On 7/27/2011 2:31 PM, bobbyzio36 wrote:
> See, here is what I do not understand. According to everything I have read--including things from Apple and on various dev forums--Apple has always restricted in-app purchases.
>
> According to your post, Amazon is calling something that has always (apparently) been a part of the contract. so Amazon is not being truthful in that they are blaming Apple by calling this a recent change.
>
> To be fair to Apple, Amazon apparently broke the rules and violated Apple's TOS.
>
> Can anyone clarify?
>
The Kindle book purchases have never been "in-app" purchases -- there
has been a button in the app, but that button opens a Safari window and
the purchases are made over the internet, where Apple has no ability to
control them.
That's different from truly "in-app" purchases, where you click a button
and Apple actually has to do something like let their servers verify
your user name and password and then they have to serve you the data
you're purchasing. Apple has never done anything for the Kindle books,
which is why they're not "in-app purchases" like the other apps have.
Apple is not involved in the Kindle book purchase process, their servers
do nothing, their personnel do nothing, they have no right to any income
from a sale in which they provide no service at all.
So Amazon simply took the convenient button out of the application, and
we have to go through an extra step to make the purchases. Apple still
does nothing to facilitate the purchase, the purchase uses no space on
their server farms, their personnel spend no time ensuring that Kindle
purchases work as they're supposed to.
Nothing's changed except that the end user has to exit the Kindle app,
open a browser, navigate to the Kindle bookstore at amazon.com and make
the purchase. Amazon's servers and personnel do all the work.
I think the whole "tempest in a teapot" revolves around the concept of
what constitutes an "in-app" purchase. I would think that in order for
Apple to earn money from a sale, they would actually have to do
something like provide server space and use their technical personnel to
troubleshoot any problems with the purchases. That has never been the
case with Amazon Kindle purchases, so I'm not sure that a judge would
agree that Apple has a right to enforce their "all in-app purchases must
come through the iTunes store and Apple must be paid 30% of the price"
clause in this case. But then I'm not a lawyer and I'm sure Amazon's
huge legal department has already considered that angle and decided not
to waste any money fighting it.
I'm just glad they didn't follow Sony's lead and leave the iPad
marketplace altogether.
--
David H. Bailey
dhbailey@davidbaileymusicstudio.com
