Apple has announced that iPhone OS 3.0 will offer developers the option of selling subscriptions, extra levels, e-books, or other content from within their applications using a new service called In-App Purchase. The service will utilize the iTunes Store for transactions, including payment and authentication, and Apple will take 30% of the proceeds as an operations fee, as it does for normal paid applications sold through the App Store. Free applications will not be allowed to use the In-App Purchase feature.
Notably, several third-party game demonstrations depicted the In-App Purchase feature being used for increasingly questionable purposes: one added new levels for an additional fee, while others allowed you to buy new dog clothing and in-game weapons, and the worst, in EA’s The Sims 3, sold you $1 access to your own device’s built-in music library—a way for developers to charge you for new OS 3.0 features.
