Earlier this year the iPad maker informed app developers it would no longer approve apps which redirected sales out of the app and into the devices’s web browser unless the apps also allowed in-app purchasing via the iTunes billing facility.
For such Apple was requiring the same 30% handling charge as for all other app sales. Critics said this would damage the viability of some apps and last month the company behind iPad ebook reading app iFlow blamed a decision to close down on the rules.
Earlier this week the Financial Times launched a new web-based app for the iPhone and iPad in an apparent bid to side-step Apple’s then rules on subscriptions for newspapers and magazines.
However this week it emerged the computing giant had scrapped the new rules, a move which means it’s unlikely ebook retailers such as Kobo or Amazon’s Kindle app will leave the App Store.
However the revised rules still prohibit the inclusion of a ‘buy’ button within apps although they do allow for apps to access content purchased elsewhere.
