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

[Reddkryten]

That's kind of a flawed analogy. I didn't just walk into a shop and browse.
I went into the shop and bought a very expensive item first.

I can see the point you are making about other companies getting free advertising off apples back, but before we even get to that free advertising I have to buy an iPad. Apple isn't a small shop being ripped off here.

 

[spotlight07]

On the surface this looks bad, but let me walk you through a little scenario:

You're a small company, making cars and selling them as well as other people's cars. When you sell other people's cars, you ask for a cut, since you pay for the fuel, advertise for them, let them sell their accessories in your stores. They give you this cut because you're providing a valuable service, and your customers love how they're treated in your store so are very loyal and trust brands you recommend.

One of the bigger car makers decides to sell one of their custom cars in your store. They give the car for free, so they don't have to pay you anything for access to your loyal clients or for the space their cars take. They can afford to offer it for free because the fuel and accessories for it are only available from their own showrooms, and each car comes with instructions on how to get to their showroom.

Tell me, would you keep "selling" their cars, when it's obvious that they're just a vehicle to get people to go to a competing store?

Now lets look at Apple. They host the apps, they provide the download bandwidth, they advertise, they have the trusted environment, they have the loyal audience. Some companies have worked out that if they give the apps away for free, but include a link to a web site to sell content, they can lure these loyal customers to their stores without giving Apple anything for the service. These greedy companies want 100% of your money, and the ability to get all your details (that Apple protects strongly) by using their own sales portals.

Tell me now if you wouldn't kick Sony and others out of your store for the same behavior!?

Apple offers a lot, and only asks for 30% of an electronic sale that has very little direct cost to the sellers, but still many companies strive to find ways to deny Apple that 30% that they use to keep the store running.

Only thing, most of these stores were around longer than the App Store. For example, I've been a Netflix customer, Amazon customer, and magazine reader for years before those apps were even available on App Store. Apple didn't attract me to their services, I just want to use the purchases I already made, like my existing magazine subscriptions, my Netflix account, and my Kindle purchases on my new iPad device.

 

[mntpng]

I was considering buying a Kindle but then I thought maybe I should wait and get the iPad 2 instead when it comes out in few months. I was thinking even though iPad 2 isn't an e-ink device, maybe I can still use the Kindle app to do some light reading as well as lots of other things. From what I hear selections of ebooks on iBook store isn't as good as Amazon and prices are higher on the iBook store. If Apple pulls the Kindle app from the App Store, that basically removes my incentive of buying an iPad 2 entirely. I think Apple would be making a big mistake if they decide to remove the Kindle App. I can't be the only person making these kinds of buying decisions.

 

[notabadname]

I don't think Sony is interested in selling books from the iBooks store on their readers either. Apple is really no different than any other reader. All of the other readers only allow content from within their own store. Apple doesn't need it's tens of millions of users buying media from the competition. And anyone who doesn't see the iTunes Store, iBooks or App Store as major business models worth protecting, from Apple's perspective, is missing the big picture (IMO).

Same for Kindle, do they allow you to purchase books from iBooks instead of Amazon? oh course not. But Apple is evil if they prohibit the very same thing their competition prohibits.

 

[Mister Snitch]

This is actually a GOOD thing if you are an author/publisher looking to target iPad buyers. Simplicity. One marketplace for one device means that buyers of said device know where to look for content targeted to that device. If that author also wants to target other devices, he's welcome to enter their marketplaces. But if those devices have more than one marketplace each, it's that much more work, and for diminishing returns. (I'd prefer to send potential customers to just a few, popular and familiar, marketplaces, than a badly-maintained space they were unfamiliar with.)

It happens I am one such author/publisher, and it makes sense to start with the iPad and Kindle. They are the most popular devices and have the most straightforward delivery/marketing systems. After that, the Nook is the most desirable reader/marketplace combo.

Beyond these, it hardly seems worth trying. That's pretty much the e-book universe. Sony and others seem to know this (even if they won't come out and say so), and that's why they want to port their ebooks over to the iPad. But stuff ported over like that just won't do the iPad (or its customers) justice, and both Sony (which doesn't care) and Apple (which does) know this.

