Amazon’s not the only company to use the latest change in Apple’s in-app purchase policies forbidding links to outside e-stores as an excuse to cut the umbilical: Vudu has also shifted its streaming movie service over the web for iPad users.
Vudu’s new service uses HTTP Live Streaming, which streams the video with a bit rate automatically adjusting to match the connection. You can both rent and purchase movies.
Unfortunately, video is limited to standard def on the iPad, which Vudu lamely excuses by saying it is “due to restrictions by content providers.” If you want to watch an HD version of a movie or show on your iPad, you can pay for it on your tablet, but you must watch it elsewhere.
Vudu says that using the web over a native app is more “economically favorable” for them, an obvious reference to the mandatory 30% cut Apple wanted for all purchases made through native iOS apps.
With both Amazon and Walmart-owned Vudu eschewing native iOS apps for web equivalents this morning, you’ve got to wonder if devs fleeing the App Store in favor of mobile web apps is really what Apple intended with its new developer rules.
