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I think this story is probably missing some key facts.
 
What legal trouble? As so many fandroids love to point out, Apple has no monopoly to illegally leverage. No law that I know of says a small market participant has to grant other parties equal access to its infrastructure.

THIS is why I don't see a problem with this decision.

Sony, Amazon, and the rest haven't actually been falling over themselves offering iBook support and don't tell me that Apple wouldn't support it. You miss my point.

Apple has 'the device' of the moment. People, except those that would cut off their noses if Apple came out with the iNose, love their iPads and find them worth owning. People love the Kindle too. However Apple is full in its rights to control what happens on its device, it's product, and has the right to seek profit from it and from the purchase of content to be used on it..

How would you like to work for a company that sold a product but provided 'free' support for a competitors product? Would that make sense? Wouldn't it make more sense to provide support for your competitors product and charge something for doing it? I'm sure that Sony and Amazon would fall all over themselves to offer 'free' support for iBooks on their devices if it were available. Yeah, totally sure that would happen... AND allow iBook users to purchase content from Apple without wanting a cut of the money. Yeah, they don't value profit. They aren't in the business to make a profit. They created their readers to be taken over by a parasite that sucks profitability out of them... Yeah...
 
What legal trouble? As so many fandroids love to point out, Apple has no monopoly to illegally leverage. No law that I know of says a small market participant has to grant other parties equal access to its infrastructure.

I guess as long as you count the iPad as a computer, they do not have a monopoly. So many reasons why Apple loves to characterize its devices in specific ways. :)
 
To answer the subject of the news post: no.

People are playing this up because it's Sony. But let's face it - why the **** would you want to buy anything from the Sony Reader store anyway?

And no, the Kindle app isn't going anywhere. They hand the purchase off to the website. They've been doing this since they were only on the iPhone. That's within Apple's guidelines; buying the books from directly in the app like Sony did is not.
 
I guess as long as you count the iPad as a computer, they do not have a monopoly. So many reasons why Apple loves to characterize its devices in specific ways. :)

Depends on if you consider tablets to still be an emerging market that one company is currently dominating. It would be hard to declare a monopoly in that space at this time because the chips haven't fallen.
 
So an app is rejected because it contravenes the guidelines.

This means that an app which has been accepted, is widely used and is approved by Apple (obviously, as it's in the app store) is about to be removed?

Utter nonsense and troll-baiting speculation based on Sony trying to make Apple look bad with a one sided argument.

Hey Sony - follow the rules, they are clearly there for you to see - if you do that, you have a better chance of being accepted.

Exactly, if apple is going to remove these types of apps, kindle app would be pulled right about now.
 
How would you like to work for a company that sold a product but provided 'free' support for a competitors product? Would that make sense? Wouldn't it make more sense to provide support for your competitors product and charge something for doing it? I'm sure that Sony and Amazon would fall all over themselves to offer 'free' support for iBooks on their devices if it were available. Yeah, totally sure that would happen... AND allow iBook users to purchase content from Apple without wanting a cut of the money. Yeah, they don't value profit. They aren't in the business to make a profit. They created their readers to be taken over by a parasite that sucks profitability out of them... Yeah...

As has been noted several times Sony's eReader devices support Books purchased from several different stores (with DRM). So they DO support other businesses.

Your other company, Amazon is supporting the hardware (at the expense of their device) of just about everyone else by allowing you to use their books on an iPhone or Android phone. Just look how well they're doing! Kindle is their best-selling product and they're by far the biggest eBook store. Relying on a vertically integrated model isn't the only way to success.

Barnes and Noble are doing the exact same thing with Nook. They make a device, but they're offering their books on other devices.

Neither example works!
 
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However Apple is full in its rights to control what happens on its device, it's product, and has the right to seek profit from it and from the purchase of content to be used on it..

By your argument you'll be happy for the maker of:

- your car to tell you the list of places you can drive it
- your oven to determine the food you can cook
- your fridge to specify the food you can store
- your DVD player to limit the films you might choose to watch

:rolleyes:

I suspect people who disagree with you think that they BOUGHT the iPad and therefore OWN that iPad.
 
I think there's more to the rejection of the Sony app than being said. Let's face it, Sony is desperate. Their reader is not selling well and I'm sure they overlooked some rules and got the rejection stamp. I don't see Apple locking us down and not allowing us to buy apps and content from anywhere.

More to come I'm sure.
 
We don't know what's happening without comments from Amazon and Apple. If this only affects Sony (and not Kindle) then this story will end up hurting Sony. If which I doubt it means Kindle is targetted then it will end badly for Apple and drive sales of Droid tablets. For small indie publishers/authors Kindle is the platform of choice because it is true cross platform :confused:
 
Dumb, dumb, dumb. These kinds of moves (and their attending publicity) will hurt iPad sales. I found the Kindle app better than iBooks, and I found the Kindle better than the iPad (for reading only, of course. Not for everything else). Sold the iPad. Still have the Kindle.
 
Ha, ha - so what's next, no buying Apps for your Mac outside of the App store? :eek:

I joked about that and the fanboys came down on me like a ton of bricks.

If, in a few years time, that actually does happen I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Regarding the article though - booo. Every time I feel myself warming to Apple they pull something like this.
 
This is the 1984 draconian fututure we don't want. I'm glad Android is outselling iPhone 2 to 1 and Honeycomb tablets will outsell iPad by the end of the year. Good to have alternatives. :D
 
I just love stories like these. All the Apple Apologists come out and get all Fanboy with everyone. They act like someone insulted their mother. Some of these rebuttal are comedy gold, actually.

