Buying e-books and other content on the Web became a bit more confusing on Monday, as Apple policies that forbid sending customers to other sites to make purchases took effect.
Publishers from The Wall Street Journal to Amazon to Google began changing their iOS apps to remove references to their own or other content stores, in line with new Apple App Store policies.
Users can still buy an e-book at Amazon.com, for example, and read it on their iPad. But the new policies also essentially make Apple the only vendor of books and music on the platform it owns, where it takes a 30 percent cut of the revenue.
Instead, those apps essentially become tools for syncing content. For example, users can buy an app via Amazon and use the Kindle app to sync the content to a user's iPad or iPhone.
In February, Apple launched a policy whereby it would take 30 percent of all media revenue sold through its App Store, the same cut that it takes from app purchases. Apple's revised policies then stated that content providers could sell content via an external site, but couldn't link to it.
Amazon's Kindle app version 2.8 reflects the new changes, as does version 4.5.1. of the Kobo app. The latter app adds a "dedicated Kobo news feed to keep you informed of the latest updates and promotions", the app's page on the App Store reads. The Barnes & Noble Nook app has been updated to version 2.1.2.
However, the Wall Street Journal iPad app is still listed as version 3.6 as of press time, although AppleInsider reported that it had removed a subscription link. The Financial Times, which uses a mobile-formatted Web site in place of a true app, also did not report that it made any changes, as well; the App Store has version 1.6.1 available for download, dating from June 8.