platform itself does not allow third parties to
make a profit directly, unlike for iOS applications
• Categorization of content is necessary and can be
performed by humans
• Selling a complementary good (devices) is a
profitable strategy if you commoditize the primary
one (iTunes)
– Paid services or products that exploit free podcasts
