Steve Jobs: "iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS"

Dec 9, 2021

Steve Jobs: "iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS devices"

On Feb 6, 2011, at 11:17 AM, Eddy Cue wrote:

I am also looking forward to discussing whether we require in-app for books. At first this doesn't seem that bad not to require but the more I think about it, it will be very problematic. It will be difficult to limit this to books. What about Netflix, WSJ, MLB, Pandora, etc? They will all do it it. Where do you draw the line? And many other would want it (e.g. magazines and games). The problem is many can afford 30% but others will say they can't. This is going to be a huge decision for us. We don't want to lose the apps from iOS and at the same time we don't want to compromise the app experience that we have (e.g. don't have to enter your info or payment everywhere).

Eddy

Sent from my iPhone

Subject: Re: Magazine subscription write up
From: Steve Jobs
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2011 1:19 PM
To: Eddy Cue
Cc: Phil Schiller

I think this is all pretty simple - iBooks is going to be the only bookstore on iOS devices. We need to hold our heads high. One can read books bought elsewhere, just not buy/rent/subscribe from iOS without paying us, which we acknowledge is prohibitive for many things.

Sent from my iPad

[This document is from the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee (2020).]

Link to original tweet

Link to further reading