With Apple enforcing new rules, Kindle, Nook, and Kobo apps shed stores [View All]

[The Straight Story]

Apple has finally brought the hammer down on e-reader apps, enforcing its new in app-subscription rules that require app developers to strip out any links to external mechanisms for purchasing digital books or subscriptions.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Canada-based Kobo have all updated their iOS e-reader apps, though as of this morning Barnes & Noble had only updated its Nook Kids app, not its main Nook app (we suspect that will happen very soon).

As we reported last month, Apple's twice amended its terms for subscriptions in the App Store, which require companies to give Apple a 30 percent cut on sales their apps generate. In the past, e-reading apps Kindle, Nook, and Kobo have avoided paying the cut by sending customers to a Web-based interface outside the app.

When Apple issued its App Store subscription rules last February, it basically made it impossible for e-book sellers to continue operating its apps under the new terms without losing money. Then, in June, Apple softened its stance somewhat but the new terms still required developers to remove links to external mechanisms for purchase (a "buy button," for example).


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20082925-93/with-apple-enforcing-new-rules-kindle-nook-and-kobo-apps-shed-stores/#ixzz1T8NDg075