Almost three months after Apple announced its controversial subscription service, for publishers of content based apps on its App Store, including magazines, newspapers, video and music, it has now changed its App Store review guidelines (accessible only with a Developers Account), and removed certain clauses that regulated the price of subscriptions for publishers, reports MacRumors. The guidelines were set to come into force starting 30th June. Apple has also made amends to clauses that prevented publishers from offering subscriptions outside the app, unless they also offered them through its In-App purchase mechanism, at a price similar or less. The review guidelines do not discuss the pricing at all, although Apple still prevents developers from posting an external link inside the App to buy subscriptions outside of it. The move was severely criticized by publishers, since Apple takes a 30% cut from In-App subscriptions. Some like Rhapsody, Real Network's music subscription service, had refused to accept it, while others like The Wall Street Journal, continued to offer free iPad app access to print subscribers. Recently, The Financial Times released a web based app for the iPad and iPhone, so that it does not have to follow Apple's App store guidelines, and pay a cut to the company. What This Means For Publishers - Publishers can choose to offer lucrative subscription deals outside of the app on their website, or to existing subscribers (who subscribe through other channels). At the same time they can also allow in-app subscriptions for a higher fee,…
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