Apple App Store amends rules, lowers out-of-app prices

Apple amended its guidelines for in-app subscriptions on the App Store and said it no longer requires a subscription to be the same price or less than it is offered outside the app.

The new App Store revised guidelines, which were announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference this week, have revoked the need to have identical prices out of App store as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.

Content Providers, like Amazon which sells e-books through its online store for use in the Kindle application, do not have to purchase content within the Kindle application and pay Apple a 30 percent cut of the sale anymore, though they sell a subscription outside the App Store.

Softwares like Amazon Kindle, Nexlix or Hulu+applications have to subscribe for purchase within their App Store application, providing Apple with a 30 percent cut before June 30, to continue with the App Store.

For existing apps already in the App Store, we are providing a grace period to bring your app into compliance with this guideline, reads the letter from Apple. To ensure your app remains on the App Store, please submit an update that uses the In App Purchase API for purchasing content, by June 30, 2011.

Apple's new rules, detailed in section 11.14 of the App Store Review Guidelines, make it clear that approved iOS software can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, provided there is no link to purchase that content elsewhere at a lower price. Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues for approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, reported appleinsider.com.