Apple's New App Store Rules Impact Amazon's Kindle App

Apple's new app store subscription plan, specifying that Apple will take a 30% cut of all content sold within apps, will also affect Amazon's Kindle app when used on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. It will also impact other booksellers selling through apps on Apple products. Publishers and content sellers have to remove any links within their apps to outside-the-App Store purchasing options. This means that Amazon must remove the "Shop in the Kindle Store" link that it currently provides on its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad apps.

Publishers and content sellers must remove any links within their apps to outside-the-App Store purchasing options, Apple said, a requirement that means Amazon.com must eliminate the link to the Kindle Store that it currently provides in its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad apps.

Steve Jobs said in a statement Tuesday: "Our philosophy is simple — when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30% share, when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100% and Apple earns nothing."

Kindle app users can still purchase books outside of the App Store, on Amazon's web site or through a non-Apple Kindle app, and then have them loaded onto the device. Apple has not specified a deadline for developers to modify their existing apps.

[via Computerworld]