Apple's new App Store restrictions block Sony eBookstore, may lock out Amazon - Page 2

Is it possible to post the latest '11.2' for all to read?

I think Apple is going to introduce a new pricing model when they release The Daily tomorrow. I don't see the 30% cut for subscriptions continuing.

Probably - at the moment though they are rejecting applications with content bought outside the app. If that continues it will be the end of the iPad platform.

I can only assume they are not that stupid - although rejecting applications for this reason is itself likely to backfire. They could have been held In Review until tomorrow, and then rejected when the new policy was announced, and told to update to new API.

And why is related to the article?

Apple was paid something -- they were paid when the user purchased the iDevice. Why does Apple deserve a cut of every other financial transaction made with the device? If I use an iPad's browser to pay my credit card bill, should Apple get a cut?

Stop being such a blind fanboy. Apple is way out of line on this one.

Should I laugh or cry?

Apple got their reward when I bought the damn thing.

The article is haphazard.

Here are the first few paragraphs in full.
So is this about in-app purchases having to go through Apples in-app system or that no app can allow access to other files, which would mean that, CineXPlayer, Dropbox and many other apps would not be allowed to be used at all since they all access data either a LAN/WAN or through syncing via iTunes.

You dont think that is fishy?


Im seeing Kindle, Dropbox, CineXPlayer and other apps still working the same? Im seeing the file access in iTunes still allowing me to important media files I didnt buy from Apples iTunes Store. So what are you seeing besides this fishy article from NYT that appears to confuse different methods of importing data?

Are you certain that Sony tried to do an in-app purchase that didnt go through Apple, and not the out-of-app purchase that Kindle does by calling the inconveniently accessed Safari app?

But looking at Sony Reader screenshots and the way it works on Android, it open a web browser to buy items, it's not in app.

I dont know what Sony tried to do. I know what the company I am associated tried to do. Its basically a player of digital content, not a buyer. There is no attempt to buy within the app, nor direct outside the app. The app was rejected on the basis of 11.2. because a website is used to buy the original content.

it is in appeal.

(

All these cockblocking by Apple is getting annoying. For what? Just so they can milk every dollar they can?

I am extremely unhappy about this move by Apple. As an avid reader, I currently shop around for purchases through iBook, Kindle, B&N, Chapters Indigo and Borders. I want to be able to shop at Sony too and all on my iPad. Apple has made the iPad a book readers conversion "hub". Do not screw it up now!

To be clear, you mean it opens the OSes default browser app, not accesses the browser API that is available to all apps which would then keep it in-app?

On Android open the default browser

Here there are the iPhone screenshots

http://ebookstore.sony.com/rme/

It is Android fanboys who are communist that expect everything is free. How can Sony or Amazon make money from them?

I love Apple products, but this concerns me. Cutting off access to the Kindle App means I might be compelled to get a different device. If that happens, I'll be looking at the color Nook.

Some of that looks like the webstore is contained within the app. That would be a normal violation. However if Sony could work around that ( i.e. by going to an external link) they would just re-submit and shut up.

Ein? The same way they're making money from Apple?

I should say here that we are in still in appeal. Until the SOny announcement I had assumed an over-active tester was misreading 11.2.

browser control has bookmark and tab buttons?

Oh, you are correct. i saw that as their own tabs. TOuche.

Yep. Smoking gun.

That’s one of two reasons I think we’re not getting the whole story. Does Apple want to focus on selling HW or books? How many books will need to be sold to equal the same profit from a lost iPad sale?

The other reason is that they’ve already opened this up so putting the kibosh on all those Kindle app users for iPhone and iPad now, thus making their purchases useless on iDevices, goes against all smart business practices.

No, I was asking because I didn't know

Thats safari. Colour is not the same as the tab in the other screenshot ( which is not allowable in one app), and the bottom toolbar items are the same as safari - although the modern middle bookmark button is an action button, not (+) as there.

If Apple wanted to set up its iTunes store to sell songs on the PSP, would Sony allow that to happen for free!? Do Amazon or EBay allow stuff to be sold by third parties on their websites without a cut?

No, but you had to leave the app to make the purchase. Much like if you purchase a pdf and view it in Good Reader. As long as the purchase is made outside the app(i.e. some external website) I believe that's OK. It's the seamless experience, like the itunes app, that is pretty much being talked about here.

What is sold on Apple website?

