Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Apple cracks down on apps

The NYT reports that Apple "has told some applications developers, including Sony, that they can no longer sell content, like e-books, within their apps, or let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store.

Apple rejected Sony’s iPhone application, which would have let people buy and read e-books bought from the Sony Reader Store...The move could affect companies like Amazon.com and others that sell e-book readers that compete with Apple’s iPad tablet and offer free mobile apps so customers can read their e-book purchases on other devices. An iPad owner, for instance, has not needed to own a Kindle to read Kindle books bought from Amazon.

That may now change."

No word yet on whether this will affect the Kindle app, but it seems ominous. Glad I didn't buy an iPad...

4 comments:

  1. That is a pretty stupid move. You want people to WANT your device and use it for EVERYTHING.

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  2. I'm with Writer and Cat. I LOVE my iPad, but I'd be pissed if all my Kindle books suddenly disappeared or I couldn't read them on my iPad or iPhone anymore. The fact I could take my books (all my books) everywhere was one of the main reasons I bought it.

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  3. Clarifications from Apple seem to suggest they will continue allowing the Kindle app, but want to take a 30% cut out of Amazon's sales? I guess we'll just have to see how this shakes out...

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  4. What I'm curious about is if you purchase the books online (ie not on the iPad or iPhone), then will that 30% apply? There's no way Amazon is going to go for handing 30% over to Apple. I wouldn't if I had that large a business.

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