Rupert Murdoch on The Daily

From an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto:

Cavuto: I want to ask you, how much are you making on that? Because it’s $0.99, but typically, typically Apple takes a third.

Murdoch: That’s correct.

Cavuto: Now, is it taking a third here?

Murdoch: At least the first year, yes. We’ll be getting $0.70.

Cavuto: All right. But it goes — so you say at least the first year. It goes down after that?

Murdoch: We — no. Up, we hope.

Cavuto: But down for Apple.

Murdoch: That’s subject to negotiation.

That surprises me. I really thought the “other shoe” that’s about to drop regarding subscription pricing (and in-app purchasing for apps like Kindle) is that Apple would be taking a smaller cut, more in line with being a payment processor than a store owner. The bottom line for why The Daily is major news is not that it’s particularly good (at least yet), but simply that News Corp. is willing to place a decent-sized bet on a publication that is only available on the iPad.

And Murdoch on Steve Jobs:

Here we have the man who invented the personal computer, then the laptop. He’s now destroying them. That is an amazing life.

★ Wednesday, 2 February 2011