Maybe so ... I think with a robust digital subscription option, they'd increase their reader base; a lot of people who don't read comics now might sign up, and a lot of people who do buy print issues every month now would continue to do so, even if they also had a digital subscription (probably fewer print books, but the people who already habitually buy books are going to be giving the publishers money one way or another).

More readers = better price for the reader, unless the publisher is just a complete asshole.

I'd still subscribe even with a 6 month delay (if the price was right), but obviously by my participation in this site, one can see I have no problem reading old comics :P

My guess is if they do something like that, they will put 6 mo. between release and subscription.

[quote="tstarnes"]My guess is they will go with there being a delay between when you can buy the full digital copy (day & date) and when it shows up in the subscription. So people who want to read what is out now pay the individual price.[/quote]

This is fine for me. I don't feel the need to read a comic book the day it comes out as long as I can get it sooner or later. Hell, I'd be fine with a month delay if it would make them happy. More than that would probably be too long.

It'll take them a while to hammer out a pricing scheme that works for their bottom line and works for us consumers. I think a tiered subscription would work:

No subscription - you can still buy digital comics a la carte, pay full cover or almost full cover.

Subscription A (cheapest)- archive comics only (only issues older than a certain arbitrary date)
Subscription B - modern comics only (only issues more recent than certain arbitrary date), new releases are delayed from street date by a day, a week, whatever works out
Subscription C - all comics, new releases still delayed
Deluxe Sub - all comics, new releases same as street (or less delay, or something)

The key is to either trick the customer into perceiving a value for the subscription, or actually providing a value, whichever comes first.

Another option would be to provide a la carte subscriptions for titles, the way you can get the real book mailed to you. So if you really only care about Spider-Man, you could pay a lesser total dollar amount to receive only Spider-Man books, although the price per issue would obviously be better on the general subscription.

My guess is they will go with there being a delay between when you can buy the full digital copy (day & date) and when it shows up in the subscription. So people who want to read what is out now pay the individual price.

I've been using the screen sharing app Splashtop to access MDCU from my iPad.

[quote="price2606"]I thought I read somewhere on the Marvel site that they were working on linking the subscriptions and the mobile apps.
Working on it doesn't say how quickly they will get it done though.[/quote]

This would be so awesome. I'm skeptical of it every happening though. Wouldn't Marvel much rather have customers purchase single issues on mobile devices than buy a subscription that gives them access to an unlimited amount of comics?

no. The only way you can see flash content on your iphone is by using an app that goes through some sort of outside server. Try Puffin, it worked ok for me.

If you root your iphone can you see Flash content? (or is the whole Flash/Apple kerfuffle finally over, I don't know)

Because if so, you could access it through a browser. The website uses html 5 stuff I think, but I've gotten it to work with Opera Mobile on my android. It'd probably be too slow to be useful, but there's that.

Have you heard anything about Marvel making their back issue service iOS friendly any time soon?

Your right, it is. I think they updated searching and some other features, but I haven't tried it yet to be sure.

I think there's a new iOS app, not a new Android app. Not sure if it is just bringing it up to the same as the Android version or if it introduces new features, as I have no Apple devices.