I'm wondering if the part about Apple not letting customers have access to media that was purchased outside the App Store (e.g. Kindle books) is just an off-the-cuff remark made by some Sony executive who was mad about Apple not letting them do their own in-app purchases. Seems odd, considering Amazon has been doing it this whole time with seemingly no protest from Apple.
Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
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Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#22As an Apple owner of all their hardware and devices this is pretty lame and really hope it does not affect Amazon/Kindle. I have never owned a Kindle but prefer Kindle books and love them. I read them on PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, but mainly my iPad. If it weren't for Kindle, I may have bought a few more books on iBooks just for the iPad, but there are far fewer books and I like being able to read them on multiple device…
Check out the Kobo. I got one for Christmas and love the way they do things. I can even pop an SD card, full of PDFS into my ereader with no problems.
You can read PDFs on the Kindle fine.
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#23Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Check out the Kobo. I got one for Christmas and love the way they do things. I can even pop an SD card, full of PDFS into my ereader with no problems.
Or any other reader, really, like the Sony's or the Nook. The Kobo is sold at about the same price as a Nook but is limited in a number of very annoying ways (no book wide search, no way to jump to a particular page etc.)
That's fair. Those are some major features. I don't find them to be of any particular hindrance though. Frankly, I find I read more quickly on the Kobo, as opposed to traditional book formats.
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#25[deleted]
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#26I think this probably has something to do with the new subscription model they're rolling out with Newscorp and the Daily. I'm not so sure it's as cut and dry as this article makes out, and I'd wait to hear from Apple about that "access to purchases they have made outside the App Store" bit. It sounds a bit weird to me. I can think of a hundred ways that's not enforceable or even legal.
As I understand it, the only difference here is that the paying for content on an Apple Device now has to go through Apple. Which I think may well be a bonus for end users (in terms of convenience and security), but not so great for people like Sony and Amazon who were expecting to get 100% of the cash but now they'll have to pay 30% (probably) to Apple.
They may think it's unfair for Apple to muscle in on their revenue, but they didn't invent iOS or the iPad or the iPhone or the iPod Touch...
so..... neeeerh!
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#27This seems to be incorrect. Apple is not moving to tighten control; the restriction has been there for a while. I believe Apple banned non-Apple in-app purchases when they launched their in-app purchase system (if not before then). Edit: The article does say Apple "has told some applications developers … that they can no longer … let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store." However, t…
Upon review of the iTunes Connect EULA in fall 2010, 3rd party in-app purchasing is possible as long as a pre-existing service which requires payments exists prior to the release of an app. For example, Evernote does/did qualify, because its service exists outside of the iOS app. Zoosk app may have this implemented — http://d.pr/oc2F
I forgot to mention, this term includes purchase redirects to mobile Safari. The Kindle app accomplishes this but it is fairly disjointed. Recurly mobile payments (http://recurly.com) has a solution that is seamless and redirects back to the app upon checkout completion.
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#28I doubt this is actually true. Apple has always required in-app purchases to go through Apple. That's why the Kindle app pushes you out to Safari to make purchases.
Despite what the article says, I bet Sony tried to implement their own in-app purchase process instead of bumping the user out to Safari. Apple rejected the app for breaking a well-known rule, and now Sony is whining about it for publicity. That's my guess anyway.
In fact, the article says "Apple told Sony that from now on, all in-app purchases would have to go through Apple, said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division."
This isn't a change. In-app purchases have always had to go through Apple.
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#29The really interesting bit is where it says that developers won't be able to "let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store". Amazon has worked around Apple's rules by always kicking users out to the browser to complete the transaction. This apparently kills that.
Jason, I think this is still an open issue, as was pointed out in the comments under your Techcrunch article.
There is also another possibility - that Apple just didn't like that in the new Sony app, you could buy ebooks directly, while other apps (like Kindle app, but also some others) fire up browser. And this technique Apple did NOT banned (yet).
Re: Apple Moves to Tighten Control of App Store
#30So Apple wants to block companies from allowing people to see content that wasn't paid for through their system. What's next, blocking paid websites?
Surely Amazon would just set up a website where users could access their Kindle books, bypassing the whole App Store problem. This is silly on Apple's part as it decreases the potential audience for their devices, and the ease of use.