Apple has stepped back from its in-app subscriptions rules that were to begin June 30. No doubt this will have a wide reaching impact on publishers’ app development strategies. (MacRumors has a nice rundown on the changes.)
Richard Ziade (@richziade), founding partner of Readability, wrote an open letter to Apple earlier this year after their app was rejected for not complying with the in-app purchase API rules. I reached out to Ziade via email to see how the new announcement might affect his company’s development plans. Our short interview follows:
What is your reaction to the Apple announcement reversing the in-app rules?
Richard Ziade: We just heard about it, and we’re wondering how official it is, but overall I think it’s good news. I’m glad they’re softening their position here. I think the outcome will lead to a lot more interesting apps on iOS.
Will Readability resume iOS development?
Richard Ziade: We would obviously love to be on iOS, so we’re trying to get our heads around what all this means.
How will Apple’s new position affect the app development strategy of content providers?
Richard Ziade: It simplifies things for them, which is good. It also validates the importance of being on the web and not just everything being on one platform. There’s more flexibility today than yesterday, and that’s also a good thing!
(Note: The Apple developer guidelines can be found here — a developer account is required.)
Web 2.0 Summit, being held October 17-19 in San Francisco, will examine “The Data Frame” — focusing on the impact of data in today’s networked economy.
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