 

[GlenL]

No, an in-app purchase is one that would charge directly to your iTunes account. Buying anything on Amazon requires a separate web based account.

Okay, so I read that buying physical goods is okay as long as a different API from apple's in-app purchasing API is used.

The difference between the main Amazon app and the Kindle app is that the Kindle app delivers digital content to the device.

Physical Good: allowed although must use own purchasing API
Digital Content: allowed if using in-app purchasing API and Apple takes 30% cut

 

[abhimat.gautam]

I don't believe this for a second. Sony is well known for spouting B.S. that is completely unfounded. They probably got rejected for using an IN-APP WEBVIEW control to open their store. If Apple was to make this change, randomly, most of the very top rated app store apps would be banned:

Kindle
Nook
(basically every eReader app, even Stanza for accessing Fictionwise)
Evernote
Netflix
Pandora
Skype
Hulu Plus
FarmVille
FT
NYTimes
Dropbox
box.net
(tons of other services accessible via App Store apps of their own and others)

As well as many other similarly purposed apps. There is no way Apple is banning eBooks as reading (of various forms, such as mail, sms, im, twitter, books, articles, documents, notes, etc.) is pretty much the #1 reason to use iPad and iPhone and we all know iBooks is a pathetic performer compared to Kindle.

The fact is that Sony is a competitor with Apple. Sony is full of talking heads that don't know what their priorities should be and will blindly jab at competition even while trying to ride their coattails. When, if ever, real details finally show up for what really happened I'm sure it will be a well established rule having been broken and Sony using it as a false alarm for crying wolf about Apple's app store.

I mean, really, how many times has this kind of nonsense come up (independent, unverifiable app store approval claims) and later we find out it was just lies? Way too often.

Your point seems right. The real problem is likely that they are using a webview inside the app that buys content, instead of in some way syncing with existing content. The purchase is being made inside the app, which is misleading to consumers who buy a free app seeing that there are no in-app purchases and may assume that all parts of the app are free.

I think the rules are that an app without in-app purchases is supposed to be completely free after getting it from the app store. No purchases can be made inside the app unless they're through in-app purchases. Kindle gets around this by directing customers to use Safari to make purchases, and then later sync the content to the app. What I'm thinking Sony did was, and I could be easily wrong, is what zacheryjensen suggests.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

I don't know but they could be sued. But either way this become yet another reason not to trust Apple. They keep changing the rules and I would call this a rather low move on their part.

Edit just check the kindle store. It kicks you out to the web browser.

Either you know or you don't. Conjecture is a waste of time without a background in Corporate Law.

 

[SomeDudeAsking]

Apple is worse than Microsoft ever was.

 

[mosx]

Hate to sound like a broken record.. but..

Apple putting profits before whats best for the customers? Color me shocked

Edit:

Apple is worse than Microsoft ever was.

Quoted for truth!

 

[spotlight07]

The more I think about this, this is a serious lock down of the iPad. It pushes the iPad way down in usability between it and a laptop. And I really thought that iPad was getting closer to being a laptop replacement for me. If I can't do what I do now on the iPad (and I was expecting to be able to do more over time, not less) I am not going to stick with it, no matter how much I like Apple. Maybe the Air, or maybe a competing tablet. I want to utilize the purchases I've already made and use services that have business models that don't necessarily profit Apple, but so what? They already got my hardware purchase, why should I have to continue to re-buy everything to make it work on the "i" stuff, when it already worked yesterday. Why does Apple keep changing the rules on the customer?

 

[anthonyrac]

If Apple bans the Kindle software App then I'm buying a Kindle.

Apple stands to lose more idevice sales by getting rid of it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Hate to sound like a broken record.. but..

Apple putting profits before whats best for the customers? Color me shocked

Edit:



Quoted for truth!

shhh. Do not let the Apple fanboys let you say that. They will kill you to keep the truth from getting out.

 

[Starship77]

Sony could just make it a web app and sell whatever they want... Reader apps are pretty simple and don't need to be native apps.

 

[krischik]

Sony reader? Who uses that wannabe platform?

