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New York Post blocks iPad access through Safari browser, hopes you'll pay for a subscription instead
Well, that's one way to make people pay for puns. The New York Post, that bastion of fair, balanced, and not-at-all sensationalistic reporting, has blocked iPad owners from reading its stories through the tablet's Safari browser. If folks want the full spill on Hugh Hefner getting ditched at the altar, they'll be prompted to download the iOS app, which requires signing up for a subscription starting at $6.99 on a month-to-month basis. Setting aside News Corp.'s hubris for a moment, what's odd about this is the number of workarounds Rupert Murdoch & Co. left us cheapskates. You can still read the site on a desktop browser or a phone, including an Android one. Basically, then, News Corp. is strangling web access, but only for a select group of readers. That's a stark contrast from other content providers (even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal), which have been more platform-agnostic. Then again, there's the dim possibility that News Corp. targeted the iPad in an effort to re-brand the Post as a glossier sort of tabloid, à la The Daily. To which we say, that's some wishful thinking there, Rupe.
Wired, GQ in-app purchase subscriptions launching today
Condé Nast has officially launched subscriptions today for iPad editions of Wired and GQ. The Wired and GQ apps are free, and readers can buy either single issues at US$1.99 a pop or a full year for $19.99 through in-app purchases. The subscriptions automatically renew until you cancel them, so if you're curious about the magazine and don't want to be billed monthly for single issues, buy the subscription and cancel as quickly as possible. Current subscribers to the print versions from the US and Canada can access their digital subscriptions from within the app at no extra cost. Past digital issues of Wired are available for in-app purchase for $3.99, and you'll be able to do the same with back issues of the digital edition of GQ. You can read a full TUAW review of the Wired app here. Show full PR text WIRED SUBSCRIPTION NOW AVAILABLE ON IPAD New York, N.Y. – May 24, 2011 – WIRED is excited to announce that subscriptions for its game-changing iPad app will be available through In-App Purchase on the App Store beginning today. Starting with the June issue, featuring a special report produced in collaboration with NPR's Planet Money on the future of American jobs, WIRED will offer monthly and yearly iPad subscriptions and will continue to offer single issues, all via In-App Purchase on the App Store. Subscriptions to WIRED will be available for $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year. "WIRED thrives on progress across platforms, whether it's in the magazine, on the website, or on the iPad, " said VP and publisher Howard Mittman. "When the app launched last year it was the first to show how interactive and innovative the medium could be. Now, by offering our readers a subscription on iPad, WIRED is poised to lead the digital publishing conversation and reach a wider audience." Current WIRED print subscribers can access iPad editions immediately through their current subscription. Those who would like to purchase new print subscriptions, which include access to the iPad edition for $19.99, may do so at www.wired.com. The WIRED app is available as a free download from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore. GQ SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW AVAILABLE ON iPAD New York, N.Y., May 24, 2011- GQ subscriptions for iPad are now available through In-App Purchase on the App Store, it was announced today by the magazine. Beginning with the June issue, featuring Alexander Skarsgård, star of HBO's True Blood, GQ will offer monthly and yearly iPad subscriptions and continue to offer single issues, all via In-App Purchase on the App Store. Subscriptions to GQ will be available for $1.99 per month or $19.99 per year. Current GQ print subscribers will be able to access iPad editions immediately through their current subscription. Those who would like to purchase new print subscriptions, which include access to the iPad edition for $19.99, may do so at GQ.com. The GQ App is available as a free download from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore. About GQ GQ is the leading men's general-interest magazine, with a monthly readership of 6.6 million readers. It is available in print, online at GQ.com, and as an app at iTunes.com. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications. Condé Nast operates in twenty-five countries and is the world leader in exceptional content creation.
