Apple explains why Sony Reader was rejected

Here’s an update on the situation regarding Apple’s rejection of the Sony Reader app. Apple has come forward with an official statement saying that Sony’s app was rejected on the grounds that it didn’t follow its policy concerning in-app purchases. According to the iTunes App Store guidelines, any app that has additional content that can be purchased elsewhere (i.e. through an online store) must have the option of buying content through the app itself, and these sales must be routed through Apple which will then take a percentage of the cut. The Sony Reader app does not have such an option. With that being said, it looks like Sony will have to update their reader to allow in-app purchases if it plans to stay competitive against the other eBook stores such as Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes & Noble’s NOOK that are available on the iOS.