A Discussion About Apple’s Unsatisfactory In-App Purchase Policies

A couple of weeks ago the issue of Apple’s In-App Purchase (IAP) policy once again came into focus when ComiXology was purchased by Amazon and subsequently removed the ability to purchase comics within their iOS apps using IAPs. I think it is safe to say that there was quite an outcry from ardent ComiXology users and others who follow the news of the technology industry.

The reaction was mostly negative, or at least one of dissapointment. Depending on any one person’s views (or perhaps corporate allegiances), either Amazon was evil, Apple was evil, ComiXology was evil, or they were all evil and “once again” users lose out. I’m being overly dramatic here, but you get the picture: people (generally) weren’t happy with the change. If you want to read more about the specific issues at play in the ComiXology changes, I highly recommend Moises Chiullan’s article at Macworld.

Amazon is not absorbing, nor can it contractually subsume the 30 percent that gets paid to Apple from in-app purchases: By purchasing ComiXology what was previously ComiXology’s “piece of the pie” is now Amazon’s. That piece grows, but the publisher’s portion also grows, and therefore the amount that can be paid out to creators is larger. I asked ComiXology’s Mosher directly: Will the reduced overhead mean that more revenue can and will go to creators, whether they’re big-time publishers or independent creators? “Yes,” he said. (Macworld)

For me, the ComiXology issues once again highlighted the complexity for Apple (and others) of coming up with a policy for IAPs that is appropriate. I’ve always thought that the current policy leaves something to be desired because in a certain set of narrow (but high profile) circumstances, it results in situations that inconvenience or disadvantage the user.

So with all that in mind, I want to explain what the current policy is and the problems that it causes. Then, I will run through some potential alternative rules and highlight their respective benefits and drawbacks.
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Dispatch 2.0 Adds Folder Access, Unsubscribe Shortcut, Refreshed UI

Dispatch, an email client with support for actions and snippets that I first reviewed in June 2013 and followed for the past year, has been updated today to version 2.0, which brings a refreshed interface and welcome improvements to navigation. I stopped using Dispatch (replacing it with Boxer) when I realized that I needed to be able to browse my folders and have fast search across my mailboxes, but I’m going to put version 2.0 back on my Home screen thanks to today’s changes.

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Apple Starts Decorating Moscone West with WWDC 2014 Banners

Apple's WWDC 2014 banner at Moscone West. Click image for full-size.

Apple’s WWDC 2014 banner at Moscone West. Click image for full-size.

WWDC 2014 is kicking off on Monday, June 2, and Apple has started decorating Moscone West today with promotional banners for the event.

Every year, Apple decorates the convention center in San Francisco with two different sets of banners: the ones carrying the event’s graphics already available on the WWDC website, and others showing the names and logos of new versions of iOS and OS X for the first time. This year, Apple is expected to unveil iOS 8 (the successor to last year’s major redesign of iOS) and OS X 10.10, the latter rumored to introduce a dramatic redesign of the Aqua interface.

Today, we’ve received the first set of photos, showing WWDC 2014 banners going up inside Moscone West with the “Write the code. Change the world” tagline. With preparations now well underway, Apple will continue to decorate Moscone West with new banners in the next few days, possibly showing official logos for iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 later this week.

We will update this post with more photos throughout the week; you can follow @MacStoriesNet on Twitter or our WWDC 2014 hub for updates.

Our thanks goes to Alex Novosad (creator of Choosy) for providing the photos and helping us with coverage from San Francisco.

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Apple To Live Stream WWDC 2014 Keynote on June 2

As first noted by 9to5mac, Apple has confirmed they will live stream the WWDC 2014 keynote on June 2. Speakers haven’t been revealed yet, but, considering the company’s history over the past few years, CEO Tim Cook will likely kick off the keynote, with SVPs Federighi, Schiller, and Cue assigned to announcing new versions of iOS, OS X, improvements to iCloud and iTunes, or new hardware. According to the company’s website, “exciting announcements” will be revealed during the special event, which will start at 10 AM PDT.

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Vesper 2.0 with Sync→

Vesper, Q Branch’s note-taking app for iPhone that I reviewed last year, added sync support with version 2.0, available today on the App Store. Q Branch is calling the (optional) service “Vesper Sync”, but right now it’s primarily intended to serve as a backup for your notes because Vesper is still iPhone-only (of course, there are also people who use two iPhones).

I’ve been following the development of Vesper Sync through the excellent Vesper Sync Diary series on Brent Simmons’ blog. It sounded like Q Branch wanted to ship fast, reliable, and invisible sync with the app and that’s exactly what they did. I like how Vesper Sync updates in (almost) real-time and how it doesn’t feel like something that you have to manage inside the app – you only see a network spinner for a second in the status bar and then sync disappears in the background. It’s a pretty sweet and elegant implementation, and it bodes well for Vesper’s likely future availability on more platforms.

Vesper 2.0 is available on the App Store as a free update.

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Reeder 2.2→

Reeder 2.2 for iOS, out today on the App Store, fixes one of the major annoyances that I mentioned in my original review: lack of background app refresh on iOS 7. I find having content from feed readers or podcast clients ready when you launch an app is a great experience, and now Reeder can download articles in the background on a per-account basis (smart choice).

In the update, Silvio Rizzi also switched to new authentication methods for Pocket and Pinboard (nice), updated Messages sharing (much better now), and increased gesture support for navigation inside the app.

Reeder 2.2 is available on the App Store.

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The State of the Apple Developer Ecosystem→

There’s no denying that WWDC 2013 was one of the most exciting in recent years - however, for all the new technologies Apple announced the thing that struck me most - the thing that excited me most as someone building things for the Apple ecosystem - was a single phrase in many of the sessions: “Also available on the Mac”.

A thoughtful article by Nik Fletcher, who takes a look at the state of developer technologies for iOS and OS X. Better developer tools typically equal less time spent working around OS limitations or outdated web interfaces, resulting in leaner development workflows, more apps, and faster updates – which is what everybody wants. Nik offers some great suggestions.

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Igloo Introduces Social Task Management→

Igloo, the intranet you’ll actually like, is about to get better.

Igloo’s next release, Unicorn, is coming this summer. With it comes social task management, a brand new feature fully integrated throughout the Igloo platform, providing the perfect balance between project management and getting your day-to-day work done.

You can manage projects with task lists, optimized for large groups of people; assign tasks from any piece of content, like requesting changes be made on a document; and you can create personal tasks that are assigned to you or another person. And you can see all your tasks in one unified view.

Learn more at Igloo’s Unicorn landing page. Or come see Unicorn in person – Igloo is hosting an event in Toronto on June 12, with customer presentations by Hulu and Nextel International. Register today as seating is limited.

Our thanks to Igloo for sponsoring MacStories this week.

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