External Purchasing From the Kindle App
Contrary to prior limitations, there is now a prominent orange “Get book” button on Kindle app’s book listings.
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Before today’s updates, buying books wasn’t a feature you’d find in the Kindle mobile app following app store rule changes Apple implemented in 2011 that required developers to remove links or buttons leading to alternate ways to make purchases. You could search for books that offered samples for download, add them to a shopping list, and read titles you already own, but you couldn’t actually buy titles through the Kindle or Amazon app, or even see their prices.
This is the first time since the enforcement of Apple’s in-app purchasing restrictions that Kindle users on iOS have had a direct route from the app to Amazon’s store. Previously, the lack of in-app purchasing or even external linking meant users had to manually search for titles in a separate browser session.
I’ve discussed the iOS-Kindle timeline before, but as a refresher: Apple used to allow non-IAP purchasing directly within the Kindle app, with no fees, even though Tim Cook told Congress that, “since the App Store debuted, we have never raised the commission or added a single fee.” After all these years and court hearings, the situation is still a regression because Apple no longer allows the purchase to happen within the app.
Honestly, I’m not sure I ever thought I’d see the day. I confirmed this for myself: clicking the Get Book link takes you out to Safari to the page for the book on Amazon’s site. No muss, no fuss.
Notably, this is the Kindle app, not the Amazon app. In the latter, you still—for the moment—see a note that “this app does not support purchasing of this content.” I’m intrigued as to why Amazon chose to do one but not the other—I rarely open the Kindle app unless I already have a book I’m reading; it’s the Amazon app I turn to for shopping.
Out of curiosity, I checked Kobo’s app as well, which acts as both the reader and storefront for that site, and there’s now a Get Book link there as well, though it pops up a separate panel and shows Apple’s (now prohibited) scare screen about leaving the app and going to an external website.
Kindle iOS kicked me to Safari, which I keep in private mode, and the “Buy with one click” button is activated.
Okay, well shucks. Upon further review, apparently I don’t usually pay much attention to that button, because it’s always active, even if you’re not logged in. Click it and it asks you to sign in.
But I wouldn’t expect that to last long. Right now it looks like Amazon is only adding
ref_=rekindleDP&nodl=0to the URL, but they could add a unique, one-use GUID to the link and, with only a little risk to themselves (oh no! we gave away 200k worth of bytes to the wrong person!), make the button “live” immediately.Adding a one-use, unique “buy now token” would make it easier to buy using Kindle than Apple’s own Books.
I expect other companies will follow Amazon and Spotify’s leads in the coming weeks. Although Apple has appealed Judge Gonzalez Rodgers’ contempt order, the Judge declined to stay its enforcement during the appeals process. It’s always possible an appeal could force Amazon and others to undo changes like this, but I think a more likely outcome is that an appellate court allows Apple to charge a fee where Judge Gonzalez Rodgers wasn’t – one that’s lower than the 27% that got Apple into trouble in the first place.
Previously:
- App Review Guidelines Updated for Epic Anti-Steering
- Court Orders Apple to Comply With Anti-Steering Injunction
- App Store Advanced Commerce API
- StoreKit Purchase Link Entitlement for United States
- External Link for Reader Apps
- Google Play Store Drops Fees on Subscriptions and Content
- Relaxing Anti-Steering Rules for Reader Apps
- Epic v. Apple, Day 12
- Potential
- Tim Cook’s App Store Testimony
- Purchasing From the Kindle App
- Implementing In-App Purchase
- iBooks and Private APIs
Update (2025-05-07): See also: Hacker News.
It sounds like I’m making fun of Amazon, but really, I’m making fun of Apple. Because while Amazon did make a choice not to include such a button in their app, Apple really gave them no choice. Given the agency model used in this particular category, there was simply no way for Amazon to make the economics work. Even raising prices would just send more money to the publishers — and to Apple.
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Apple should obviously — obviously — have made the change that Judge Gonzalez Rodgers forced upon them years ago. But why would they? There was money to be made and there was no indication that such stupidity from a pure product perspective was harming iPhone sales.
But really, this whole situation with e-books has been the best argument against Apple’s App Store policies for at least the last 15 years. […] Apple’s App Store policies therefore make it impossible for a third-party bookseller to sell e-books and make even a penny of profit.
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Apple’s obstinance on this has created nothing but friction, confusion, and hassle for users for 15 years. It makes no sense for anyone.
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But at some point Apple should have just considered their own users. If their users are using the Kindle app looking to buy Kindle e-books on iOS devices, Apple should have just let it happen on the web — and used that as motivation to make Apple Books better so that maybe more users would prefer it to the Kindle ecosystem. What’s the word? Oh yeah ... competed.
