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iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

theverge.com

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Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#31

Post by sixothree »

tmpz22 wrote: post #11
granzymes wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this significantly cannibalizes Apple’s App Store revenue I would actually expect that they come up with a different way to monetize (maybe based on installs or number of users). They could also implement that independent of the injunction, which applies to steering rules.

If Apple penalized apps for having many users that would be cataclysmic to their platform, though I image they'd work out sweetheart deals with Facebook etc.

One way or the other this is a seismic event for Apple. They did this to themselves though.

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#32

Post by tantalor »

tmpz22 wrote: post #11
granzymes wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this significantly cannibalizes Apple’s App Store revenue I would actually expect that they come up with a different way to monetize (maybe based on installs or number of users). They could also implement that independent of the injunction, which applies to steering rules.

If Apple penalized apps for having many users that would be cataclysmic to their platform, though I image they'd work out sweetheart deals with Facebook etc.

It could be like a platform subscription fee, but the app developer pays instead of the user.

The justification would be something like, "a more equitable and transparent system that aligns costs with platform usage and developer access to the user base, while also potentially fostering a more diverse and competitive app ecosystem" (generated)

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#33

Post by lxgr »

zacwest wrote: post #6
dhosek wrote: post #4

I thought that the terms of the entitlement to be able to link to an external purchase point was that you still needed to offer IAP under Apple’s terms. Did I misunderstand that?

Except for 'reader apps' (those that sell digital content, basically) which Amazon is. Plus, Apple's rules are applied unevenly; Amazon is a giant WebView on Apple TV but it's disallowed for everybody else.

As far as I understand, what "reader apps" were allowed to do was to display content purchased elsewhere in the first place, which is orthogonal to being/not being allowed to link to external purchases, no?

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#34

Post by lxgr »

lb1lf wrote: post #13
Coeur wrote: post #10

update: thanks for the clarifications! Unfortunately the article does not answer what the button does, which is quite relevant. Does it send the user to the amazon website (which would be allowed under the new rule)? Or does it complete the purchase inside the app using the credit card Amazon has on file for the user without paying Apple anything (which would be quite the affront towards Apple)?

It does indeed open your web browser and send you to the book's page on the Kindle store. Just checked. (Kindle for iPhone v7.31.3)

Wow, really? That's frustrating.

I'd have expected it to actually make the purchase using my card on file with my Amazon account, just like the physical Kindle does.

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#35

Post by xp84 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #14

App Store revenue was a significant source of income for Apple. Money that paid for development of iPhone and iOS. I don’t know what sort of idiotic thinking it takes to imagine that they won’t need to find another way to recapture that money. It will probably come in the form of higher costs for development licenses, or hardware. For example, absolutely nothing stops them from charging you for using the SDK. No one…

“Paid for the development”

This comes off as incredibly bought-in to Apple PR, and if you’re not on their payroll, I don’t understand why you’re carrying water for them so aggressively.

First of all, the incredibly high margin hardware more than “pays for” the development of all the parts that make that hardware useful including iOS. We all know this.

Apple makes a tremendous amount of profit, both gross and net. This will dent their top line and their bottom line a bit. It will not make the iPhone a money-losing platform. “Not making as much pure profit as your near-monopoly status might theoretically allow you to if there were no antitrust laws” does not imply “that money will have to be made up somewhere.” They may end up being only “wildly, amazingly profitable” instead of “wildly, absurdly, amazingly profitable.” They don’t “have to” make up any particular amount of money.

Whether that upsets their shareholders including their mega billionaire CEO, is just the breaks. It is quite fitting for a group of people who enjoyed all those amazing profits from Apple’s monopolistic behavior so far — money that I might point out, isn’t even being required to be paid back.

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#36

Post by zacwest »

lxgr wrote: post #33
zacwest wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for 'reader apps' (those that sell digital content, basically) which Amazon is. Plus, Apple's rules are applied unevenly; Amazon is a giant WebView on Apple TV but it's disallowed for everybody else.

As far as I understand, what "reader apps" were allowed to do was to display content purchased elsewhere in the first place, which is orthogonal to being/not being allowed to link to external purchases, no?

These are the changes that Apple was forced to make, specifically referencing 3.1.3 (Other Purchase Methods) and 3.1.3(a) (“Reader” Apps):

> 3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.

> 3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.

The bit about the (formerly required in the US) entitlement is:

> Reader app developers may apply for the External Link Account Entitlement to provide an informational link in their app to a web site the developer owns or maintains responsibility for in order to create or manage an account.

They required you use a trackingless, generic URL that was unvarying per user, so you probably didn't run into it super often. Offhand, the Kobo app did use it.

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#37

Post by nguyenkien »

ewidar wrote: post #28
tantalor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lose the ability What, why? They can complete the purchase flow in a browser instead of the app. What is lost?

They mean that if apple wins the appeal, the in-app new purchase flow will be removed but users will likely not leave the apple ecosystem

Bút now, they know the web offer cheaper. And likely search before give Apple 30% on other apps

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#38

Post by gjsman-1000 »

paxys wrote: post #8

Smart that developers are quickly updating their apps while Apple is still appealing the decision. Once users get used to the added purchase options and cheaper pricing there's no going back, regardless of what the final ruling is.

This also, long term, could kill the 30% commission. Why, as a developer, would you be stupid enough to launch your app as a paid product on the App Store?

Your discoverability is massively impaired, we already knew that. You also give Apple 30% of your cash.

Free app + external web purchase = maximum discoverability at 0% tax.

When things get more advanced, that web purchase link will be an authenticated URL - meaning one click to open the web browser already logged in. Register a protocol handler, remember their card information (or, ironically, use Apple Pay), and one tap in the app, a flash of the web browser, and they’re back in the app with purchase complete.

Apple needs to address this at WWDC. In the US and EU, there are zero, heck, negative advantages of selling on the App Store. All pain, all fees, no benefit of any kind. That’s a big deal.

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#39

Post by [deleted] »

geoffpado wrote: post #26
granzymes wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this significantly cannibalizes Apple’s App Store revenue I would actually expect that they come up with a different way to monetize (maybe based on installs or number of users). They could also implement that independent of the injunction, which applies to steering rules.

> They could also implement that independent of the injunction, which applies to steering rules. They actually can't, not with the latest ruling that unlocked this Kindle change. Apple annoyed the judge enough with their shenanigans that she shut this down, too. The ruling reads (emphasis mine): "Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users *nor will they levy or imp…

[deleted]

Re: iOS Kindle app now has a ‘get book’ button after changes to App Store rules

#40

Post by sundaeofshock »

paxys wrote: post #8

Smart that developers are quickly updating their apps while Apple is still appealing the decision. Once users get used to the added purchase options and cheaper pricing there's no going back, regardless of what the final ruling is.

Why would a developer lower their prices? Most people are not aware that Apple takes a cut of all sales. Further, the app developers have already set their prices to maximize revenue. Also, in instances like Amazon, they have already set a cross-platform price that I suspect they won’t want to touch.

Bottom line: I wouldn’t expect many discounts here.

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