Earlier today Christine wrote an article about Sony’s reader app getting rejected from the App Store. There’s a lot of FUD-fallout going around the internet, so Apple decided to step up and provide some answers about what’s going on with the Sony application.
“We (Apple) have not changed our developer terms or guidelines…We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.”
Say what you want about Apple’s App Store policies and practices, you can’t deny that “We have not changed” and “We are now requiring” don’t match up. Which is it? It can’t be both. Apple may not have changed their policy, but they may have just started to enforce it. Either way, Sony tried to break the rules and Apple called them on it.
This is probably a giant tell about the upcoming subscription based model that Apple has been working on lately. Amazon was able to get their application into the App Store at a time when Apple’s subscription model was a faint whisper, but times have changed. It appears that Amazon will now be forced to update their application to meet the new standards.
What’s really important here is that Apple may be forcing Amazon, Sony, and others to pay a 30% cut to Apple for all of the books sold through their application. While it’s hard to deny the usability benefit for customers when it comes to in-app purchases, it’s hard to believe that Amazon and others will willingly pay the 30% fee to Apple.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Amazon app disappears from the App Store entirely. If you want the Kindle app I’d run out and grab it right now.
Now for a laugh
It’s hilarious that companies are still complaining to the press when Apple denies their applications entry to the App Store. It’s Apple’s App Store, and just like your mom and pop convenience store down the road, the owner decides what products stock the shelves. If you don’t like it, there’s another store down the road.
Article Via The Loop
Header Photo Credit: Flyover Living
