Apple Tells Sony It Wants an Equal Selling Field in Apps

A news article has accused Apple of skirting close to antitrust law by banning apps from selling content its iTunes Store doesn't carry. Sony said it's not allowed to sell content in its apps without going through iTunes. But an Apple spokesperson said it wants an equal selling field, and an analyst likened it to a retailer banning rivals from its store.

When The New York Times writes, Apple listens. The iPhone maker is offering a quick response to a Times article that claims the company is banning apps that sell content iTunes doesn't carry.
The Times reported that Apple is tightening control of its App Store, and quoted Sony. Apparently, Sony is no longer allowed to sell content, including e-books, within its apps. Steve Haber, president of Sony's digital reading division, told the Times that Apple is forcing all in-app purchases to go through its own store.
"It's the opposite of what we wanted to bring to the market," Haber told the Times. "We always wanted to bring the content to as many devices as possible, not one device to one store."
Apple's Tight Reins
Times reporters Claire Cain Miller and Miguel Helft speculated that Apple's decision could impact companies like Amazon.com and others that sell e-book readers in competition with Apple's iPad tablet.
The reporters also noted a possible shift for Apple and called the move surprising since "Apple has indicated recently that it would be more collaborative, not less, with magazine publishers and other content producers that want more control over how to distribute content on the iPad."
But Apple was quick to respond, at least indirectly. John Paczkowski, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, reported Apple's official stance from company spokesperson Trudy Muller.
"We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines," Muller told the Journal. "We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase."
Antitrust Concerns?
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, said he can see why Apple wants to move in this direction. Apple doesn't want someone else opening up a store within its store and making money.
It's no different, he said, than Sears not wanting someone to set up shop in one of its retail outlets without paying a royalty. But there's a problem.
"With e-books, you want to buy the book one place and then read it on all your devices. If you break that, the value of the e-book store is significantly reduced," Enderle said. "Apple is thinking tactically, but strategically this starts drifting very close to antitrust. This starts to feel like an anticompetitive practice and one that is against the best interest of the citizen, and those types of things can be problematic."
Enderle compared it to a TV maker who owns a major television station only allowing consumers to watch the station it owns. RCA did something similar, and the U.S. government broke the company up. "Apple is going down that path," Enderle said. "I think for the marginal amount of revenue, this is a path they probably don't want to go down."