Apple’s iOS subscription policy, Apple has removed Hulu users sign up from its iPad app a Web link for the streaming television service, All Things Digital reports. Subscribers must open a Web browser to Hulu’s Website for sign up the service for one of mobile tech from Hulu.
Third parties allowed to sell subscriptions directly within their iOS apps, but this entitles Apple to a 30 percent cut of the revenue. Hulu Plus service made a lot of overhead, Apple’s made decission by sending users sign up process through a Web browser. Apple said it would crack down a Mobile tech Invention on this workaround, requiring an in-app purchase option for all subscriptions, and forbidding companies from selling their subscriptions for cheaper elsewhere. In other words, users would be steered towards the in-app purchase, entitling Apple to a big cut.
But weeks before the rules took effect, Apple relented. Subscription-based apps may refuse Apple’s system entirely, or they can charge higher prices through the App Store to compensate for Apple’s 30 percent cut. In exchange for this concession, iOS apps are not allowed to sign up new users through a link to a Web browser, hence Hulu Plus’ removal of that option.
The change could foreshadow similar moves by other apps. Any app that wants to avoid Apple’s subscription policy–be it Netflix, Rhapsody or Pandora–will have to scrub all links to the sign up process. This could also pose a problem for e-book sellers such as Amazon, as the new rules apply to in-app purchases as well as subscriptions.
So while the change in Hulu’s app is just minor inconvenience, it could foreshadow a recurring nuisance for consumers as companies desperately try to keep their revenue to themselves.
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