Apple has denied updating the App Store rules regarding in-app purchases – and which Sony fell foul of with their Reader for iPhone app – claiming instead that it is merely enforcing a rule that has been in the guidelines for some time. “We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told AllThingsD. “We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.”
The rule in question is believed to be 11.2:
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected
It, along with Muller’s statement, implies that Amazon could continue to sell ebooks via its current method – opening up the regular Amazon webpage in the Safari browser – but if so it would also be required to offer an internal system using Apple’s in-app purchasing system. Since IAP items are treated as just more app store content by Apple, that might mean Amazon had to individually submit each ebook for approval, as well as handing over 30-percent of the takings in an iTunes tithe. It’s also unclear whether Amazon would then allow Kindle users to re-download – from their own servers – the IAP content on Kindle ereaders or non-iOS versions of the app.
If anything, the clarification has made the situation a little more confusing; Apple looks to be pushing for a bigger cut of the content pie, and since Sony’s Reader app looks to have used the same browser-based purchasing system as Amazon’s, that implies Amazon may well have to tweak the Kindle app too. Apple has also been using rule 11.2 to crack-down on emagazine subscriptions; according to Monday Note, publishers have been told that they have a “grace period” up until June 30 2011 to enable the required IAP support:
“For existing apps already on the App Store, we are providing a grace period to bring your app into compliance with this guideline. To ensure your app remains on the App Store, please submit an update that uses the In App Purchase API for purchasing content, by June 30, 2011″
It’s been quite a while since Apple’s tight reins on the App Store were a subject worth discussing, but they’re back in the spotlight now following the company’s rejection of Sony’s Reader app for iOS. The reasons given to Sony were that Apple will not no longer accept applications that permit in-app purchases of content that don’t go through Apple itself, and, moreover, will not tolerate apps that access material purchased through external content stores. So the Sony Reader Store is out — but wait, doesn’t the Kindle app spend its time serving up Kindlebooks? No comment has been offered on the matter from either Apple or Amazon, while Sony’s Reader Store page describes the situation as “an impasse” and promises to seek “other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices.” In the mean time, you can get the Reader app for Android or just read your ebooks on a device dedicated to that task.
Update: As noted by Harry McCracken over at Technologizer, it has actually been Apple’s longstanding policy to forbid in-app purchases — the Kindle and Nook apps send you to a browser — so Sony’s desire to do so will have been the major cause for the Reader application’s rejection. That doesn’t invalidate the second concern expressed in the New York Times article, that Apple will no longer tolerate content brought in from external stores, which is a displeasing development, if true.
Update 2: Looks like McCracken nailed it — Apple’s come out with a statement pointing out that the App Store guidelines require that apps that allow content purchases must also allow them in-app through Apple’s official iTunes-backed system. We can’t imagine that Sony is thrilled with the idea of cutting Apple in on Reader content, but if they want to play ball, they should be able to score an approval. Notably, Apple says that they are “now requiring” this even though the guidelines haven’t changed, suggesting they’re just now getting around to enforcing it; the effect on iOS’ Kindle and Nook apps isn’t yet known, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple started nudging them in the direction of pushing updates. More on this situation as we have it.
Apple has rejected Sony’s Reader for iPhone application, with the New York Times [subscription required] reporting that Apple now insists that from now on all in-app purchases must go through its own systems. According to the report, developers have been told that they can “no longer sell content, like e-books, within their apps, or let customers have access to purchases they have made outside the App Store.” It’s unclear at this stage what this means to existing titles, like Amazon’s Kindle app, which allows users to load ebooks bought on other Kindle devices or software into the iPad version.
Currently, ebook purchases made for Kindle on iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad are made not using Apple’s in-app purchase system – which would see Amazon handing over a 30-percent tithe on all transactions – but by loading up the Amazon store page in the browser. New titles can then be downloaded in the Kindle app itself; alternatively, all ebooks purchased from Amazon are accesible in a cloud store, even if they were not bought in the iOS browser.
