Digital comics pricing. Do we need 99 cents?

[BobBretall]

If I had an iPad I guess I would download some comics to read on it but I can't justify the cost since my iPod does all the same things as the iPad.

I think there needs to be an affordable (~$100) color reader about the size & functionality of the iPad in order to have it make sense for people to buy one "just for comics".

It's more likely right now to be as Trev says, and pitch to people who bought an iPad for other reasons that they should be checking out digital comics as long as they have this iPad anyway.

[fudd71]

That is true of any new media device, when IPods first came out they were $300-500 if I remember correctly, while a portable CD player was like $50 and most cars had CD players by that point. Early adapters will always pay a premium, cost will lower but never truly comes down either. IPods still aren’t what I would call cheap just cheaper than when they first came out; it’s just the price we are willing to pay for a portable music device now. It could be years if ever that we see portable music back at the $10-20 price we once saw portable tape decks and pocket radios.

Same thing with ebooks, I have had an ebook for over ten years. It started with the RCA ebook back around 2001. It was I believe around $400 at the time. Since then I have moved to the Kindle ($250) and now the Nook ($200). So sure we have seen ereaders come down in price already but I don’t think we will see prices fall much below $100 black and white and $150-$200 color. That is assuming reading specific devices survive at all and don’t disappear completely to tablet computer devices that you will most likely never see under $200-$300. Might just be that by then we assume that’s the cost of those devices and we don’t think about the device price much anymore. Just like buying music now we don’t think of the cost or a computer of IPod as part of the cost of music.

[jonah]

For those interested, Apple just changed their policy concerning in app purchases which COULD allow publishers to offer lower prices because it would not be subject to apple's 30% take. Apple's new guidelines are quoted below and apparently were pushed by the financial times magazine app's approach to providing content. Sooooo, the publishers have one less reason to hold digital copy prices at parity (other than to sooth retailers).

New apple guidelines:

Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app.

[TNPredsFan]

For me the biggest barrier related to price is the lack of ownership. If I pay for a digital book and it's on my tablet, and my tablet dies - how do I replace that book? Can I read it on my tablet, phone, desktop, laptop, work machine at lunch, friend's house, etc? Or do I download it to my tablet and that's it? For me, what solves these issues is a subscription based model that allows me to read as many comics as possible for one (low) price, like Netflix has for movies.

This is my biggest issue. For $1.99 or $2.99. I'm purchasing a license to view a comic for as long as the provider (Comixology, DC, Marvel, whoever) wishes/are around to provide it. I don't own it. As Kindle readers discovered, content providers can remove purchased materials from your device whenever they want.

For the same price, I can go to my LCS, Hastings, Barnes & Noble, etc and purchase a comic that I have ownership of forever.

For me, and I realize that I might be in the minority on this issue, I'm not willing to pay the same price for a digital license as I am for ownership of a product. I feel this way about e-books, music and other forms of entertainment.

Offer me a Netflix for comics, and I would buy it. I'm going to continue to purchase floppies and TPB for the franchises that I love, but my purchases would like increase if I could sample comics for a lower price.

[torchsong]

This is my biggest issue. For $1.99 or $2.99. I'm purchasing a license to view a comic for as long as the provider (Comixology, DC, Marvel, whoever) wishes...
...Offer me a Netflix for comics, and I would buy it. I'm going to continue to purchase floppies and TPB for the franchises that I love, but my purchases would like increase if I could sample comics for a lower price.

This is pretty much how I feel about it as well, and it's why I enjoyed the Marvel DCU and continue to enjoy Netflix so much. Charge me a reasonable fee, and let me browse to my heart's content.

Or, give me the first issue free. Yeah, I know it sounds like gripey fanboy whining, but I've recently gone out and purchased about five different trades or series solely based on the freebie sample I got off of Comixology.