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Apple Rejects 'Sony Reader' From App Store, 'Kindle' Removal Next?

not what you think

I believe this is more about closing a huge security hole then about competition. I think this relates to the smurfberry incident.

I think Apple's intention is to prevent a rouge app from getting you to unknowingly purchase items. The only way to do this is to make sure all in-app purchases go thru an Apple interface.

This is not to restrict but to protect.
 
Where are the books?

I always go the Ibook store first to find my books, and I would say 9 times out of 10 they don't have it, and I am forced to go over to Kindle app to purchase what I want. This move to me is not friendly to the consumer and reeks of greed. Not good apple.
 
trrosen said:
I believe this is more about closing a huge security hole then about competition. I think this relates to the smurfberry incident.

I think Apple's intention is to prevent a rouge app from getting you to unknowingly purchase items. The only way to do this is to make sure all in-app purchases go thru an Apple interface.

This is not to restrict but to protect.
Click to expand...

How could you unknowingly purchase something like that!?:confused:

I'm not sure how you'd end up entering all of your credit card information and not realise what you were doing.
 
Vizin said:
In theory this could block any paid service that has an app store presence, including streaming radio apps like Sirius, VOIP apps like Vonage (and the paid features of Skype), etc. All of these apps require a purchase that doesn't go through Apple.

Of course, I'm sure they'll only enforce the rule on apps that affect their business directly, like ebooks for now.
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Even Skype does affect their business, I nowadays make most of my calls through the Skype app on my iPhone (it is set to display my mobile number as caller ID). This means, I do not pay my telecom provider for phone calls anymore (in fact I am on a zero minutes plan). This will lead to my telecom being less willing to subsidise new handsets. In countries where Apple controls the price the carrier charges to customers for new handsets (eg, the US), they will be pushed towards reducing the subsidy they pay Apple. In countries where the providers set the price (eg, Europe), they will simply reduce the subsidy, making iPhones more expensive than other phones.
 
Eh... I see both sides on this. People are not all up in arms that you can't play a XBox 360 game on a PS3. That's expected, they are competing systems and there are hardware limitations. But because there is no hardware limitation, Apple should allow people to buy products from a competing service?

And on the other side, Apple is getting themselves into a slippery slope here. You can't allow the functionality and then take it away. And how about other applications which let you allow external purchases to avoid paying Apple the 30%. Must Sirius XM subscribers purchase their subscription through the Apple Store? Netflix competes with renting movies from the iTunes store, Apple doesn't get a 30% cut there either.
 
Only a complete idiot would conclude that Apple will pull the Kindle app. Never going to happen. Use common sense for chrsts sake. It was one of the first apps in the app store!
 
At first it seemed that Apple didn't want competition on its device, then I read the article and says that they just want in-app purchase process, a totally different thing.

In Apple defense I tried once Kindle for iPad, and buying book from Amazon website was confusing compared to iBooks.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm sure Apple is well aware of the Kindle apps popularity and the hell storm they'd suffer if the app were banned or forced into removal because new requirements made the Kindle app unprofitable. Since there's been no comment from Apple I think it's premature to make sky-is-falling type comments. Perhaps Apple will grandfather in the Kindle app. I'm sure somewhere in the developer agreement it says Apple may make exceptions on a case by case basis.
 
Astro7x said:
Eh... I see both sides on this. People are not all up in arms that you can't play a XBox 360 game on a PS3. That's expected, they are competing systems and there are hardware limitations.
Click to expand...

Of course not. People only scream "walled garden!" when Apple is involved.

As long as it's just your personal data being parsed through a "free for everyone!" platform for the sole purpose of feeding you advertising under the auspices of "freedom" and "choice" - through a single corporate entity that aspires to become the world's sole digital information gatekeeper - it's all good.

The world has gone mad.
 
Astro7x said:
Eh... I see both sides on this. People are not all up in arms that you can't play a XBox 360 game on a PS3. That's expected, they are competing systems and there are hardware limitations. But because there is no hardware limitation, Apple should allow people to buy products from a competing service?
Click to expand...

If you want the hardware you're selling to be useful, yes. Especially in the area of books. Amazon has been selling books for quite a long time and is very good at it. Apple, not so much. What Apple does well is hardware.

If Apple somehow thinks they are going to leverage the iPad into taking a bite out of Amazon's book business by booting the Kindle reader (notice I said "if"), well, Kindle sales are about to get even better.
 
grabbyg said:
I always go the Ibook store first to find my books, and I would say 9 times out of 10 they don't have it, and I am forced to go over to Kindle app to purchase what I want. This move to me is not friendly to the consumer and reeks of greed. Not good apple.
Click to expand...