Apple thinks it can monopolize books and dominate eBooks and kill Barnes& Noble and Amazon now. This will backfire - I can see the new Amazon commercial now- "Available on ALL devices except Mac App Store!"
Bad Apple.

Yes- all these cool device are basically conduits for the iTunes store content. The devices don't even work without iTunes installed.
Didn't you know that?

You must have a monopoly before you can be accused of anti-trust violations.

If Apple are seeing the iPad as a fully curated device ( like the PSP) then it is doomed. Courts will probably see it as a computer OS.

Nevertheless there is no justification for stopping the user having content he bought elsewhere on a computer OS. I would move to an Android OS, and I buy 90% APple stuff.

If I have something I have bought and can read on an E-Reader, on a website ( as a pdf) and on an Android tablet, but have to buy again on the iPad then I quit the platform.

Something doesn't sounds right about this. I don't think Apple would risk breaking the Kindle application.

It sounds like the story may have been blown out of proportion.

They must be hoping to not be a monopoly sometime, then.

YOu are right, which is why the courts have nothing to say about curation on the iPhone. As it stands Apple is the monopoly provider of the standard Tablet OS.

This is bogus. Right now, I can buy content on Amazon and open it in iBooks or iTunes. Right now I can buy content at a brick and mortar shop and open it in iBooks or iTunes. I can buy a PDF online and open it in any number of apps, including iBooks. Will Apple restrict the adding of any content to all these apps, iBooks and iTunes included? I think not. I think this story is just FUD from someone who didn't like the reasoning behind the rejection of the Sony app.

Why would sony generate this FUD? If their app was rejected in a way that could fix it they would fix it and re-submit.

Also, take a look at the screenshots.

People dont want to believe this - because it sounds crazy. It is crazy. But it is true.

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Apple is not stopping you reading your pdf you bought elsewhere on the iphone.
It's (maybe - we're not even sure yet) only stopping app developers writing apps that can access them over the air. If I buy a pdf on a website I can still access/open/view it inside safari or mail. I doubt they're going to remove the pdf reading abilities.

A compromise would be for Apple to only disallow free apps from accessing content purchased elsewhere, and allow paid-for apps to do so. But that would mean too many changes to itunesconnect and the review process to be sensible.

Personally I don't blame Apple - I was surprised this was ever possible (in-app purchases outside Apple's system) and expected this move to happen at some point in time.

Hopefully, they'll also ban ad networks other than iAds.

Me thinks a lot of people moan and say they would quit the platform, but in reality never would - as we know the alternatives are so rubbish.

There are plenty of other tablet computers and OSs on the market. In fact, tablet computers have been around for over 10 years. Nobody buys them because they suck - not because Apple has a monopoly. Consumers have a choice, and they choose the iPad because they think it's better. That is not even remotely the definition of a monopoly.

While there is room for disagreement about Apple's business strategies, to date I have not seen them do anything I personally consider outlandish. If anything, they're among the most consumer-friendly corporations on the planet.

This story, at first glance, seems like Apple going off the deep end. As this is not consistent with Apple's history, I suspect we're getting only half the story, out of context. Within a matter of days or weeks I'll bet the full facts will come out and this story will die out just like all the other crazy Apple rumors.

Look, Amazon couldn't care less about selling physical Kindles compared to how much they want to sell the book titles themselves. They already allow the Kindle environment to run on any device that isn't made by a competing bookstore. Suppose they want to sell a billion $10 books - if selling $139 physical carriers works, they'll do it. If giving the app away to anyone who already has a device works - they'll do that too. Whether the physical iPad is unit-by-unit competition for the physical Kindle is almost moot. The Kindle app for the iPhone iPT, Mac and PC, all launched before the iPad shipped.

It's the "Gillette" model - the razors are free - the blades will cost you.

iBooks are well-implemented, but I don't see them as a Kindle-killer, partially due to their later rollout. I would have to believe Apple will work something out with Amazon and if so, also with Sony. They might have to, as I'd predict Sony will be the first device to fold. Lord knows Sony has supported some pretty marginal products for longer than would be respectable to do so, but I can't imagine they're making a lot with the books. They were the sacrificial 1.0 for eBooks, history has not been kind to 1.0 (OK I admit to being one of the Stephen King "The Plant" subscribers, Palm version too - but that was pre-columbian in this sense And that goes double for the stillborn, uber-DRM'd Adobe Digital Editions)

I would bet that Kindle is the brand that will endure, and everyone else will just serve them up on any platform available.

Yeah, it is. All that matters is that you sell more than a certain number. 70+ %