Apple: App Subscription policies MIGHT not affect Amazon's ebook app

BUSINESS INSIDER REPORTS AN APPLE QUOTE ON NEW APP POLICY ENFORCEMENTS

 That image at the left is by Asa Mathat, All Things Digital, and is the photo used at the Business Insider article, although the image is much larger there.  It's in candid-portrait style, which tends to focus on expressiveness, taken from the ATD conference last year and startling for the force felt from that face.

I dropped by the The Kindle Chronicles Friday Podcast site to see what Len Edgerly had for this week, as all recent weekly podcasts are available there for listening.  In addition to the podcast that includes news, Kindle tips, reader-comments, and the main interview of the week, Len has a text summary of each podcast's info with links to specific news and tips mentioned in the podcast.

  While there, I saw that Len has highlighted an important Business Insider article by Jay Yarrow that I'd missed, written February 28.  It's of special interest to me because on February 24, I'd written a blog article titled, Why Kindle books will be readable & sync'd on Apple devices no matter what, in which I mentioned the known Kindle-for-Web "solution" (but one must be On the Net to read the book), and I repeated the caution that all actual Apple statements re the 70/30% revenue split had referred to Subscription apps, and not one-off e-book reader apps yet.

  Amazon does have subscriptions offered in a Kindle app but not for Apple devices, only for Android.  Obviously they've never made a doable deal with Apple for an app involving subscriptions.

  The February 1st quote from Apple media representative Trudy Muller about the rejection of the Sony e-reader app was in connection with Sony having an e-book purchasing-option inside their app, to buy a book from Sony of course, using a transaction outside that app while not offering iDevice customers the option of buying that book within the app (from Apple) instead.

  Obviously, Amazon and other booksellers would also need to comply with any such new enforcement of such a rule, before the July 1 deadline for legacy apps to comply.  That's been a point of real concern, but taking over has been the certainty expressed in many columns that this involved Apple taking 30% of the sales transaction (100% of the competitor bookseller's profit).

  However, it's not clear what type of buying-option had been included in Sony's app, rejected by Apple.  Sony hasn't clarified that either.  Most of all there has been no mention (yet) of a 70/30% split in statements about the one-off ebook-reader app.  You'd think Sony would have commented on or complained about that specifically.

  Applying the 70/30% subscription-revenue rule to e-book one-time purchases would mean Apple was bent on grabbing 100% of the bookseller's 30% share of a sale.

  If Apple did do this, that would imply they actually want all online bookseller apps Off their devices (this is certainly possible now that they have Random House in their iBook Store finally), and no sane bookseller would bring their book-sales app to Apple then, since it would be like 'tribute' paid to overlords.

BUSINESS 101
  Who would put a lemonade stand in a mall just to spend the day selling lemonade so that the mall owner would get 100% of the profits?

WHAT'S BEEN SAID SO FAR, FOR SURE
  But, as I've said often, the only Apple-representative quotes since February, mentioning the now infamous 70/30 revenue split, have been specifically about Subscription apps rather than one-off book sales, at this point -- even if Apple has general rules about revenue-sharing in their November-updated guidelines for Apple-app Developers.

  Since this topic concerns many of us, here is what Business Insider's Yarrow reports about a meeting between Berstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi and Apple execs during that week.
  The article's headline is "Maybe Apple's New App Subscription Rule Won't Hammer Amazon."  Excerpts:

' Apple's new in-app subscription policy might not affect Amazon after all.
Berstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi met with Apple execs last week and pressed them on how the new subscription policy would affect Netflix and Amazon.

Eddy Cue, Apple's Internet services boss, wouldn't comment on either company, but said, the announcement only applied to subscriptions.

Well, Amazon Kindle books aren't subscriptions, so they shouldn't be affected, no?

We've been pressing on Amazon trying to get a comment and the company is just ignoring us.  But, we think there's a chance that it's just not going to be affected by Apple.

