14 DAY TRIAL // Apple and Microsoft have come to terms regarding the SkyDrive 3.0 update. Apple has approved the app, but not without forcing Microsoft to remove a payment feature for extra storage plans.
Apple’s App Store guidelines state that titles that offer subscriptions must do so using in-app purchasing, enabling the Cupertino giant to “share the same 70/30 revenue split with developers for these purchases, as set forth in the Developer Program License Agreement.”
Microsoft didn’t want in, so they’re forcing customers to apply for paid upgrades (should they wish to do so) via a web browser.
“We worked with Apple to create a solution that benefited our mutual customers,” a Microsoft spokesperson told TNW. “The SkyDrive app for iOS is slightly different than other SkyDrive apps in that people interested in buying additional storage will do so via the web versus in the app.”
It should be noted that Apple’s guidelines also state that “Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the App, such as a ‘buy’ button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected.”
Which pretty much left Microsoft with no choice but to remove the feature from their apps altogether, if they wanted to continue offering SkyDrive through the iTunes App Store.