Kindle iOS app offers free samples, straddles Apple's in-app purchase rules
Though Amazon has long remained apparently content to abide by Apple’s rules about in-app purchases, the retail giant’s latest update to its Kindle app for iOS devices remains true to the letter of the law, if not the spirit.
As good as the Kindle app on iOS is for reading, the inability to search for and purchase books right in the app has made it at times frustrating. The fault, though, lies not in Amazon, but in Apple, which has mandated that anything sold in the App Store—including in-app purchases, subscriptions sold through apps, and so on—is subject to the company’s 30-percent cut.
Now, if you’ve purchased ebooks from Amazon before, you’ll know that you can download a free sample of most ebooks on the store, and then opt to purchase the full version after you’ve decided whether or not it’s met your expectations.
Of course, since those samples are free, they don’t fall under the 30-precent rule. So Amazon has built the ability to search for and download free samples directly inside its Kindle app on iOS. Just tap the magnifying glass icon and enter a name or a title. In previous versions of the app, this search option only presented results from your own library—now it will also offer Kindle Free Samples that match the search terms.
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