Nope. Apple's terms are explicit that iTunes price has to be lowest possible option (though others can be equally low). They've offered publishers like Conde Nast a tiny bit of wiggle room, by allowing them to sell print + digital bundles on their own sites; those bundles are more expensive than the all-digital subscription offered on itunes, but you could argue that they effectively discount the digital portion.
Yup. Worth noting, though, that Tim and some other execs already got to take a few million off the table last summer by selling some shares to their biggest investors. See "investor offer" in the S-1: http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1230276/00011931251103296...
Re: Comments. I reached out to Ivan and Abby more than 24 hours before I published the story. I understand why they'd be reluctant to respond, and I told them that.
I appreciate the back and forth on this board -- Paul's comments have been particularly enlightening -- but I'm going to bow out now. Please contact me directly if you have specific comments or questions. Thanks. pk
Ivan, I'm noting your comment, and Paul's, on my post. But the offer I made multiple times to you and Abby still stands -- if there's more info that you want to get out, I'm happy to chat. pk
"How about submitting a couple of your favorites that actually might be relevant here? " That's what I'm trying to do - and I'm pretty sure that's most of the publishers/writers/bloggers who post here are trying to do. If were submitting everything we posted, there would be many, many more submissions. In any case, sometimes the HN folks like the stuff I submit, and sometimes they don't. I think that works pretty well, no?