Change of heart
Apple has back-pedalled somewhat on the restrictions it imposes on developers creating apps with subscriptions, MacRumours reports, having removed the requirement that apps with an external subscription option also offer on inside the application, and also dropped the price restrictions on in-app subscriptions.
Previously Apple's developer terms and conditions required that if a subscription was offered outside of an app, it must also be offered in the application, for the same price or lower as externally. This riled a number of app-makers, as Apple takes a 30 per cent cut on in-app subscriptions, such that the upshot of the price ceiling was to force in-app subscriptions to be worth less than external ones.
Just this week the Financial Times announced that it was abandoning its native iPhone and iPad app in favour of a web app precisely because of the overly restrictive terms of the App Store.
The new terms read as follows:
"Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app."
As a result, developers can now enable access to content subscribed to or bought external to the app, as long as there's no link to purchase that content in the app. The removal of the price limits on in-app purchases also means that the 30 per cent Apple cut can be added onto the in-app price - not the best case for subscribers, but certainly better for Apple than having content providers abandon their platform entirely.
