Yes I use an iPhone but also keep a love-hate relationship with the device due to Apple’s draconian controls over what you’re allowed to and now allowed to do on your device. The main problem I have is Android didn’t work out for me as Google went and lost every record of every application I had purchased leaving me to either purchase them again (there is no support e-mail or phone number for the Market and their support forum seems to go entirely unmonitored) or abandon the platform. When you fuck me over I’m done so here I am in Apple land mostly happy.
Well Apple apparently has decided to be even more greedy and are forcing app developers who offer paid content outside of the App Store to include that same content through the App Store by March 31st. What makes this an even bigger deal is the fact Apple will take a 30% cut of all items purchased through the App Store.
This came to light when Apple rejected Sony’s e-reader application on ground that it allowed users to purchase content inside the app but not through the App Store. Amazon got away with this but sending users to the Kindle website when they clicked the button to buy a book in their Kindle app for iOS. Now Apple is changing the rules and both the Kindle and Barnes and Nobel apps will be required to offer all of their content through the App Store or abandon the platform.
Of course Apple’s 30% cut is rather insane for something like e-books because it means those e-books go from a profitable endeavor to a loss. When you buy a book most of the money goes to the publishers with a small percentage going to the store that sold the book and maybe some to the author if their book has already made the publisher their advance back. If you self-publish on Amazon they take 30% of the sale price of the book. This means all books sold through the App Store will lose Amazon money (probably Barnes and Nobel as well but I’m not familiar with their self-publishing option).
Who is going to continue doing business when you lose money with every purchase? Nobody that’s who. That very well could be Apple’s intention as well. The Kindle and Barnes and Nobel apps both compete with Apple’s iBook application (and by compete I mean dominate because the selection available through iBooks is pathetic at best). I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire maneuver is just a ploy for Apple to push their competition out of their market. Talk about being complete assholes and morons at the same time. If Apple starts pushing out other companies they will soon lose their main advantage, the app ecosystem.