61–70 of 129 posts
The evil empire is dictating its power over developers. Will this lead to Apple killing our innovation and creativity? It's time for us developers to revolt and move to an open source platform!
I'm hoping there's more to this than meets the eye right now. Sadly, I suspect we won't know until Thursday. I can think of a couple of scenarios that might fit what we know so far: 1) Apple might simply declare that they want 30% of all in-app purchases. Amazon will likely freak out. This, to me, would seem to be a seriously dangerous move on Apple's part. 2) Apple may drop the 30% cut entirely on in-app purchases.…
>>Are you effing Idiot! What about User privacy?? Why should the user tell Apple about all ebooks he is purchasing??
For instance, if you restored your device, you could be assured that all your digital content you bought via the Kindle app itself would be restored with a single tap
>> Another idiotic comment, Apple does not stores the "content" how the hell it can restore it??? Only the true provider in this case Amazon can restore it.
It's idiots like you and two people who upvoted you, who are ruining HN.
I can make no possible reading of the App Store guidelines that results in this policy - it's clearly new. I guess if Google can't make the Android App Store attractive to developers, Apple sure can. Surely, this cannot be "official" policy, or if it is, it can't be one that lasts more than a couple of weeks. It's not one of those geek-annoying App restrictions that 99% of the iOS target market wouldn't care about ev…
4) Make a webapp. Not perfect, but also an option.
I think we were all afraid of some move like this. Nobody cares about Sony's ebooks. Everybody (me included) cares about Kindle. I can sort of understand where Apple is coming from in this. They provide an ecosystem and apps live within their ecosystem. That being said, I can't see Amazon or any other big player rolling over on a margin of 30%. This is the problem with one fixed margin: it works well for apps and mus…
Is it just me, or is this every bit as outrageously greedy as consumer ISP's (Comcast, etc) wanting to charge Netflix, Youtube, etc.?
This is also a taste of problems to come if the rumors of iPhone 5 NFC payments are true.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Apple also allegedly told Sony that the app couldn't access content purchased on other Sony Reader devices, which is where most of the outrage was focused" - I think this is a big problem. If I have bought the book from amazon I should be able to read it everywhere isn't it?
Apple's official response: "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." It's talking about purchasing from inside the app, not access content that you purchased somewhere else.
I think we were all afraid of some move like this. Nobody cares about Sony's ebooks. Everybody (me included) cares about Kindle. I can sort of understand where Apple is coming from in this. They provide an ecosystem and apps live within their ecosystem. That being said, I can't see Amazon or any other big player rolling over on a margin of 30%. This is the problem with one fixed margin: it works well for apps and mus…
I too am not happy about losing the ability to read Kindle books on my iPad. But does Amazon allow Apple (and Google and Sony) to sell their ebooks on Kindle? This is shaping up to be a battle of walled gardens. While the gardens battle, Google Books and Android are looking a lot more attractive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The consistent, simple user experience is the key to the platform. I think it's reasonable to require it. I know as a customer I don't want to be hassling with multiple payment accounts. Presumably it is permissible for Sony to bump the price up on in app purchases to cover the 30% "shipping and handling" charge from Apple. I wonder if they can show it as "Apple™ brand Shipping and Handling" on the screen.
You're conflating two different questions — requiring the simple interface for payments, and imposing a fee on purchases. If the goal of this change is to create a consistent, simple user experience, Apple doesn't need to charge a 30% fee to do that. If Apple chooses to force a 30% fee on developers, that is a cash grab, plain and simple. The tax does not improve the UX.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Networ...