Another crash and burn. An App submitted by Readability that makes it easier to read web content by cutting out ads was rejected by Apple for not complying with the new subscription policy.

Readability requires a $5/month subscription fee to use their service. However, there’s a catch. Readability respects the hard work authors and publishers put into their writing – so Readability gives writers/publishers 70% (or $3.50) of the monthly fee. So if Apple were to take their 30%, there would be nothing left for the company.

Readability took a shot back at Apple with an open letter on their blog. Here’s an excerpt:

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Apple’s new subscription rules for content providers have drawn the ire of many. The rules require that apps, such as the Kindle, delete any button that links to their website. Furthermore, such apps must give users the option to buy content/subscriptions within the app, which will give Apple a 30% cut.

Now Apple’s controversial move has caught the attention of the US federal government. While no formal investigation has been launched, regulators are looking into whether any anti-trust laws have been violated. The European Union is also joining the inquiry.

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You don’t have to look to ebook sales to see how the digital revolution is taking root in mainstream society. E-Ink Holdings, the company behind the digital paper-like screens that make eReaders so easy to read has posted record earnings in 2010.

E-Ink Holdings is the company that makes the displays for the Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Kobo eReader, Sony’s family of eReaders and more. They are a big fish in the ebook pond, to say the least.

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Apple is using DRM to prevent a you from using iBooks if your iPhone is jailbroken. This means you can legally purchase an ebook from the iBookstore but then be unable to read it on a jailbroken device.

If I wanted to read an ebook on a jailbroken iPhone, I’d simply use the Amazon Kindle app or the Barnes & Noble app (or any number of ebook reading apps out there), rather than fooling around with Apple’s foolish DRM games. Apple would just lose out on the lost ebook revenue.

The way Apple implements this little bit of DRM is quite clever. Mediabistro’s eBooknewser offers a nice summary of how it works:

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What is Apple thinking? They have changed their App Store TOS so that content providers will have to remove the link to their website to purchase content, subscriptions, etc.

Furthermore, Apple is requiring that apps, such as the Kindle for example, provide an option to purchase ebooks within the app, giving Apple a 30% cut of the revenue.

This ComputerWorld article sums it up nicely:

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Apple issued a press release today announcing that they are introducing subscription services to content publishers in the App Store. Such a service has been rumored for a while, especially in the wake of News Corp’s ‘The Daily’ iPad-only newspaper.

Like all apps sold through Apple’s App Store, the company will take a 30% cut of all subscriptions sold within the app ‘ecosystem’. Here’s part of Apple’s press release:

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Tablets are all the rage this year. So many are coming onto the market, it’s hard to keep track of them all. So I decided to put together a 2011 Tablet Computer Guide to help you navigate the newest waters in mobile technology.

Will tablets make laptops obsolete? Not anytime soon. If you need to be productive (i.e. doing a lot of writing) you’ll need a laptop. The virtual keyboards on tablets are still a little cumbersome.

But I do think that tablets will offer a lower-cost alternative, especially for those who want to surf the web, social networking, light email, games, etc. As always, as the technology improves, we’ll see tablet prices drop.

This guide is should give you a good idea of what’s available and what will be available soon.

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Apple gave their eReading app iBooks an update today. There’s really nothing exciting about this particular update (not that I could find).

The most important part of the update is in the stability and performance areas. A post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) says that books load faster and there’s no lag when turning pages.

I have updated my iBooks app but haven’t taken it for a spin around the block yet. If I notice anymore improvements, I’ll mention them here. Stay tuned…

Less than two months after getting my iPad, it’s already obsolete. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the iPad 2 is in production. The new iPad will sport the following new features:

The new iPad will be thinner and lighter than the first model, these people said. It will have at least one camera on the front of the device for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the display will be similar to the first iPad, these people said. It will also have more memory and a more powerful graphics processor, they said.

The new iPad will initially be available through Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., but not Sprint Nextel Corp. or T-Mobile USA in the U.S., according to some of the people familiar with the matter.

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When News Corp unveiled their iPad-only publication ‘The Daily’, I was excited. There was a lot of hype surrounding the app’s release. But after one day, my excitement disappeared.

The app is well designed with great pictures and video. That’s where the positives end.