This is no doubt to bring all published media going through the App Store in line with each other, and to ensure Apple get their 30% cut of these transactions.

Apple rejected Sony’s eBook app earlier this week, using this clarification as the reason, and it remains to be seen what action they will take against other large digital publishers who have apps on iTunes, and have yet to fall foul of this clarification.

The Wall Street Journal already has an app which uses its own payment system to process iPad transactions, as do Pearson PLC’s Financial Times and Zinio – who sell a great number of magazines through their digital-newstand app.

AAPL has not confirmed that those apps, or whether Amazon’s Kindle app or Barnes & Nobles’s Nook app will be affected. Those last two don’t allow any purchases in their apps, but they do allow users to download content they have bought outside of Apple’s eco-system.

Do you think Apple’s “clarification” is understandable? Or is it a little greedy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…

It is well known that Apple has granted some preferential treatment to a few high profile companies (including The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and digital magazine newsstand Zinio) to publish to the iPad, bypass Apple’s usual cut, and take consumer subscriptions directly. But by and large Apple has made most periodicals sell a retail “e-zine” as a monthly stand alone product.

One of the advantages that selling direct to consumers (i.e. you and me), and more importantly being able to solicit subscriptions directly, is that any outlet doing so keeps a treasure trove of user data to use in future marketing efforts. Apple, to date as we reported last week, has been quite protective of its users personal info, and this is still a sticking point between many publishers and Apple.

However, with Apple obviously willing to float projects that are not completely finished (like the new AppleTV) in order to grow a market place, they feel it is a vacuum waiting for either them or their rivals to expand into. Media outlets are failing dismally with their efforts to conquer (or rather kill) the free web and it seems that the potential threat of other manufacturers offering better deals to these media outlets next year, may just be enough to push these two sides together and force a deal through sooner rather than later.

It’s also possible, of course, that those media outlets think that selling to over 160 Million iTunes users is worth giving 30% of their revenues away for, and forgoing some user data. The WSJ theorizes that in any case publishers will soon find ways to get their user’s data, by simply offering incentives like free Sunday editions of their products for the keys to their personal lives!

Either way, iPad Subscriptions, and ultimately iPhone and iPod Touch subscriptions are just around the corner…

Are you looking forward to daily news deliveries to your iOS device? Or do you get that already with Mobile Safari?
Have your say in the comments…

Getting units without a pre-order did not seem to be a huge problem on the first day either. I myself was in touch with a couple of friend’s in California who were able to pick up an iPad having not reserved one. Those iPads are now in a plane hold on the way to friends of mine in Thailand! My iPad was delivered by Black Hawk helicopter to my penthouse HQ earlier today! I jest.

However it is worth noting that Munster had previously estimated that 200,000 – 300,000 units would be sold over the iPads first weekend in stores.

Even so his findings seems to agree with mine :

“[Despite] longer than expected lines at the start of the day,” as of 7:30 p.m. Eastern time 19 of 20 Apple stores he contacted still had all three models available for sale.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that some stores had very small lines, if any : [online.wsj.com]

Perhaps those people who don’t have one yet in other countries won’t have to wait too long for them to appear in their Apple Stores.

How did your iPad pickup go? Let us know in the comments.