Why?  Beyond Cue's comment, we've heard from a source that Netflix would not be affected by Apple's new policy.  We're not sure of the exact reason why, but it now seems reasonable to think it's because Netflix isn't a publishing business.

Don't forget Steve Jobs reportedly said in an email, "We created subscriptions for publishing apps, not SaaS ["software as a service"] apps." (Amazon, for the most part, isn't a publishing company.)

Another reason for Netflix to be exempted: Apple needs Netflix to make Apple TV a success, and keep iPad owners happy... '

Yarrow then speculates on the lack of comment by Apple re Netflix and Amazon and also on the silence from those companies on Apple's recent moves and reminds us that no one knows what will happen on all of this.  I'll repeat that Apple would suffer more from the Kindle app not being available on the iDevices since they WILL be on all the new Android devices and a real pull for consumers trying to decide on tablets in 2011.

But the statement by Apple's Eddy Cue is somewhat encouraging and a sign of sanity.  Signs are only signs though.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Why Kindle books will be readable & sync'd on Apple devices no matter what

PREFACE
What Apple has actually said about One-Off E-Bookreader apps so far and what it has said about Subscription-Content apps

What we've read, for the most part, is what an online news-site paraphrased from whatever Apple said and then interpreted in an extended way as fact, which was repeated by other sites by the hundreds (although ultimately they could still be right if Apple does prove quite that self-destructive and actually tries to apply their 70/30% rule to ebookstore non-subscription, one-off book-sale apps).

We've had quite an uproar since the Apple press release about Subscription-Content Apps on February 15.
  In the meantime, many of the quotations we've seen on the general rules of Apple were put into place in November 2010 and are accessible to App developers only, as guidelines for their apps.

However, 3 months after those newly edited guidelines were released, there was a "clarification" given by an Apple media rep about the reason for Sony's eBook-Reader app being rejected -- it was given in response to media questions:

QUOTE FROM APPLE REP TRUDY MULLER ON SONY'S *E-BOOK READER APP REJECTION
In response to the Sony rejection on its e-reader app, Trudy Muller said, on February 1:

' "We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Ars. "We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase." '

  [That means an alternative option to purchase via Apple rather than just accepting an in-app option to leave the app to buy at the bookseller's store.  Again, this quote is for an e-reader app, not a subscription one.]

  While that is the only Apple quote about one-off e-bookreader apps, so far, we're waiting for the other shoe to stomp.  Until then, the one-off, non-subscription e-book shoe is up in the air.

QUOTE FROM STEVE JOBS in that February 15 press release, the entire focus of which was on Subscription-content apps whether by publishers or subscription-content providers in general (the bracketed comments are mine]:

' Apple® today announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store℠, including magazines, newspapers, video, music, etc. This is the same innovative digital subscription billing service that Apple recently launched with News Corp.’s “The Daily” app... [subscription-based, of course]
...
“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

  “All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.

[ This is a harsh rule to some, but original subscription-publishers still get 70% share of revenue with this subscription-app rule.  Subscription-content apps provided by an e-book store would be subject to the same split, which would make an e-book store's subscription-app wholly unfeasible because it would leave the online competitor bookstore nothing after its 30% share is given to Apple instead and the other 70% to the original subscription-publisher.

 It would certainly explain why Kindle for Android DOES offer newspaper and magazine subscriptions while Kindle for iPad does NOT.

  Add that the Kindle for iPad app for e-books update was approved by Apple mid-February and it currently offers an option to purchase Kindle books at Amazon via Safari and then brings the customer back to the Kindle app on the iPad.  Apple probably won't allow this scenario July 1, unless Amazon gives an option to do an in-app purchase via Apple, but Apple's app rules allow them to decline approval of any Update at any time and they approved this update.

  Many feel that if Apple insists on in-app Apple-purchases, Amazon could just no longer offer a link within the app to leave the app to purchase at Amazon via Safari, and the Kindle app would become a reading-app only but one which still allows the Kindle owner to sync the reading material with other Kindle devices.]