Angry Birds gets a web version, coming to Chrome Web Store
Yet another platform has been conquered by the affronted fowl: the web! Angry Birds' web client is built in WebGL, so presumably browsers other than Google's Chrome should be able to run it as well, and even if you can't handle WebGL, there's Canvas support too. 60fps are promised on most modern PCs, and we've spotted SD and HD labels, suggesting there'll be a choice of quality to match your computer's performance. Offline gaming will also be available. Chrome will get some exclusive content, such as "Chrome bombs" and other cutesy bits. Rovio just noted it's "really, really happy about the 5 percent," referring to Google's pricing model of charging a flat fee of 5 percent to developers on in-app purchases in the Chrome Web Store. Yes, the Mighty Eagle will be a purchasable option for the impatient among you. The game will be available in the Store immediately after Google's I/O 2011 keynote, so look out for it shortly. Update: And the Angry Birds have landed. Hit up the source link below to obtain the free app. %Gallery-123364%
Google makes Chrome Web Store available worldwide, adds in-app purchases and flat five percent fee
Google has just announced that it's making the Chrome Web Store available to the "entire userbase of Chrome" -- all 160 million, according to the company's latest numbers -- and in 41 different languages no less, although those outside the current markets will apparently only have access to free apps initially. What's more, it's also now added in-app purchases to the mix -- which it notes developers can add to their apps with "literally one line of code" -- and it's announced that it plans to "keep it simple" by simply charging developers a flat five percent fee instead of opting for some of the more complicated fee structures out there. As for how the Web Store has been doing so far, Google revealed that there has been 17 million app installs to date, although it provided few details beyond that. %Gallery-123363%
Report: 40% of App Store game downloads are freemium
Xyologic is a company that analyzes mobile app sales and trends, and its latest report says that a full 40 percent of game downloads from Apple's App Store consist of freemium titles -- games that are free to download, but make money with ads or in-app purchases. Ngmoco made a big splash a while back by saying that freemium was the future of the App Store, and according to this report, that is turning out to be more and more true. Xylogoic says that there were 99.9 million downloads of free iPhone games last month, and 80.8 percent of all app downloads were of free apps. It's well known that free games have a wider audience than paid apps (just because the barrier to entry isn't there), and while some developers say that the free audience is always better, the question has always been how to monetize all of those users. In-app purchases seem to be working -- the number of free games with in-app purchases available on the App Store is rising every month, and of the top 150 free games on the store, Xyologic says that 94 of those (63 percent) are making use of in-app purchases. There are certainly still apps benefiting from other models, but there's no question that freemium is still growing as one way to put a successful app on the App Store.
Apple faces lawsuit over in-app purchases by children
Apple is facing a lawsuit over its newly revised in-app purchasing policy. The suit was filed by Garen Meguerian of Pennsylvania who accuses Apple of the unlawful exploitation of children with this iOS feature. The crux of the suit hinges on Apple's policy that uses a single password to gain access to an Apple account and make an in-app purchase. Apple's in-app purchasing policy was recently updated to require users to enter their iTunes password a second time to make a purchase following reports of children racking up thousands of dollars in iTunes purchases. Meguerian recognizes Apple's new policy, but asserts this change is not enough. Minors under 13 who have their parent's iTunes account can still make purchases without their parent's consent. According to the suit, Apple should require a secondary password, separate from the main iTunes password, for all in-app purchases. Meguerian's suit stems from his own experience with his 9-year old daughter who racked up over $200 in charges while playing Zombie Cafe (shown above), Treasure Story and City Story. Meguerian was not aware of these charges until he received his monthly credit card bill. Though it may or may not have bearing on the case, receipts submitted as evidence show these purchases were made before Apple changed its in-app policy in February.
TUAW's Daily App: ClubWorld
ClubWorld may not exactly be your kind of game. It's sort of a mashup of popular freemium gameplay elements. ClubWorld includes Farmville-style time sinks as you build your club up, social environments to customize and share with friends, and even some music-based mini-games. The look and the aesthetic are more tuned towards younger players than the average gamer, and most people old enough to buy an iPhone for themselves probably won't be too interested. But that's not really what's interesting about ClubWorld. What is interesting is that it's from Tapulous, the company that's had so much success on the App Store that it was bought by Disney last year. While Tapulous has been moving towards the freemium model with its Tap Tap Revenge series, ClubWorld is a complete embrace of that model. This looks like a Facebook game more than anything else. There are even in-app purchases for "energy items" (called sugar here) and iTunes referral links to music. Looking at this game, I'd almost call Tapulous a social gaming company rather than an iPhone developer. ClubWorld does take full advantage of Tapulous' music expertise, using lots of fully-licensed tracks in the various clubs you can create and play with, but this is much more a stab in the direction of We Rule and even Booyah's Nightclub City. It's a very interesting turn for the company; we'll have to see how it works out. Meanwhile, if you want to give it a try, ClubWorld is a free download right now.
