Amazon Adds Purchase Button To iOS Kindle App Following App Store Rule Changes (theverge.com) 13
Amazon has updated its Kindle iOS app with a new "Get Book" button that redirects users to complete purchases through their mobile browser, taking advantage of recent App Store rule changes. The update follows Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' April 30th ruling in Epic Games v. Apple, which bars Apple from collecting a 27% commission on purchases made outside apps or restricting how developers direct users to alternative payment options.
Previously, iOS users had to visit Amazon's website through a browser to buy Kindle books -- a workaround implemented after Apple's 2011 rule changes required developers to remove links to external purchasing options. Apple has appealed the ruling but is complying in the interim.
Previously, iOS users had to visit Amazon's website through a browser to buy Kindle books -- a workaround implemented after Apple's 2011 rule changes required developers to remove links to external purchasing options. Apple has appealed the ruling but is complying in the interim.
consumers gain nothing (Score:1)
If any company actually passes these savings on to the consumer I will be impressed.
Re: consumers gain nothing (Score:2)
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Re:consumers gain nothing (Score:4, Informative)
In the case of the Kindle store, there's no savings to pass on to the consumers. Amazon simply wouldn't let you buy Kindle books from their app prior to this.
Re:consumers gain nothing (Score:4, Insightful)
In the case of the Kindle store, there's no savings to pass on to the consumers. Amazon simply wouldn't let you buy Kindle books from their app prior to this.
To be fair, that's because Amazon's total margin on Kindle books is only 30%. If Amazon gave Apple 30%, they would have to provide the bandwidth for content delivery literally for free, without making a single penny. So short of decreasing author compensation, the only way Amazon could have realistically complied with Apple's unreasonable sales commission would have been to increase prices whenever they sold books on iOS.
Consumers actually do gain something in this case. They gain a device that works they way they expect it to work, rather than having to do clumsy workarounds to accommodate Apple's excessive corporate greed.
And it is excessive. It's one thing to take a 30% commission on content sold in their store. It's quite another to take a 30% commission on content sold from an app merely because the app was sold in their store. Can you imagine if Walmart demanded a 30% commission on the sale of every printer cartridge that you buy, whether you buy them at Walmart or from Office Depot, merely because you bought the printer at Walmart, or worse, required the printer vendors to lock the printers to use only Walmart-sold cartridges? Apple's commission is every bit as absurd and abusive as that.
Don't get me wrong, I understand why Apple did it. They wanted to avoid companies giving away their app and then charging an in-app purchase fee to unlock app features or disable ads. But instead of explicitly banning that practice as a matter of policy, they chose to allow that policy and take a commission on it, which for consumers is the worst of both worlds. It led to most games on iOS being ad-laden abominations, while still abusing consumer trust by trying to take an extortionate commission on things that Apple had no reasonable right to demand a commission on, like the sale of eBooks through the Kindle Store.
The dividing line should have been between external creative content and code or in-game currency. Charge a commission on turning on code to avoid the "no commission on free apps" loophole. Charge a commission on in-game currency to avoid that becoming a "pay to not view ads" loophole. For everything else, Apple should never have charged a commission beyond the usual and customary credit card surcharge. And if they had done that, they wouldn't be dealing with the complete loss of that revenue now. But because they were too greedy, because they took more than they were due, they're paying the price.
And while I applaud the courts for FINALLY forcing Apple to act like a responsible adult, this court decision was at least fifteen years too late. Consumers have been actively harmed by these iOS App Store policies for almost seventeen years. But I guess if you're a powerful enough company, you can get away with horrible consumer abuse for a really long time before your chickens come home to roost.
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Re:consumers gain nothing (Score:4, Interesting)
In response to the recent court ruling in the US against Apple's illegal in-app purchase monopoly, @ProtonPrivacy will finally be allowed to let iOS users purchase subscriptions outside of the app store. No Apple tax means we will lower prices for users by up to 30%.
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Being a man of my word, I am impressed by Proton. Lets hope others follow suit.
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easy to be impressed by Proton,and not just for this
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Why would they?
If you're willing to pay $X, why would they charge $X-$Y ?
Now how about Android? (Score:2)
Hopefully the capability will also re-appear on the Android Kindle app soon. It was dropped a few years ago here in Canada.