Following a ruling on April 30th by the Epic Games v. Apple judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, Apple can no longer collect a 27 percent commission on purchases made outside of apps or restrict how developers can direct users to alternate payment options. Apple has appealed the decision, but is also complying with it in the interim, prompting several companies to announce app updates making it easier for users to pay for subscriptions and services. That now includes Amazon’s iOS Kindle app. Contrary to prior limitations, there is now a prominent orange “Get book” button on Kindle app’s book listings.
“We regularly make improvements to our apps to help ensure we are providing customers the most convenient experience possible,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Gillman told The Verge over email. “By selecting ‘Get Book’ within the Kindle for iOS app, customers can now complete their purchase through their mobile web browser.”
Amazon wasn’t the first company to release a dedicated reading device with an E Ink screen. Companies like Sony beat them to the punch by a couple of years. What helped make the Kindle popular, and arguably destined to dominate the e-reader market, was that you could buy books right on the device, even if you didn’t have Wi-Fi access thanks to Amazon’s now discontinued cellular Whispernet service.
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.
To avoid having to pay Apple’s 30 percent cut of in-app purchases, and the 27 percent tax on alternative payment methods Apple introduced in January 2024, Amazon previously required you to visit and login to its online store through a device’s web browser to purchase ebooks on your iPhone or iPad, which were then synchronized to the app. It was a cumbersome process compared to the streamlined experience of buying ebooks directly on a Kindle e-reader.
Amazon probably isn’t going to change its mind about avoiding Apple’s 30 percent cut on ebook sales, but the update to the Kindle app now makes it much easier to purchase ebooks on your iPhone for those times when your Kindle e-reader doesn’t have a reliable Wi-Fi connection.
However, there’s still the chance Apple could win its appeal, forcing Amazon to undo these updates and improvements and once again make buying ebooks on iPhones overcomplicated and inconvenient.
