Is Apple Policy Pushing Readers to Kindles?

If you love e-reading and the Kindle app for the iPad, you may have noticed the familiar “Kindle Store” button missing. Its absence is causing an uproar online and prompting questions whether Apple is unintentionally pushing consumers to buy iBook alternatives.

“As someone who has purchased and read several dozen books on the Kindle app in the past year, I have to say that this sucks,” a Fortune editor writes – and promptly offers readers a link to purchase the Kindle. Unwilling to give Apple a 30 percent cut of in-app sales, giant online bookseller Amazon, as well as the Barnes & Noble Nook and Google removed buttons to their individual stores.

The move follows Apple’s June 30 deadline forcing apps that link to sales outside the iTunes ecosphere to either pay up or remove the offensive (at least to Cupertino) buttons. Although Apple contends the rule is part of its subscription pricing model, CEO Steve Jobs perhaps noticed a 2010 author who blogged selling 60 Kindle versions for every 1 iBook.

This latest effort by Apple is seen was limiting consumer options. However, it is also not the best time, particularly for Amazon, which is on the verge of shipping an iPad alternative that is cheaper but with the same authority of a well-known brand.

We’ll have to wait to see what impact this change has on sales of iBooks. The Kindle for iPad app was one of the most popular ways for readers to buy e-books. Now that Apple has placed another step in what was a seamless process of purchasing and reading books, the question becomes will consumer adapt or simply buy a Kindle. In which case, has Apple shot itself in the foot for increased profit?

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