The Amazon Kindle application for iOS has been updated today, and it has disabled the possibility of being redirected to the Amazon website to finish the purchase. It is a blow for all those who used the application to remove the friction in the purchase of Kindle books on the iPhone. Amazon has not started to authorize another payment system a few months ago, but now the party is over.
Earlier this spring, the Kindle application for iOS presented a new feature entitled “Get Book”. When visualizing the book description page in the application and by clicking on Get Book, users would be redirected to the Amazon website, using their default internet browser. The purchase would be finished and the new title would be automatically synchronized in the application. Once this process is finished, the Kindle application would be reopened and the new book would await you. This has been available in the United States for some time, but it was deployed in Canada in June.
When the Amazon Kindle application has been updated today, it has deleted the possibility for Canadian users to easily buy books on the Kindle application, and it is not clear if it also applies to American customers. This is news for anyone in Canada that does business with Amazon for audio books, comics, electronic books and digital magazines. Now Canadian users must buy books manually by visiting the Amazon website, buying the book, then waiting for it to synchronize with the application.
Amazon makes it easier to buy things, which is why the Kindle electronic reader is the best choice for reading. Amazon manages the complete payments treatment system on Kindle reading.
The main reason why the Get books system was implemented in the first place was due to the Epic trial against Apple. In the United States, a court decision forced Apple to allow developers to make purchases outside of applications and not to restrict how developers can direct users to alternative payment options. However, a few weeks ago, the trial was resolved, with epic games largely in its antitrust case against the technology giant. Apple is now legally required to make changes to its Policy policies, in particular by allowing developers to include links to external websites for payment options and prevent them from blocking developers from directing users to these external sites in the United States.
Rakuten Kobo always has the electronic books system in their iOS application for Canadian users and the Barnes and Noble Nook Application always as Get Book feature in their Nook Application.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief of Good E-Reader and has written on audio books and electronic players in the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times took its articles. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
