[img src="http://sale-online.click/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/economist-ipad-360.jpg" caption="" credit="" alt=""]What happens if you're a publisher and you don't comply with Apple's in-app purchasing and subscription policies? Apple releases a software update, your app breaks, and then you have to release a new, compliant version of your app in a hurry.
At least that's what appears to have happened to The Economist's app for iPhone and iPad when iOS 5 was released, PaidContent reports.
Instead of issuing a fix however, the UK-based weekly has released a brand-new -- but essentially identical -- app [iTunes link] in the App Store. A pop-up message in the first app prompts users to download the new app in the App Store.
Users won't notice much difference between the old and new apps. As before, print and digital subscribers can enter their credentials to download issues, and non-subscribers can continue to purchase single issues or a subscription through the app. This time, however, purchases are handled through iTunes, and consequently subject to a 30% cut from Apple.
There is one inconvenient difference for subscribers, though: They'll have to keep the old app to access issues before Aug. 27. A spokesperson said the company hopes to bring older issues to the new app "sometime soon."
[img src="http://sale-online.click/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/economist-prompt.jpg" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
The Economist released a new app instead of updating the old one because "this would provide a better base for future developments,” says Oscar Grut, managing director of the publication's digital editions. Regarding in-app purchases, he says, “We decided that it was best to offer readers both routes to take out a subscription and let them decide which they prefer.”