Tap Tap Tap developer says 5% of Camera+ users make in-app purchases
So yes, says Tap Tap Tap boss John Casasanta, US$70,000 isn't to be sniffed at, but it still represents only 5 percent of Camera+'s 2 MILLION users using the in-app purchase facility to buy the $0.99 "I (heart) Analog" effects pack. Well, whether or not you sniff at 70 grand depends rather on how much you earn elsewhere; Casasanta, in fact, has sold 2 million copies of Camera+ (currently on sale at $0.99 instead of $1.99) so, yeah, they can consider it small change. However, the statistics he reveals on the company blog are interesting; half of all Camera+ users upgraded to the new version within six days, he says. And while the app was launched last summer (and then withdrawn because of the use of the iPhone's volume switch as a shutter release before coming back at the end of 2010), and its first million sales took, well, a while, the second million sales took only three months. "If we were to stay on the same weekly pace that we're currently on (~160k sales per week), we'll get to 3 million in only 1.5 months from now," says Casasanta. And 4 million in three weeks, 5 million in the next 10 days and then a million a day, muahaha... perhaps he should buy a white cat to stroke to go with that cackle. Seriously, Camera+ is a great app and the free 2.2 update adds many worthwhile features that we like here at TUAW. It's excellent to see them having such success. [Via AppleInsider]
Android Market gets in-app billing, your virtual nickels are now spoken for
Google said they were coming this week, and here they are -- Android apps can now have their own miniature storefronts for in-app purchases galore. You'll find Tap Tap Revenge, Comics, Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, WSOP3 and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe accept your credit card for microtransactions starting this very instant, and Android developers can start building similar functionality into their own creations right now. Head on over to our source link for instructions on how to shake those extra coins out. Don't want to commit to a full transaction yourself? Hit the break for a quick video refresher of how in-app purchases work. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Android in-app billing coming next week, starts developer testing today
Google promised us the ability to buy stuff while inside Android apps, and sure enough, it's now just about ready to deliver it. Eric Chu, responsible for the company's Android Developer Ecosystem, has announced app submissions are now being accepted from those wanting to offer up purchasable items within their software. He also points out there'll be about a week's worth of internal testing before the whole system opens up to the public, likely before the end of the month so that Google may stick to its word of rolling out the service in the first quarter of this year. Once that's done, you'll finally be able to buy your way to in-game glory instead of having to grind away at it like some unenlightened schmo.
Apple changes purchase policy so your kids don't max out your credit card
The Washington Post is reporting that Apple has changed its policy on in-app purchases on iOS devices to protect users from accidentally toting up huge iTunes charges. iOS 4.3 has a feature that requires a password when any purchases are made within an application after it has been downloaded. This is in response to situations where children were sometimes purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of in-app purchases within 15 minutes after an app was first downloaded. Two games in particular were responsible for numerous occurrences of big purchases by kids -- Smurfs' Village and Tap Zoo. Now that iOS 4.3 is making its way to many iOS devices, a password is not only required to purchase an app on the App Store, but the password will also be required when you make an in-app purchase. By doing this, the user is made aware of the iTunes charges being made by having to enter their password. Once you've made one in-app purchase and entered your password, you can make other recurring charges within 15 minutes without reentering the password. That makes it possible to quickly make multiple charges without having to reenter your password for every charge. The changes were added to iOS 4.3 as a response to numerous complaints from parents who were upset that their kids were buying "snowflakes" and "Smurfberries" at $99 a barrel without realizing that their parents were being charged actual money for those purchases. These complaints were beginning to surface in the Attorney General's office in a number of states, forcing Apple to look into the issue and respond. It will also help if developers take some responsibility and take the temptation to purchase expensive "virtual products" away from children. [via Techmeme]
Google adding web-based in-app payments, probably some time in May
It's not enough that you'll soon be able to make in-app purchases on Android, Google wants to give you an outlet for your app spending online as well. The search giant is hard at work turning last year's acquisition of Jambool and its Social Gold software into a web-based in-app payments platform it can call its own. Jambool's proprietors have word that Google's system is now in beta, which has led it to close new signups for the Social Gold offering, ahead of halting payment processing entirely on May 31st. That should serve as a pretty reliable guide for when to expect Google to flip the switch on its in-app purchasing service, which we're hearing will include some level of integration with Google Checkout and Google accounts. As TechCrunch points out, the next Google I/O gathering is scheduled for May 10th -- sounds about the right time for us to be introduced to this new, app-based way for separating us from our hard-earned cash.