It seems that Apple is changing the rules, however, so as to ensure that it gets a share of the purchase action in future. A similar push was reported back in January, when magazine and newspaper publishers were told that they would no longer be allowed to bundle inclusive digital access to iOS versions of their content with a print subscription.
According to a Sony statement, the company is “exploring other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices” but has “reached an impasse at this time”:
Reader for iPhone
We would like to update everyone on the status of our Reader™ for iPhone® mobile application. We created an app that we’re very excited about, which includes all the features you’ve come to expect from a mobile reading application – including access to your existing collection, synching with your Reader Daily Edition™ and purchasing new content as is possible on other mobile platforms.
Unfortunately, with little notice, Apple changed the way it enforces its rules and this will prevent the current version of the Reader™ for iPhone® from being available in the app store. We opened a dialog with Apple to see if we can come up with an equitable resolution but reached an impasse at this time. We’re exploring other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices. We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the application and we appreciate your continued patience.
Nintendo has confirmed that, while the new Nintendo 3DS will arrive in the US on March 27 and in Europe on March 25, 3D gamers will have to wait longer for the 3DS eShop. CEO Satoru Iwata told GamesIndustry that not only will the game store be delayed until May 2011, the 3DS will also not have a browser to begin with.
Neither was initially expected to be preloaded onto the 3DS, but Nintendo had previously expected to have the eShop and browser ready alongside the commercial release of the console. Now, the download store will be “drastically redesigned” versus the existing DSiWare store, which Iwata criticized as slow and inefficient at highlighting the best titles. “”It is critical in digital software distribution” Iwata suggested “that the software available there won’t be buried and go unnoticed.”
Google is looking to intensify its internal work on mobile app development, in a play to better challenge Apple in software for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. According to the WSJ‘s sources, Google plans to recruit software engineers, product managers, user-interface experts and others to help bolster the Android Market with quality apps; however, insiders also claim that not all of the titles will be Android-exclusive.
Product manager Benjamin Ling is believed to be leading the recruitment drive, and Google apparently intends to fund small groups producing anything from games to LBS apps and more. It remains to be seen whether Android developers will lose out as part of the new strategy; both they and Google itself have been disappointed by paid app sales in the Android Market, and having the search giant wade in may not make that proposition any easier.
One of my favorite cities in the US is New Orleans. I was originally introduced to this city when I had to go there on business some 20 years ago and fell in love with its people, food and culture. I take two weeks each year and designate them as eating holidays and, while one week may take place in Asia or Europe, the other week almost exclusively is in New Orleans. This city is known for its wonderful food scene with great dishes like Oyster Po Boys, red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya and the mufaletta and my favorite, a N’awlins crawfish feed.
It is also the home of Paul Prudhomme, who put Cajun cooking on the map after he left New Orelans most famous restaurant, Commanders Palace. His replacement, Emeril Lagasse has gone on to become one of the most famous chefs in America thanks to the Food Network, and his great restaurants in New Orleans have helped refine that region’s cuisine.
But what New Orleans is most known for is the Birth of Jazz. As a kid I was always drawn to the TV when Louis Armstrong was playing or when I heard Billy Holiday or Mahalia Jackson singing. But I did not really get a serious appreciation of the history of Jazz and the contribution Armstrong and a legion of early Jazz greats like Scott Joplin, Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Miles Davis and a multitude of others have had on every type of music from the blues to modern day rock and even rap.
That appreciation came when I watched Ken Burns’ PBS special on Jazz and then bought the DVD collection of this special for myself to go back to and watch on my own time. This is a wonderful labor of love that PBS and Burns have given us and anyone interested in music history should watch it sometime in their lifetime.
