Following news of Apple’s rejection of Sony’s eReader app for the iPad, the company has reportedly set a March 31st deadline for other apps to make available any content for purchase within the app.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple is requiring app developers who sell content outside the app – normally by redirecting the user to the seller’s website – to also offer a way to buy content within the app itself using the iTunes billing system.
Such a change would see vendors handing over up to 30% of the sale price to Apple, a figure reported to represent the entire profit on many ebook sales.
There’s been no official word from Apple and it remain unclear how, or if, any changes would affect existing reading apps from sellers such as Amazon, Kobo and Zinio.