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UK consumer rights laws now cover digital downloads
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 becomes official legislation in the UK today, pulling several, previously separate consumer rights laws together into a simpler structure. The Act also brings in clearer rules, such as a mandatory 30-day period in which sellers must fully refund customers who've received faulty goods, and for the first time, digital products are now covered. That means consumers who download games, software, music, e-books, films and TV shows are legally entitled to refunds, repairs and replacements if that content is deemed "faulty." Digital goods must be "of satisfactory quality," "fit for particular purpose" and "as described," according to the Act's legalese, though there is some wiggle-room within these broad statements.
Are free digital content apps a free ride on Apple? How to move forward
Sony Reader. Amazon Kindle. Rhapsody. In the App Store, they all have (or would have, if Sony's app had been approved) one thing in common: they're represented by free apps that serve as profitable storefronts to their digital content. They all pay their $99/year entrance fee to the App Store, but once in, they're not sharing their extensive off-store revenue systems with Apple. Apple provides the infrastructure, the delivery mechanism and the customer support for millions of free applications. And now, at least for those free apps that lead to digital goods sales, Apple is asking for a slice of the pie beyond the utility and attention that free apps bring. In a move that has Rhapsody ready to pull its offerings from the App Store, Apple has demanded that providers who offer subscription content outside of App Store channels now offer the same subscriptions within the applications as well. Meanwhile, even non-subscription purchases may be coming under the App Store umbrella. That would involve a 30 percent cut for all in-app subscriptions and media buys for Apple (which makes Apple's accountants happy), as well as an insane amount of overhead to approve each and every in-app purchase item (imagine what it will take to code, submit and oversee not just Rhapsody's once-a-month charge but every e-book in Amazon's catalog).
