Apple Now Requiring eBook Applications With External Purchases to Also Offer In App Purchasing
Tuesday February 01, 2011 12:17 PM
Following up on last night's story revealing that Apple had rejected a Sony Reader iOS application for eBooks, All Things Digital has received an official statement from Apple clarifying the company's position. According to the company, Apple has not changed its terms, but is simply enforcing existing ones that require applications offering content for purchase outside of the application to also offer the content via Apple's in-app purchasing mechanisms.
Apple's made no change to its App Store Guidlines, it's simply enforcing a rule that's been in them all along: apps that offer purchases elsewhere must support in-app purchases as well. �We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," company spokesperson Trudy Miller told me. "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."

While short of the originally-feared banning of all external content purchasing methods, the new enforcement does raise additional questions about how such popular eBook applications as Kindle will deal with the requirement. Notably, will in-app purchases be required to be priced at the same level as external purchases, and if so, how will content providers respond to Apple taking its 30% cut of revenue from the in-app purchasing method that is more convenient for consumers than the external purchasing method that sends all revenue to the provider?

On the evening before the launch of the Verizon iPhone, the embargo for early review units have been lifted. This early set of reviews provides a look at the early verdict on the Verizon iPhone. Reviews and some highlights are listed here.

Macworld
- "With a few minor variations, it looks, feels, and works just like the AT&T iPhone 4"
- iOS 4.2.6
- Good distance on mobile Hotspot
- "if you're using the Internet and your phone rings, your Internet connection immediately drops"

TechCrunch
- "This Verizon version of the iPhone 4 seems to have none of the same antenna issues [as the AT&T model]
- Much better with signal / lack of dropped calls than the AT&T model (in San Francisco)
- "the iPhone 4 can give you a solid 4 hours of hotspot/tethering time"

All Things D
- "the Verizon model did much, much better with voice calls"
- "AT&T's network averaged 46% faster at download speeds and 24% faster at upload speeds."

Engadget
- "Calls were consistently connected and uninterrupted, far more often than our AT&T calls in the same time period in similar locations."
- "data rates on the Verizon iPhone 4 we tested were dramatically slower than those on its AT&T counterpart."

Overall, there seem to be few surprises. Lack of simultaneous voice and data has been known and those in weak AT&T are having much better luck with Verizon, but data speeds are better on AT&T.

AT&T today announced forthcoming changes to its smartphone tethering data plans, increasing the monthly data limit to 4 GB from the current 2 GB cap. The change, set to take effect on February 13th, comes as AT&T rolls out mobile hotspot functionality for the new HTC Inspire 4G handset, although the company has not addressed whether it will support the similar hotspot functionality for the iPhone once iOS 4.3 is released to the public.
In addition, also on February 13th, to bring AT&T's smartphone tethering plan in line with the AT&T Mobile Hotspot offer, AT&T will automatically add the additional 2GB of monthly data usage to smartphone customers already on a tethering plan - at no extra charge. Customers will incur the same $20 monthly fee they're accustomed to paying, only now they'll receive an extra 2GB of data each month.

AT&T currently offers two monthly data plans for iPhone customers: DataPlus with 200 MB of data for $15 and DataPro with 2 GB of data for $25. Tethering is available to DataPro customers for an additional charge of $20 per month, but until now has not offered any additional data capacity, with tethering data coming out of the same 2 GB cap allotted to regular smartphone use. The changes announced today essentially mean that the extra $20 tethering fee will also bring customers an additional 2 GB of data per month to be used between their phone and tethered devices.

Existing Verizon Wireless subscribers will be the first to get their hands on the carrier’s new iPhone. The company says current customers can preorder the device Thursday, Feb. 3, and they’ll receive them on or before Feb. 10, when the general public is able to start buying the popular smartphone at retail outlets.


Here’s the scoop on pricing, according to the Associated Press: Basic voice – with 450 minutes – will set you back $40. Add another $20 for voice and unlimited texting, with those plans starting at $60; an unlimited data plan with Web and e-mail will cost you another $30/month. You can also get a Wi-Fi hotspot option for an additional $20/month, bringing the grand total to $110 if you want all of the bells and whistles.


There are a fewdifferences between what Verizon is offering and what you can get from AT&T. The AT&T voice and text plan doesn’t include unlimited texts; the hotspot is a function AT&T doesn’t have; and AT&T’s data plan isn’t unlimited, although the carrier believes the monthly 2GB limit is enough for most customers.


Verizon announced the unlimited data plan last week but then acknowledged it might be for a limited time only.


The cost of the Verizon iPhone itself will be the same as it is on AT&T’s network: $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB phone.