Now there is a new application for the iPad called the History of Jazz [iTunes link], an Interactive Timeline that takes full advantage of the iPad’s full media capabilities and shows how the iPad and tablets can deliver a completely new way to interact with content. The program is laid out so that there are dates tied to each phase of Jazz’ history starting with Scott Joplin and Buddy Bolden in the 1890’s. In this section you learn that ragtime began as a dance and was the music of the red light districts of America. It highlights these Jazz pioneers and then links you to You Tube videos that either highlight the music of that time, or in the case of later stages where video of these Jazz greats exist, show them actually performing some of their greatest hits. I especially loved watching Louis Armstrong doing “When the Saints Go Marching In” or Fats Waller doing “Your Feet’s Too Big”.
Each timeline segment of Jazz is highlighted by great examples of the musicians and music that defined each period covered. It even has a section on what they call Future Jazz greats and highlights Joshua Redman doing “Jazz Crimes” and a performance of Sherik’s Syncopated Taint Septet’ “ Live @ Easy Street.”
And at $9.99 it is a steal. This is not in any way trying to be a comprehensive history of Jazz. But you do get a wonderful short history of Jazz and some of the iconic music performances helps the history of Jazz come alive and gives people a better appreciation of the impact Jazz has had on the music scene around the world.
A new Apple advert for the iPad has been revealed, “iPad is Iconic“, suggesting that there are over 60,000 iPad-specific apps for the best-selling slate. Several of those apps get a demo in the new video, including the djay virtual turntables, the Wall Street Journal news app and iWork’s Pages.
Video after the cut
There’s also American Airlines’ app for buying tickets, iBooks, Movie Slate and Vanity Fair. The video comes on the heels of Apple announcing 10bn downloads at the weekend, and ahead of what’s expected to be a tablet-centric Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona next month.
iOS 4.3 hasn’t been publicly released yet, but Apple is already approving apps with direct support for the updated version in the App Store. TIPB spotted StreamToMe v3.5 [iTunes link] had been approved, complete with “support for AirPlay video (requires iOS 4.3), seemingly a sign that Apple is looking to push out the new iOS version sooner rather than later.
Whereas normally beta releases for developers are distributed on a two-weekly basis, we’ve seen just one week between beta one and beta two with iOS 4.3. Assuming no significant bugs are spotted, that might mean that the new version could be pushed out before the end of the month.
Google is looking to improve the performance of paid apps in the Android Market with tools like in-app purchases and carrier billing, after Android platform manager Eric Chu told developers this week that the search giant was “not happy” with paid-app growth. According to Forbes, Chu outlined Google’s rough strategy for the Android Market in 2011, which will see carrier billing for software extended from just AT&T in the US.
The AT&T arrangement began in December 2010, and Chu says that Google is working with more carriers worldwide to set up similar systems. As for in-app payments, that’s expected to debut sometime this quarter, and as on iOS will allow free or paid apps to offer further downloads for add-ons and extras.
Meanwhile, Google’s is looking to make discovering apps more successful, with tweaks to the search algorithm and more emphasis on removing titles that contravene the terms of service. There’ll also be a push for HTML5 apps and leveraging “the best social graph”: the user’s own address book since it aggregates contacts from multiple platforms.
Adobe has pushed out a new version of Photoshop Express for iOS, v1.5, which promises support for the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, multitasking in iOS 4.2, and in-app photo taking using the iPhone and iPod touch’s camera. The free download [iTunes link] comes in iPhone and iPad versions, and supports basic editing – including crop, straighten, rotate and flip – together with effects and filters.
Thanks to the multitasking support it’s now possible to queue uploads to Photoshop.com and Facebook while using the iOS device for something else. Effects include Vibrant, Pop, Border, Vignette Blur, Warm Vintage, Rainbow, White Glow, and Soft Black and White, while there are optional Rectangle, Rounded, Oval, Soft Edge, Vignette, Rough Edge, Halftone, and Film Emulsion borders.
Apple has denied updating the App Store rules regarding in-app purchases – and which Sony fell foul of with their Reader for iPhone app – claiming instead that it is merely enforcing a rule that has been in the guidelines for some time. “We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told AllThingsD. “We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.”
Apple has rejected Sony’s Reader for iPhone application, with the 
Google is looking to improve the performance of paid apps in the 
