iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Thursday, June 9, 2011
News Category: Apple, Apps + Games

In another change to its App Store Review Guidelines, Apple has removed several widely criticized restrictions it put in place with the launch of In-App Subscriptions, according to a Mac Rumors report. Perhaps most importantly, the new terms no longer demand that any content or subscriptions sold outside an app must also be available via In-App Purchase for the same or lower price. The prior text of section 11.13 read: “Apps can read or play approved content (magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, video) that is sold outside of the app, for which Apple will not receive any portion of the revenues, provided that the same content is also offered in the app using IAP at the same price or less than it is offered outside the app. This applies to both purchased content and subscriptions.” The decision to attempt to control pricing outside third-party apps drew the ire of many companies, some of which threatened to leave the App Store altogether should they have gone into effect on June 30 as expected.

Section 11.13 has since been replaced by section 11.14, which reads: “Apps can read or play approved content (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music, and video) that is subscribed to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.” This is a significant change in policy, and should help encourage more publishers and media companies to release offerings for iOS.