Fortune's 'Inside Apple' article lands on Kindle Top 10 Bestseller list
I write for an Apple-centric site, so I know how much people love any information they can get about Apple. Even so, I never thought such information would land on Amazon's Kindle Bestseller list, but that's exactly what happened this week.
Earlier this month, we told you about Adam Lashinsky's "Inside Apple" article for Fortune. In the article, Lashinsky relays several previously-untold Steve Jobs anecdotes and Apple company traditions. However, it was only available to subscribers of Fortune magazine and wasn't posted on the company's website. Non-subscribers could also buy the iPad edition of the magazine for US$4.99. However, in an interesting (and calculated) move, Fortune also decided to sell the article for $0.99 on the Kindle store. This resulted in a single article landing on the Top 10 Paid Bestseller list among books, like Eric Larson's In the Garden of Beasts and James Patterson's 10th Anniversary.
Some people's take on this is that publishers have found a new revenue source for full-featured journalism stories. I think that's doubtful. No one is going to start paying per-article for news, no matter what the length of the article. Instead, I think this just shows how enamored our culture is with Apple products and Steve Jobs. Many people want any information they can get about Apple, and lots of them are willing to pay for it. No wonder Apple has become the most valuable brand in the world.
