Before long, you won't be able to buy a Kindle-formatted book to read on your Apple electronic device.It should come as no surprise. Apple wants you to buy from their iTunes store so that they reap all the profits. Why share with their biggest competitor in the e-book market?
Apple isn't coming right and saying they won't allow the Kindle app for iTunes. Instead, they've said they will no longer permit "external mechanisms for purchase" of things like e-books.
If Amazon wants to continue to sell through iTunes, they'd have to disable the feature that takes a potential purchaser to Amazon's site. Any e-book purchased would have to be channeled through the iTunes store, and Apple would then get their cut of the profits.
Apple stands to gain because the Kindle app is extremely popular. After all, the iPad doesn't have a vast library for a reader to choose from. Amazon has the reputation for e-books, and it's unlikely that Apple could expand their selection to rival that of Amazon.
The answer, then, is to allow iTunes shoppers to keep buying from Amazon, but Amazon has to pay Apple for the privilege.
Apple is counting on its users to not turn around a buy a Kindle for reading in the event that Amazon refuses Apple's demands. They also have enough faith in customer loyalty to believe that Hewlett Packard's TouchPad won't cut into iPad's base by allowing Amazon to move their operation and leave Apple behind.
There's always risks in business. A firm can try to alter the competitive landscape, but pull a weed in one corner of the market and two or three more may sprout on the other side. Attempting to wring money out of Amazon could backfire, or it could prove successful.
If it works, it's a bonus for the executives who held Amazon's e-book feet to the fire. Should it backfire, those same executives might be looking for new jobs.
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