iTunes for K-12

Giorgio Sironi (Nest Group)

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

Description

• Didactive objective–Provide a categorization of content to

help navigation– In order to add value to the iTunes

platform

• Business model

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

Browsing the website: homepage

Browsing the website: homepage

• Provides navigation–Of categories–Of appropriate podcasts

• Other filters–Popularity–Alphabetic

Browsing the website: example of podcast

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

Browsing the website: no web fruition

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

Browsing the website: software

Browsing the website: software

• Features– Library management–Music purchasing–Playlist–Device loading

• Only way to–Access podcasts content– Load content on iOS devices

Browsing the website: marketing

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

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

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