Apple Inc has blocked rival Sony Corp’s electronic book application from the iPhone because it would have circumvented Apple’s system for buying content.
The scrap is the latest in Apple’s long history of tense relations with media companies. They have clashed for years over pricing and how music, movies and books are sold on Apple’s mobile devices, the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
The dust-up, first reported by the New York Times, comes a day before the expected launch of News Corp’s The Daily, a subscription digital newspaper designed for tablet computers like the iPad.
Sony’s app, which is linked to Sony’s e-book reader, would have allowed people to read books bought through Sony’s store. Sony accused Apple of changing the way it enforces its rules.
The e-reader episode highlights what publishers in general see as Apple’s rigidity.
Richard Stephenson, chief executive of Yudu, an online publishing services company that works with magazines including Readers Digest and small publishers, expects Apple to begin enforcing its payment rules for content more strictly.
“If you’re intending to dine with the 600-pound gorilla, then you have to abide by their table manners,” Stephenson said. “People are saying that Apple is changing the rules, but in fact they’re just enforcing them.”
Apple said it was not changing its rules for app developers, but wanted to ensure that customers could buy books using its payment method, known as “in-app purchase,” which provides Apple with a 30 percent cut of sales.
The article needs to be updated / clarified for accuracy. Apple stated that if apps were going to use out-of-app payment methods, then they also had to offer in-app (i.e. iTunes) payment as well.
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