Federal Trade Commission is reviewing Apple's in-app purchase system
The FTC is reviewing Apple's in-app purchasing policy after reports of inadvertent purchases by children have continued to surface. FTC Chairperson Jon Leibowitz agreed to look closely at the matter after Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts brought the matter to his attention. Leibowitz will most likely focus on Apple's 15-minute window, a single instance sign-in that lets iOS users log in once and make additional purchases and downloads for the next 15 minutes. It is during this 15-minute window that children left unattended with a device are able to rack up huge charges. The latest such incident involving exorbitant charges by children involves the Smurf's Village app. In this incident, the child reportedly purchased berries and other items totaling a whopping US$1400. Earlier reports singled out Fishies by Playmesh, a virtual aquarium game for children. Fishies offers pearls for your tank which can cost as much as $149. Children hooked on the game and playing unattended have charged hundreds of dollars to their parents' iTunes account. Apple has combated this problem by pointing out that parents can block all in-app purchases using iOS 4's parental controls. The ability to turn off in-app purchases places the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the parents who should lock their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch before handing it over to their children. Though these parental controls may be enough to thwart any action from the FTC, Apple may also decide to limit this 15-minute window and require a password for each in-app purchase. To disable in-app purchasing on your iOS device, go to Settings > General > Restrictions and enter a passcode when asked. Then, tap on "Enable Restrictions" and scroll down to "In-App Purchases" and flick the toggle to "OFF."
Why Amazon may not care about in-app purchase
In all this furor about the App Store and in-app purchases, we have not heard a peep from Amazon, the 800-pound gorilla of external content. (TUAW long since contacted Amazon for a statement, and like everyone else, never heard anything back). Chuck Toporek of Addison Wesley/Pearson has a particularly insightful post up on his personal blog explaining why this may be so. Amazon's Kindle for the Web has been in beta since September 2010, offering a potential web-based alternative to a native iOS app. Toporek writes that in his tests, Kindle for the Web worked beautifully for desktop and iPad, while the iPhone "takes a little extra work, but it can be done." Being in beta, full book texts are not yet available, but if Amazon wishes to leave the App Store, it has a fully realized solution that it can move to that is already deployed and being tested. Perhaps more content-dependent developers will be returning to Steve Jobs' original "sweet solution" of Web-based applications as the IAP drama plays out and HTML 5 continues to mature. The best way to deal with an unaccommodating Apple App Store may be to sidestep the store entirely.
TinyGrab declines to sell subscriptions through the App Store
Add another name to the list of developers who are choosing to opt-out of Apple's subscription restrictions lately. Rhapsody and Readability were the first two we posted about, although Readability didn't so much opt-out as get rejected and decide not to play the subscription game. Now, a service called TinyGrab has posted that it won't be developing for the App Store because of "Apple's new greedy model." The company says that it was looking forward to providing its premium subscription-based file sharing service through the iOS and Mac App Store platforms, but Apple's restrictions on sharing user data and accounts that expire after a certain time are untenable for their business. The company is willing to pay the 30 percent cut, but unwilling to deal with Apple's terms that disallow any paid upgrades or features added to the app via outside subscriptions. The company still plans to develop for the Mac and, in fact, is about to release a new version of its software this week. But TinyGrab says that Apple has effectively "locked us out" of the App Stores by asking far too much in terms of the restrictions. Granted, none of these companies publicly fighting the restrictions are all that big, and we've already heard of plenty of companies who feel the rules are perfectly reasonable (and indeed, have already started making subscriptions available). Despite TinyGrab's objections, Apple is completely within its rights to make these requirements as long as they don't violate any antitrust laws. Still, there's definitely a growing number of developers unhappy with the deal they're being offered on in-app subscription purchases. Perhaps if Apple lowered the percent cut for services that happen to have content as a functional component of the service (as opposed to pure content plays like Kindle, Netflix, PopSci, The Daily, etc.) they would be more amenable to Apple's terms? TinyGrab will, at least, still be available as a standalone Mac application.
