I used to be an Apple fan. Gah.
Apparently, Apple had a deadline of June 30 that would force all app makers to sell additional stuff only through Apple.
This would have meant that any book that you bought on your iPad/iPod would be charged an extra 30% to the publisher.
Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and other ebookstores would get around this by sending the user to their websites. Apple, being in the business of making money by controlling the user experience more strictly than a slaughterhouse controls cattle, did not like this, and said they’d block the apps if appmakers didn’t comply by the June 30 deadline.
Also, note: they also forbade the sellers from raising their prices to cover the extra 30%. Free market, my butt.
Now…?
The rules have changed so you can’t buy books from apps. You can only buy them from Apple.
However, you can still sync your collections that you purchased elsewhere. So you could, hypothetically, buy stuff at Amazon via your PC, then hippity hop over to your iPad, and sync. Presto! It’s only a little extra step. How much business could those apps lose, anyway?
I realize people like the shiny. But gah.