Everything iPad

There are several different levels of complexity when it comes to getting subscription-based anything to get released to the public. For a lot of companies out there, it’s just an easy way out, and they imagine they could get more money from people by charging for single slices of whatever it is they are selling. It’s a tough business world out there, and we understand that when someone like Steve Jobs comes into your office, and tells you that a subscription-based platform would be the best way to push your product on his fancy new tablet, you immediately start wondering how you can make it ridiculously profitable.

Apparently, The New York Times is having a rough time of it lately, as they try to decide internally who should be in charge of the iPad version of the country’s most read newspaper. There is a digital department within the Times structure, but apparently that doesn’t matter. Just like the digital version for Amazon’s Kindle, the physical print department wants to be in control, as they see it still fits in their realm of expertise. Sure, that makes sense to someone, right?

Now this is where it gets tricky. According to a source at the paper, it seems the physical print department wants to charge $20-$30 a month for that nifty application we all saw at the Apple Keynote. On the other side of the coin, the digital department would be fine, and we’re in agreement here, that $10 would probably be fine. It’s worth mentioning that, at this very moment, the Times Reader (which is available on PC or Macs) is running people about $14.95 a month, and for all intents and purposes, is pretty much the same thing we saw at the keynote.

From what we can tell, it looks like the folks at the Times have already agreed with Jobs that they would push digital content out for the Apple tablet, and right now they are just racing to find a suitable solution for when April comes around. According to the source, it seems this little pricing disagreement has made it all the way up the ranks of the Times staff, landing squarely on the lap of one Scott Heekin-Canedy, the New York Times Media Group President. Where does Mr. Heekin-Canedy stand on the subject? Apparently he is all for the $20-$30 monthly charge.

We’ll be sure to keep our eyes on this. This whole eBook War has gone a little crazy, even spilling out away from the standard books and bringing magazines into the scuffle. We expected it, sure, but it’s still rough to see it as it happens. Hopefully everyone wins in this situation, and the companies can figure out a good price to charge the consumers monthly. You know, where it doesn’t make us regret spending the money. That’s always good.

[via ValleyWag]