Apple cracking down on links in iBookstore titles
updated 06:00 pm EST, Wed February 29, 2012
Parallels restrictions at App Store
Apple is clamping down on iBookstore titles just because they link to outside bookstores, a report notes. Stop Stealing Dreams author Seth Godin complains that Apple recently rejected his title because the book contains links to works cited in the bibliography. "Multiple links to Amazon store. IE page 35, David Weinberger link," a rejection notice reads. Godin comments that the issue is also easy to work around in his case, since the unrestricted EPUB edition can be accessed on an iOS device via a web link.
The policy is similar to one in force at the App Store, where developers are prevented from using outside portals to bypass in-app subscriptions, from which Apple claims a cut of the revenue. At the iBookstore, the company is presumably trying to prevent similar dodges. Because interactivity is a major focus of iBooks 2, though, the company may end up performing more book rejections.
