Major League Baseball Advanced Media is one of the most powerful developers on the App Store — every spring, when the new version of the MLB app arrives, the company picks up a sizable chunk of income just from the mobile app, not to mention the subscription service that fuels the live game streaming. Bob Bowman runs the company, and All Things Digital has a nice long interview with him about the app market and how Major League Baseball has taken advantage of mobile.
Straight off the bat (pun intended, sorry), he says that the company has seen a major difference between Android and iOS users: “The iPhone and iPad user is interested in buying content … that’s one of the reasons they bought the device. The Android buyer is different.” That’s interesting to hear — I’ve heard exactly the opposite from the makers of Pocket Legends, that Android users were more willing to spend in-app money than iOS users. We’re likely just talking about two different audiences here rather than different types of handset owners.
Bowman also says MLB is “living with” the 30 percent cut from Apple on its subscription income, but hopes that “over time, the margin will fall from 30 percent.” That’s a hope for a lot of subscription sellers on the App Store, and most of those are much smaller than the base MLB has built-up for itself on iDevices.
[via Edible Apple]
MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman talks about selling content on the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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