Category of podcast platform dedicated to e-learning for K-12 students.

1. iTunes for K-12
Case study
Giorgio Sironi
NEST project
Alta Scuola Politecnica 7th cycle

2. Description
 K-12 category of a famous online podcasts
platform
 Audio and video in periodically updated feeds
 Crowdsourced podcasts creation
 Distribution
 Freeware proprietary program
 Website for browsing lists of podcasts
 Goals
 Provide a categorization of content to help
navigation
 In order to add value to the iTunes platform

3. Homepage

4. Homepage
 Provides navigation
 Of categories
 Of appropriate podcasts
 Other filters
 Popularity
 Alphabetic

5. Example of podcast

6. Example of podcast
 Description
 List of episodes
 Number
 Description
 Date
 Price, which must always be free
 Customer ratings
 Related content
 From the same publisher

7. No web fruition

8. 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

9. Software

10. Software
 Features
 Library management
 Music purchasing
 Playlist
 Device loading
 Only way to
 Access podcasts content
 Load content on iOS devices

11. Marketing

12. 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

13. 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

14. Conclusions
 The platform itself does not allow third parties
to make a profit directly, unlike for iOS
applications
 Take-aways
 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