Apple is now forcing developers who offer content for sale via a webstore to also offer the content via in-app purchase, according to Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller.
"We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," Miller told AllThingsD. "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."
In other words, Apple wants its cut on sales enabled by its iOS devices, it has an established guideline that allows it to take it and that’s what it’s doing. Developers are still free to send customers to their own Web stores, but they must also offer them the option of purchasing content within their apps themselves, and they must route those sales through Apple which will then take its percentage.
This is a major setback for companies like Sony, Amazon, and other content providers who will not want to give up 30% of their sales to Apple.
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"We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," Miller told AllThingsD. "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."
In other words, Apple wants its cut on sales enabled by its iOS devices, it has an established guideline that allows it to take it and that’s what it’s doing. Developers are still free to send customers to their own Web stores, but they must also offer them the option of purchasing content within their apps themselves, and they must route those sales through Apple which will then take its percentage.
This is a major setback for companies like Sony, Amazon, and other content providers who will not want to give up 30% of their sales to Apple.
Read More