Kobo, Wall Street Journal, Amazon to stop directly selling through iOS devices
Apple is clearly enforcing its stated rules about not selling content through iOS devices unless Apple gets a cut in revenue. The latest companies to comply are e-book sellers Amazon and Kobo, and newspaper publisher The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal is reporting this morning that it will remove all purchasing options, which have included links to the WSJ website in its iPad app.
"We remain concerned that Apple's own subscription [rules] would create a poor experience for our readers, who would not be able to directly manage their WSJ account or to easily access our content across multiple platforms," a Journal spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, a Kobo spokesman says it has updated its app so no books can be purchased from it, and customers will have to use the Safari browser to go to the Kobo store.
Amazon has also caved. In a an update released today to the Kindle apps for iPad and iPhone, Amazon has removed the Kindle Store button from the app.
Apple had set a June 30 deadline for companies to comply with app store rules.
How do you feel about this latest chapter in this saga? Is Apple being greedy, or do content vendors owe Apple a toll for the privilege of selling in the app store?