Readability: Apple's new subscription policy 'smacks of greed'
Apple's new subscription policy has already drawn plenty of criticism -- not to mention the eye of the FTC and DOJ - but that doesn't make the missive issued by Readability today any less pointed. As you may be aware, Readability's technology uses the Reader feature recently added to Safari, and the company also provides a subscription-based service of its own that allows you to pay for the convenience of reading articles that have been stripped down to nothing but text -- something they're able to get away with because they pay 70 percent of that subscription fee back to the publishers. Not surprisingly, Readability recently decided to expand with an iOS app, and that's where things got dicey. Apple rejected the app on the grounds that it relies on a separate subscription -- one where Apple doesn't get a 30 percent cut. In a post on its blog, the company says that 30 percent "drastically undermines a key premise of how Readability works," and that, frankly, Apple's new subscription policy as a whole "smacks of greed." Obviously, that leaves Readability in something of a bind at the moment, as the nature of its business doesn't give it the leeway to agree to Apple's terms, but it does have a suggestion. It says it'll gladly deliver a Readability app for iOS with in-app purchasing if Apple agrees to pay 70 percent of the 30 percent fee it collects to writers and publishers, just like it does. Hit up the source link below for the company's complete letter.
Capcom denies rift with Apple over Smurfs' Village in-app purchases
Did Apple take Capcom to task over the in-app purchase fiasco in the company's Smurfs' Village game for iOS? That was the rumor going around earlier today, after Pocket Gamer reported that it had heard from a "well placed source" who said that Apple had some "strong words" for the game maker. Capcom has now come out and denied any such rift, however, saying in a statement that "we are in frequent communication with Apple, and at no point have they expressed any displeasure to any representatives of Capcom Mobile in regards to our handling of in-app purchases within Smurfs' Village." Interestingly, Pocket Gamer's original report also claimed that Apple was considering a change to its current 15 minute password window to reduce inadvertent in-app purchases, and Capcom says that it would welcome such a move -- although it's not aware of any impending change.
Well, that's just Smurfy! Apple reportedly talks to Capcom about Smurfs' Village
We reported last week on how a kid playing with the Smurfs' Village iOS app racked up hundreds of dollars in charges, prompting a variety of responses regarding how Apple and parents should treat such apps. Now PocketGamer.biz is reporting that Apple has taken game publisher Capcom to task for making it so easy for kids to go on a Smurfberry-buying binge. The site also adds that Apple is looking into reducing the current 15-minute gap between purchases down to 5 minutes -- still plenty of time to do some serious damage, as a few commenters on our last post noted. Capcom has written on the app's description that the ability to make these sorts of purchases quickly is a function of the iOS software and is not within its control. When you download and launch the app, there is a pop-up that warns about this concern. It flashes off within a few seconds, though, to prompt you to turn on push notification for the app, but the alert does return. The screen featuring Smurfberries also warns that they will cost real money. We won't know what Apple's true stance will be regarding this until we see an official statement and/or iOS update, but as always, we urge parents to be as cautious as possible with these sorts of apps. [via AppleInsider]
iTunes shocker! Apple announces App Store subscriptions
Hot on the heels of the Daily, the oft-rumored Apple subscription service is finally spreading out to the rest of the app store. Love it or lump it, anything currently available in the company's online marketplace, including magazines, newspapers, video, and music, can now be offered on the subscription model. "All we require," said Steve Jobs in the press release, "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 sounds familiar.) Publishers are also restricted from linking out of the app to locations that allow the user to circumvent the in-app purchase (and publishers can't offer better deals outside of the app store). The rationale here? Apple gets thirty percent off the top off in-app purchases -- enough of a cut, we're guessing, to prompt some bigger publishers to skip the platform altogether (outside purchases, of course, are exempt from this fee). PR after the break.
Smurf it all to smurf! In-app purchases ring up $1,400 in charges
It's not exactly a new thing, but the Washington Post reported on the latest episode of a child spending hundreds -- actually $1,400 -- on in-app purchases. In this case, the 8-year-old was buying Smurfberries to decorate the Smurfs' Village app. You can spend up to $99.99 for a single in-app purchase of the berries. Apple provided the family a refund after the mother received the bill. The article points out that these sorts of purchases are being blamed on Apple since there is a 15-minute window (after authorizing a previous App Store buy) where a password is not needed to make another purchase. Yes, Apple should add the option to require a password no matter how much time has passed or have parental controls be the default setting on an app, but a child could still potentially figure out a password and toggle the option off. In the end, it is up to the parents to make sure that the child's access to in-app purchases on any device is restricted. Do not give your password to your child, or link your App Store account to a credit card with a very small credit line that cuts off when it reaches its limit. Apple is not the only company out there to have in-app or in-line purchases. You can get Facebook credits for its games just as easily -- however, since Facebook's terms of service forbid young children from using the social network, presumably the Farmville players have a bit more adult judgement to help them avoid unexpected costs. [via Switched]
