Ordnance Survey maps on the iPhone/iPad
in [UK Mac]
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From: Dr Geoff Hone on 15 Jun 2010 05:14 On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:11:51 +0100, real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) wrote: >Dr Geoff Hone <gnhone(a)globalnet.co.uk> wrote: > >> real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) wrote: >> >> >snip >> >�7 for a real paper 1:25k OS map. 3 for 2 offer on at the mo - so you >> >can get three paper maps for about 2/3 the price of one electronic >> >version. >> > >> >This is definitely the wrong way round, innit? The electronic ones >> >should be the ones that are cheapest but at the moment, they're about >> >four times the price (and less useful if on an iPhone/iPod/iPad, IMHO). >> > >> snip> >> >Rowland. >> Publisher protecting profit margin. > >Since the OS is the main publisher of OS maps, and it's selling them at >a cheaper price than firms flogging the same data in a form that is >cheaper to provide, that argument is invalid. > >It's more `publisher realising that it can get away with over-charging >because people are used to letting money flow like water through their >fingers in order to put their fancy electronic gadgets to real use'. > >> The February Computer Shopper ran a piece on this in connection with >> E-books. > >Same applies to e-books. > >Rowland. Sorry, Rowland, you are just plain wrong here. - OS is the only publisher of OS Maps. There are other companies who publish maps using OS data, but they do not publish OS Maps - Most people who buy an OS paper map do not buy from OS. They go into their local bookshop. The price on the map cover reflects this. As a simple example (the actual figures may vary, but this is an example) let us suppose that the map is priced at �6.00. The bookshop will have paid �3.00, applies a 100% mark-up, and will thus get a 50% return on selling price. That will cover their overheads and show a reasonable profit margin. The publisher (OS in this example) will have calculated their production costs as being �1.50 and also applied a 100% markup to give them a 50% return on selling price. The "big one" here is the calculation of production costs. This is normally divided into fixed costs and variable costs. In somewhat imprecise terms, "variable costs" are what it takes to produce each item and "fixed costs" relate to the costs before any item is produced. For calculations of the total cost, it is convenient to divide the fixed cost total by the number of items produced, and thus obtain a fixed cost per item. This is added to the cost per item to get a total cost. Now, if the number of items falls, the fixed costs go up. This does not apply to e-products in the same proportions. For every e-Map that is sold, one less paper map is sold. If the book-sellers order less paper maps, the fixed costs per item figure will increase, but the variable cost will be stable. Hence, the total cost will go up. The selling price is already fixed, so someone's margin must suffer. If the bookseller's margin is reduced, then they will stop selling that item from stock. The easy way to maintain total income is for the publisher (OS in our example) to cut their margin on paper maps and make this up on e-Maps. This is why a lot of e-Books are priced above the paper copies. I exclude copying from this discussion - but copying is clearly seen as a problem for the e-Book market. As an aside, the reason so many books are cheaper like-for-like in the US is that variable costs are lower in the US. The biggest single item is paper, which is made from timber, of which North America has a much bigger supply than we do. Some of my recent purchases from Amazon have turned out to be US product when delivered.
From: Pd on 15 Jun 2010 05:19 zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > (anyone noticed that Apple is selling what amounts to thick elastic > bands for thirty dollars a pop? They call them "iPhone bumpers". Same > principle) At least they had the decency to call a sock a sock. -- Pd
From: David Sankey on 15 Jun 2010 05:21 In article <1jk0nfv.1j8vnnbfek7f4N%jim(a)magrathea.plus.com>, jim(a)magrathea.plus.com (Jim) wrote: > Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > > > >244MB, free app. Not bad. Really not bad at all. > > > > Bleh, 250,000:1 scale is free, but rather more useful 25k:1 scale is > > �25-�40 for a single area. And none of the single areas are Yorkshire, > > so that's no blinkin' use to me. > > Yes, it look promising but then failed to deliver. It'll replace my road > atlas purely at the "how do I get from Stafford to Bradford" level, but > as you say it's useless for much more. And it has a search box that > doesn't seem to be connected to anything... > > Still - you can't argue with 'free'. > > I feel they're missing a trick here, though - why not give us the 250k > for free, then charge a fiver (or even less) for individual 25k regions? > They've got no printing costs after all. At that price point I could see > myself buying a *lot* of maps. I went for the Roadtour 1:50K maps instead <http://roadtour.co.uk/iphone/iphone_outdoors.php> There's a bit of a hiccough with these at the moment as they seem to be moving from separate regional maps to a single app where you can buy in the regions that you want (but at the moment without credit for the previous separate maps that you've bought). But starting afresh with the 250k for free and buying the finer scale maps that you want could be exactly what you want... Kind regards, Dave