Users who live in countries where Kindle is not available. Or who what to read in a language other then (US-)English. Yes, shockingly there is a World outside the US and other languages apart from English.

 

[Vizin]

I have a Kindle, and I love it. I also love that I can read my Kindle books from my phone, when my Kindle isn't around (or, less often, on my iPad when my Kindle isn't around).

If Apple thinks this will make me buy iBooks instead, they're sorely mistaken. I'm not about to use iBooks as my main reader, and I'm certainly not about to use both, since I'd have to buy each book twice (and lose the sync feature).

Getting rid of the Kindle app would take functionality from me without giving me a viable replacement feature. It would be a slimy move, and, sadly, it's something I can see Apple doing these days.

 

[mac jones]

I don't know.

I don't care where i get my books. But I DO care if I can get the titles I want. If I have to go the Amazon to get a title, then it's going to make me buy and use a kindle.

What are they thinking?

 

[NickFalk]

I might get a Kindle now...

Very bad move!
I have an iPhone and a Macbook Air and was thinking to get an iPod this spring. One of the things I would want to use it for was read the books I've bought from Amazon. The rumor alone is making it less appealing to buy the iPad. (I think Apple will probably survive despite me not buying an iPad though)...

 

[bocomo]

Who else immediately downloaded Kindle from the app store?

[raises hand]






bad move apple

 

[LagunaSol]

So uncool if true, Apple. Seriously.

It would be like you're just begging the whole world to jump to Android, ensuring the success of Google's evil plan to be the sole gatekeeper for the world's information.

And I don't want to live in a Google-ruled world.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

So uncool if true, Apple. Seriously.

It would be like you're just begging the whole world to jump to Android, ensuring the success of Google's evil plan to be the sole gatekeeper for the world's information.

And I don't want to live in a Google-ruled world.

as opposed to an Apple ruled world.

Some how I think Google is a better choice between those 2.

 

[happyslayer]

Apple needs to re-think this big time. I do like iBooks, but let's face it: right now selection really blows. Also, I have over forty books that I purchased when I had my Kindle2. I still read them using the Kindle App for iPad. In fact, I got rid of my Kindle2 and purchased the iPad BECAUSE I could read my Kindle books. Since then, I have downloaded the Barnes and Noble Nook App as well as a couple others. And I have a few books for all of them. I probably would have downloaded the Sony App as well.

Again, iBooks is good--I think it has the best interface of all of them--but a lot of the time they don't have the book I want or they charge more for it than Amazon or BN.

If they take away the ability to use other ebook content on my iPad, I may very well decide not to buy another iPad and go back to Kindle. Reading eBooks is the primary thing I use my iPad for!

 

[sammck]

If they are going to shut off the Kindle access then they need to open up and develop their own eBooks app so that people in HongKong and other countries can buy current books rather than just get all the free books that most of us don't want to read.The main reason I started to buy Kindle books through Amazon is that I had no alternative if I wanted to read books on my iPad. I was planning to buy the new iPad when it is released but this is giving me second thoughts.
Don't deprive people of an option or product if you can't fill the gap yourself.
Bad move, Apple.

 

[michaelcyee]

I don't think Sony is interested in selling books from the iBooks store on their readers either. Apple is really no different than any other reader. All of the other readers only allow content from within their own store. Apple doesn't need it's tens of millions of users buying media from the competition. And anyone who doesn't see the iTunes Store, iBooks or App Store as major business models worth protecting, from Apple's perspective, is missing the big picture (IMO).

Same for Kindle, do they allow you to purchase books from iBooks instead of Amazon? oh course not. But Apple is evil if they prohibit the very same thing their competition prohibits.

Terrible comparison. You can't download an iBooks app for the Kindle because it's just a book reader. But you can download a Kindle app for iOS. Customers want to be able to read the books they've bought on the Kindle store because the iBookstore may not have the title they want. Unless Apple can provide the same breadth of titles there's no sound reason to block users from accessing Kindle content.

 

[JamSandwich]

I'm wondering if this has any implications for Zinio. My dad uses it a ton (in fact, my iPad is linked to his acct.) and I was planning to buy a couple of subscriptions, too... but the only way I'd want to read the magazines would be on iPad...