Begin forwarded message:
From: "Glenn S. Tenney" <tenney@think.org>
Date: August 11, 2009 9:27:36 PDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Amazon also forces apps off the iPhone app store
( resending since it seems that it might of interest for IP )
I use a product on my Mac called Delicious Library
http://www.delicious-monster.com/ that lets you scan in UPC codes of
books, DVDs, CDs, etc. to build up a database of what you have in your
library / collections. The current version noted that there was an
iPhone app to be able to view your library database interactively on
your iPhone.
I went to download that app only to find out that it had been pulled
from the iPhone App store... not by Apple, but by a demand from
Amazon.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/168019/delicious_library_iphone_app_yanked_from_app_store.html
Delicious Library iPhone App Yanked From App Store
Dan Moren, Macworld.com
Jul 7, 2009 3:40 pm
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the App
Store. Delicious Monster's iPhone companion app for its popular
Delicious Library 2 media-cataloging application was removed from the
App Store on Tuesday, though not, as it turns out, at the behest of
the usual culprit, Apple. Rather, this time the objection came from
online retail supergiant Amazon.
The news came from Delicious Monster CEO Wil Shipley, who said on
Twitter that he was forced to remove the application due to Amazon's
contract governing the use of its application programming interfaces
(APIs), the software that allows developers to access information from
Amazon's database.
The relevant portion of the contract, section 4e, states:
You will not, without our express prior written approval requested via
this link, use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection
with any site or application designed or intended for use with a
mobile phone or other handheld device.
However, according to Shipley's Twitter posts, Amazon is not granting
approval for anybody at the time being.
This isn't the first time an iPhone developer has run afoul of the
retail site. In November 2008, Mazo, an Amazon shopping client for the
iPhone, was removed from the App Store under similar
circumstances. Roughly a week later, Amazon released its own iPhone
app with similar features.
...
And a Youtube showing how that iPhone app worked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVkCauv0IGU
--
Glenn Tenney CISSP CISM