Yup, I bought a few ebooks last night. I checked for all of them on iBooks, because I do prefer it over other ereader apps, but not a single one was available. In fact, I think I've bought only one book using iBooks. The selection is really pathetic.

So I agree this is a disturbing move. I've always been a big defender of Apple's 'walled garden' approach, because I do believe it ultimately provides a better experience for the consumer and a stronger distribution channel for content providers, but this is taking a it a bit too far. Depending on how this shakes out, it will definitely affect my decision to get another iPad down the road (which I am already beginning to decide against).

A positive side effect though, if Sony and Amazon play by Apple's rules, is a better way to browse and purchase titles. Being redirected to amazon.com from the Kindle app isn't great.
 
Gotta Hankerin said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm sure Apple is well aware of the Kindle apps popularity and the hell storm they'd suffer if the app were banned or forced into removal because new requirements made the Kindle app unprofitable. Since there's been no comment from Apple I think it's premature to make sky-is-falling type comments. Perhaps Apple will grandfather in the Kindle app. I'm sure somewhere in the developer agreement it says Apple may make exceptions on a case by case basis.
Click to expand...

Are we sure that this story, which seems to be quoting Sony quoting Apple (hearsay, essentially), is accurate? Are we sure that Sony didn't try to allow in-app purchases without giving Apple their cut? The Kindle reader, for those that don't know, kicks you to the web site to buy content, it's not in-app.
 
ah - the legacy continue - aap's control over their domain - what ever works - i'm in - as long as aap keeps growing my portfolio worth - go aapl
 
this is ridiculous.

if they remove kindle I'm switching to droid. Never thought I'd say that but... this is ridiculous. What happened to Apple being all about the customer?
 
howard said:
this is ridiculous.

if they remove kindle I'm switching to droid. Never thought I'd say that but... this is ridiculous. What happened to Apple being all about the customer?
Click to expand...

I'm sure you supported the ban on Flash. Now you have it, just now it's not games but books.
 
manu chao said:
Yes, why should Apple allow you to purchase music from Amazon on your Mac, they built the Mac, they built the OS, they built iTunes (through which you play the music)?
Click to expand...

So it would it be appropriate for Microsoft to ban iTunes on Windows since Microsoft built the OS? Why should they allow you to purchase content, such as music and movies, through iTunes?
 
Why would anyone want to purchase from iBooks? What's the advantage, besides padding the pockets of Steve Jobs? Your purchased item is forever trapped in Apple's ecosystem.

With Amazon purchased books I can access my purchase on my PC, on my Mac, on my iPad, on my iPhone, on my iPod touch, on my Android phone, on my Android tablet, on my Blackberry, or on my Windows phone or last the Kindle itself. I like not being tied down.
 
Oletros said:
Mmmm, no.

Do you think MS was fined in Europe for having a monopoly? No, they were fined for anti competittive practices.
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You are joking, right?

First, I didn't say having a monopoly was illegal, so of course microsoft wasn't fined for "having a monopoly." What I said was that unless you have a monopoly, "anti competitive practices" such as locking competitors out of your infrastructure are likely legal.

To answer your question, Microsoft was fined for leveraging its MONOPOLY in desktop operating systems in an anti-competitive way (locking competitors out of its infrastructure by hiding API's, and bundling other software). This was done under the "anti-trust" laws, that apply to MONOPOLIES. If, instead of Microsoft, it was Novell that had bundles a browser with its OS, it would have been fine. Just like no one cares when Apple bundles a browser with ITS OS.

It's only a problem when an entity LEVERAGES A MONOPOLY to crush competition. Not when a minor market participant does.
 
thetexan said:
Why would anyone want to purchase from iBooks? What's the advantage, besides padding the pockets of Steve Jobs? Your purchased item is forever trapped in Apple's ecosystem.

With Amazon purchased books I can access my purchase on my PC, on my Mac, on my iPad, on my iPhone, on my iPod touch, on my Android phone, on my Android tablet, on my Blackberry, or on my Windows phone or last the Kindle itself. I like not being tied down.
Click to expand...

As sad as it sounds, you are probably not Apple's target customer if that is the case. Apple is, and always has been, about absolute control and will do whatever it takes to retain that control.
 
thetexan said:
Why would anyone want to purchase from iBooks? What's the advantage, besides padding the pockets of Steve Jobs? Your purchased item is forever trapped in Apple's ecosystem.

With Amazon purchased books I can access my purchase on my PC, on my Mac, on my iPad, on my iPhone, on my iPod touch, on my Android phone, on my Android tablet, on my Blackberry, or on my Windows phone or last the Kindle itself. I like not being tied down.
Click to expand...

Yep. I've made some purchases from iBooks, but Kindle is ubiquitous, has a better selection, and is less costly at times. I like the iBooks interface, but it needs to offer more to get my money.
 
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