From: Rowland McDonnell on 15 Jun 2010 11:24 zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > Dr Geoff Hone <gnhone(a)globalnet.co.uk> wrote: > > real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) wrote: > > > >> snip > >> �7 for a real paper 1:25k OS map. 3 for 2 offer on at the mo - so > > > you > >> can get three paper maps for about 2/3 the price of one electronic > >> version. > >> > >> This is definitely the wrong way round, innit? The electronic ones > >> should be the ones that are cheapest but at the moment, they're about > >> four times the price (and less useful if on an iPhone/iPod/iPad, > > > IMHO). > >> > > snip> > >> Rowland. > > Publisher protecting profit margin. > > The February Computer Shopper ran a piece on this in connection with > > E-books. > > Simpler. They're just charging as much as the market will bear. The > selling price of any item bears no relation to the cost to produce; it > is just the amount they can charge that (they believe) makes the most > profit. Quite. > Presumably people who are able to afford an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad > have more disposable income, on average, than people who buy paper OS > maps. So they'll be willing to pay more for something that (probably) *DEFINITELY*. Map printing is (probably) the most expensive kind of mass-market printing there is. E-maps are just software, and software distribution is dirt cheap. OS map data is all in digital form these days anyway. And on that subject: I noticed that the current computer-generated 1:25k maps from the OS are less well printed than the old hand-drawn ones we have. Cruder work on the modern ones - less fine printing, harder to make out the detail, *and* they've even got rid of the yellow tinge that told you it was a 1:25k OS map you were looking at. > costs less to produce. > > Simples. Except we've got two Intel Macs, two iPods, and no electronic maps because paper maps are more useful /for what I intend to do with 'em/ *AND* because the higher price of e-maps makes me scream `rip-off'. I mean, e-maps are basically rented anyway, because you'll not be able to use an e-map you've bought now in 20 years due to technology changes, am I right? But a paper map is a paper map... > (anyone noticed that Apple is selling what amounts to thick elastic > bands for thirty dollars a pop? They call them "iPhone bumpers". Same > principle) Yes, I had noticed. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: Rowland McDonnell on 15 Jun 2010 11:24
Dr Geoff Hone <gnhone(a)globalnet.co.uk> wrote: > On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:11:51 +0100, > real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) wrote: > > >Dr Geoff Hone <gnhone(a)globalnet.co.uk> wrote: > > > >> real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) wrote: > >> > >> >snip > >> >�7 for a real paper 1:25k OS map. 3 for 2 offer on at the mo - so you > >> >can get three paper maps for about 2/3 the price of one electronic > >> >version. > >> > > >> >This is definitely the wrong way round, innit? The electronic ones > >> >should be the ones that are cheapest but at the moment, they're about > >> >four times the price (and less useful if on an iPhone/iPod/iPad, IMHO). > >> > > >> snip> > >> >Rowland. > >> Publisher protecting profit margin. > > > >Since the OS is the main publisher of OS maps, and it's selling them at > >a cheaper price than firms flogging the same data in a form that is > >cheaper to provide, that argument is invalid. > > > >It's more `publisher realising that it can get away with over-charging > >because people are used to letting money flow like water through their > >fingers in order to put their fancy electronic gadgets to real use'. > > > >> The February Computer Shopper ran a piece on this in connection with > >> E-books. > > > >Same applies to e-books. > > > >Rowland. > Sorry, Rowland, you are just plain wrong here. > - OS is the only publisher of OS Maps. Sorry, `Dr Hone', you are just plain missing my point entirely for the sake of generating pointless argument. How about dropping the matter? I happen to be right even if you say I'm wrong - but you're only saying I'm wrong because you want to get a rise out of me, aren't you? That's not very nice of you at all. > There are other companies who publish maps using OS data, but they do > not publish OS Maps Irrelevant point. > - Most people who buy an OS paper map do not buy from OS. They go > into their local bookshop. The price on the map cover reflects this. Unsafe assumption. [snip more nonsense in the same vein] > For every e-Map that is sold, one less paper map is sold. Incorrect assumption. [snip more nonsense] You've built a huge tottering pile of reasoning on a foundation of total bullshit - simply so you can get me involved in a pointless argument. Do stop it, there's a love. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking |