Amazon’s Kindle app for Apple’s iPad and iPhone is the latest to drop its ‘buy’ button as retailers find themselves faced with complying with Apple’s new rules or evicted from the AppStore.
As previously reported, Apple has ceased approving apps which use a link to the retailer’s website to complete purchases unless the app also allows in-app purchasing via iTunes.
Purchases made via iTunes incur a 30% charge for the seller which ebook sellers say accounts for the majority of their commission from book publishers.
Amazon’s rival Kobo has already brought its app into compliance with Apple’s new rules.
The changes mean iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone users who want to buy books from non-Apple apps must now do so manually via their browser.
In a forum post Amazon announced it has also updated the app to allow customers “to share favourite passages from your reading via Facebook and Twitter” and promises books purchased via the website “will be delivered automatically to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, just as before.”