"We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.” '

I'm not alone in noting that Apple's quotes apply, so far, only to subscription-content when quoting any 70-30% split or requirement that a subscription-publisher's website not be linked to at all within an app for Apple devices.
  See bottom FootNOTE for excerpts from Mashable and from The Telegraph.

ALSO, if Amazon and Apple agreed to a read-only Kindle-for-Apple-devices app, with no purchasing offered at all, in the app, this would be one solution.

KINDLE FOR WEB TO THE RESCUE
In the Kindleworld blog article on the coming Kindle for Web, it was noted that this web-app will make Kindle books readable IN FULL on web browsers and will support Chrome OS devices, including the new Chrome OS Notebook, as well as the Chrome browser and other web browsers."  Also, Amazon's web app description states that anywhere we have a web browser, we'll see that our Kindle reading library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights are always available no matter where we bought the Kindle books or how we choose to read them.

  For this reason and because Kindle books and the ability to buy them via a web-browser will be accessible on Android tablets, it will be Apple's loss if Apple execs decide to discourage Kindle or other ebook-reader apps for Apple devices.

 They would no longer be able to say that we can read any ebookreaders' books on Apple devices (except via a web browser, connected to the Net) and it will make Android and probably HP webOS devices much more attractive to avid e-book readers if people find they can't read Kindle (UK: K3), Nook, Sony, or Kobo books offline, directly on an Apple device anymore.

  The iPad would no longer be much of an offline-ereader at all when the iBook store has something like 35,000 contemporary e-books for sale vs Amazon's almost 800,000 contemporary e-books.

  Today, author Chuck Toporek noted:

' Amazon isn’t worried. They have a solution already in beta testing and it works just fine.  Instead of using the Kindle app, iOS users can just point Safari to Amazon’s site, buy the Kindle ebook, and read it right there in Safari.  No app required.

Again, Kindle for the Web is just a beta right now, so full text isn’t available at the moment. You can bet Amazon will make a big splash about this, though, once they have all the publishers lined up and ready to go. '

FootNOTE - Others who noted that Apple's quotes refer, so far, only to subscription apps:

' Here's The Telegraph (UK) on Subscription vs "One-Off"
Shane Richmond, Head of Technology for Telegraph Media Group, wrote:

' ...That has led to speculation about what this will mean for an app such as Amazon’s Kindle app, which provides a link to purchase from Amazon’s website.  It may be that Apple intends to force ebook retailers to offer ebooks for sale within their apps and take 30 per cent of thosee sale. That would force ebook retailers to raise their prices or lose money.  Maybe that’s what will happen.

  However, that’s not what Apple has announced today.  This is about subscription not sales of one-off products.  If you’re a publisher and you want to allow people to subscribe to your publication then you must offer the same subscription price within your app as you offer on your website and Apple will take 30 per cent of the in-app subscriptions. '

'

  And here's Mashable's:  Christina Warren drew attention to the fact that the focus of the February 15 announcement was on subscription apps.  Here is her take on that aspect:

' Earlier this month, the Sony Reader app for iOS was reportedly not accepted into the App Store because it violated some of Apple’s policies.  At the time, it was unclear if the cited policy violations would extend to other e-book applications like those from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Because Apple’s latest remarks concentrate on subscription content, it still isn’t clear to us if these new provisions also apply to other types of apps.  We don’t know if this means that applications — like Amazon’s Kindle app that sell purchases a la carte — must now remove links to outside web stores.
  The Kindle app for iOS received an update Monday and, for the record, the link to the Amazon Kindle website is still in the app. '

UPDATE - Also note that there apparently is, as written earlier, an awkward restriction with the In-App-Purchasing system in that it might handle no more than 3,000 or so items in a catalog for an app.  If true that's certainly an obstacle to in-app purchasing for an e-bookstore. [End of Update]

It's Apple's call if they want to make themselves irrelevant when it comes to the rather wildly surging e-book market.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.