If you own an iPad and/or iPhone and use Amazon.com"s iOS app for the Kindle, you should see a new change in how the Kindle app works. News.com reports that due to new rules in how all e-reader apps work on iOS devices, Apple has forced the Kindle app to be changed and updated. The changes also affect other e-reader apps including Barnes and Noble"s Nook and the Kobo e-reader app.
The changes have to do with how the e-reader apps handle purchases. In the past, the apps directed its users to third party web sites or services outside Apple"s iOS. This was done in order to avoid having to pay a 30 percent revenue fee to Apple like other apps are required to do so. Apple"s new rules now close that loophole with the e-reader apps. While a Kindle reader can still access its library of e-books from the new version of the iOS app, users will no longer be able to directly purchase those books from the app. Instead users will have to go to Amazon.com"s Kindle web site to purchase new e-books and then use the app to download your new books.
This roundabout way to get new books from third party apps may cause confusion with some customers, according to Kobo"s CEO Michael Serbinis. He states, "Aside from not having any links to an e-bookstore, you can"t even mention your Web site or explain to readers from within the app how to purchase books and get them onto the device. It"s very simple to do, but some people downloading the app for the first time might not figure it out."