Sony reader? Who uses that wannabe platform?

Wannabe? This would imply they are not original and are trying to follow platforms before them. Sony reader was available a full year before the Kindle and many years before the iPad. How can they be a wannabe platform when they were one of the earliest popular e-readers?
 
we don't have the details of the story yet. maybe there were other reasons why the sony reader got rejected.

however this story sheds light on the attitude of Apple towards consumers. For my taste Apple is trying to control the use of their devices too much.

I definitely will postphone the upgrade of my iPhone 3GS and the upgrade of my iPad and see where this is going. I already stopped buying music from iTunes and never bought books from the iBook store because you can use these media only on Apple devices. This is a case where regulation should split control over devices from control over content. After all we didn't rent or lease our devices, we bought and paid them in full.

At some point HP or Samsung will get their act together and they will present tablets that are good enough to switch. You may trade in a bit of UI experience but you will get much a more open device.
 
That is all incredibly irrelevant as Kindle, Nook, etc. are NOT paid apps! They are free Apps!

That they are and Apple allow those those app's to use content from places other than their store. I'll just remind you that this entire is entirely based on speculation. Apple haven't changed anything. Until they do it's all guess work.

Your mistake is that you seem to think paid & free apps are inherently different in the case of the above. They're not. The likes of Amazon still make money from that application from Apple's ecosystem. They're trying to piggy back on a product that isn't open so if Apple make the change they'll have to pay for it.

If they do make the change then the debate falls into what the rest of the app store has functioned like and my guess would be that some sort of a deal would be worked out with the likes of Amazon, like it appears to have been with Netflix.

1) This isn't how Apple's system works - that's obvious! Look at the current swathe of Apps that offer content like this - e.g. Kindle and Nook!

No they allow amazon to let their app to access the users content within their kindle account. They Don't allow Amazon to have in app purchases or anyone else without receiving a cut. All in app purchases go through Apple.

2) Android has the EXACT same business model as iOS - 30/70.

Yes. The entirety of Apple's iOS/App store business model is encapsulated in the 30/70 developer split isn't it. :rolleyes:

It's the EXACT same thing.
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Apple don't have to allow content providers, many of them direct competitors to use an ecosystem they've invested the last 10 years into creating for free. They don't just create hardware, they don't just create the software, they don't just create the infrastructure that holds it together.... they create it all.

It's all controlled & fenced off but it's what gives the app store the value it currently has. Not just to Apple but to the entire developer community within the app store. It's why it's been the success it has.
 
I've been a loyal Apple User for the last 12 years. I've owned just about everything they every put in front of me. But Its crap like this that they have been pulling over the last few years that has really transformed them into an company I really don't like anymore. I'm moving on, I love their Mac hardware, but the IOS has really put a bad taste in my mouth. Jobs has done a lot for this company but he needs to get out of the way now. Apple needs to open up and cut the crap or risk losing its most valuable customers, it's fanatic core. Otherwise they will end up rotting from the inside out.

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
 
Dear Apple,

I've had a Kindle since 2008, and have spent $100's on Kindle-formatted books since then. I've probably got 200+ books on my Kindle now. But ever since the iPad came out, I've stopped carrying the Kindle and done all my e-reading on the iPad. I love my iPad. And my iPhone, iMac, Macbook Air, and Macbook Pro.

But if you go through with this, what do I do with all my Kindle formatted-books? Go back to carrying another device? I paid for the books, I should be able to read them on any device. This would $uck. Totally. Don't do it.

Sincerely,

Me
 
Getting seriously tired of this nonsense. Apple clearly cannot be trusted with this much control.

Anyone in central Tokyo want to buy an iPad 16GB Wi-Fi?
 
yeah right

somebody wants this to be news, and it might just be sony. apple is not going to start banning apps just because they are from the competition. they ban apps for plenty of other silly reasons, but there is something else going on here. sony didn't comply with one of apple's ios store rules and the app got banned. it'll be just like all the other sensational stories about app bans.
 
Your mistake is that you seem to think paid & free apps are inherently different in the case of the above. They're not. The likes of Amazon still make money from that application from Apple's ecosystem. They're trying to piggy back on a product that isn't open so if Apple make the change they'll have to pay for it.

This doesn't make any sense.

So many things "piggy back" on the success of the iPhone, but that doesn't mean Apple should be compensated. Business doesn't work like that. Apple can realistically only get away for charging for tangible services. They don't and can't realistically charge for "exposure" to customers. Should this web site be paying Apple money because you can access it through the iPhone? MacRumors pays for its own hosting. It is supported by advertising.

What about Facebook and Twitter. Both free Apps and Apple doesn't see a penny from either of them despite having huge user bases (especially on Facebook). Why don't you think they should pay Apple some nonsensical magical fee for doing nothing?

If they do make the change then the debate falls into what the rest of the app store has functioned like and my guess would be that some sort of a deal would be worked out with the likes of Amazon, like it appears to have been with Netflix.

I have no idea what deal Netflix has done and I can't see why they would possibly need to do one. Many other providers of video and audio subscription content have apps and don't have a special deal with Apple. The same thing applies - Apple isn't providing a tangible service (i.e. bandwidth) for these Apps. Therefore, the developers don't owe apple a cent.

Yes. The entirety of Apple's iOS/App store business model is encapsulated in the 30/70 developer split isn't it. :rolleyes:

It's the EXACT same thing

You haven't actually said what the (relevant) difference is.
 
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