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Amazon Turns Off In-App Purchases In iOS Comixology

Posted by Soulskill on from the their-way-or-the-highway dept.

whisper_jeff writes: "Under the bold assumption that, since they were able to do it with books, they must be able to do it with comics, Amazon has decided to avoid Apple's 30% cut of in app purchases by removing the option from digital comic book platform Comixology for iOS users. It will be interesting to see if digital comic readers leap through the extra hoops to read digital comics on their iOS device or if Amazon has just signed the death knell for their new purchase. Readers may decide that buying a book and buying a comic aren't the same thing — that the extra hoops they're being forced to leap through simply aren't worth it for a comic that takes five minutes to read."

4 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. As a big comixology user, this *sucks* by dknight · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Honestly, one of the great things about comixology was being able to quickly buy/download the next comic in the series when I was binge-reading. I have *hundreds* of comics through them, but I'm not sure if I will be buying any more with this new system. The kindle thing was enough of a pain, but at least a book takes a little longer to read.

    I think they've shot themselves in teh foot on this one.

    1. Re:As a big comixology user, this *sucks* by Richy_T · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's not just taking a poke at apple. Apples fees are egregiously high. Smaller operators may just be forced to suck it up but Amazon is in the position of making a more tactical decision. Not only do they have their own device(s) but Apple is not exactly without other competitors. I guess they feel they're in a position where they can see how it plays out.

    2. Re:As a big comixology user, this *sucks* by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1, Interesting

      This would be well and good if they only charged the 30% fee for in-app purchases that are made through their payment system. But the problem is that they prohibit people from doing it in any other way (i.e. processing their own payments, or even just opening their website in an embedded browser in an app). So it's not just that you have to pay 30% for the use of Apple services - it may well be the fair price (and if not, the market would correct it) - it's that you're forced to use their services for your in-app purchases.

      Other platforms don't have the same limitation, by the way.

  2. Sad to say it, but Go Amazon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anything that keeps down Apple's extortion, even a bit, is a win in my book. And you can tell that Amazon is doing this _explicitly_ to keep the unearned profits out of Apple's pockets rather than to optimize their own revenue. If all they were concerned about was their bottom line they would offer the in-app purchases at an additional mark-up that covers Apple's 30% and let any customers who value that convenience over the extra cost have at it, while still offering external purchases at current prices. Amazon is by no means a saint either, but a little healthy sibling rivalry and competition can often (though not always) benefit consumers in the long run.