This is just about what I think they should do. If Apple is dead set on getting money from Kindle, Netflix, MS, and the rest, why not set it so any paid service that uses in app purchases to servers outside of Apple's control has to sell their app for 99 cents? Apple gets their 30% cut of each sale from the App Store, which would more than cover the cost of bandwidth used to host the file, and the services don't have to worry about losing a goodly chunk of their profits ad infinium simply because someone subscribed to their service on an Apple platform.
As is, no one is benefiting from this setup except for Apple. Apple doesn't have to sacrifice 30% of their sales through iBooks. Amazon does. Amazon had to nix IAP completely and rely on sales from their website, plus lead people through a somewhat convoluted cloud based process to get books into their iPad app. This isn't fair to their customers, who have gotten it into their head that everything could and should be done from inside the app. But...well...they can't. Apple wants their cut from all purchases made on an iPad.
In fact, do you know I tend to use iBooks more than Kindle because I can buy books directly from the app? I'm sure I'm not the only one. It makes me think Apple realized exactly what they were doing when they set up their payment scheme. They knew none of the larger companies would opt for the 30% cut. They've stacked the odds very much in their favor, and have weaponized their platform against their competitors. Either they pay Apple a very large amount of cash for a contrived convenience, or risk losing iPad business by forcing their customers to jump through hoops to make purchases.
I imagine if Microsoft did this, people would be screaming bloody murder around here.
