Earlier this year, Apple made some changes to their developer's agreement that included provisions to close the door on loopholes of apps going around the App Store when selling media, services or subscriptions. This caused a little uproar, especially from Amazon and Barnes and Noble, who saw the move as forcing their book sales off the device and making the iBookstore the only real option for customers.
Amazon recently responded via an update to their app that takes out the link to the Kindle store. As they noted, customers can still buy Kindle books and read them on the iPad. They simply must go to Amazon.com on their own. The books will still Whispersync to sync up with the iPad.
Is it a little silly that Apple demands the removal of what amounts to a web link? Definitely. But this is no real surprise coming from Apple, who often walks that thin line between cornering a market and government intervention.
How to Sync eBooks to the iPad
With the same line of thinking, Barnes and Noble is providing access to 175 magazines and newspapers through their Nook application on the iPad. And like Amazon's Kindle, they are bypassing the App Store by selling subscriptions and single copies on their website with no direct links between the app and the online store.
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