If this is true this might be the breaking point for the iOS Kindle app. It's not hard for me to imagine that an Amazon Android tablet will push Apple to boot the Kindle off their platform.
It's not hard for me to imagine that an Amazon Android tablet will push Apple to boot the Kindle off their platform.
That whooshing noise is a DoJ v. Apple anti-trust case on final approach in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
I find it hard to imagine a more overt anti-competitive act than booting an app from your app store because the vendor starts selling a different product that might undercut your company store. And while the DoJ has been remarkably supine in pursuing anti-trust cases since the Clinton administration, Apple's relentless rise in the CE sector has got to have been alarming their rivals.
[ EDIT: Which is to say, I believe such a move would cross the line from business hardball into monopolistic practices at which point politics comes into play. ]
All they have to do to kick Kindle off is enforce their recent policy of requiring all downloadable content to also be available through in-app purchasing at a 30% fee. At the moment the Kindle app appears to be enjoying the protection of an unwritten grandfather clause.
If this does happen I hope it does attract some anti-trust scrutiny.
