Why You Can No Longer Buy Kindle Books via Amazon’s Android App
Reading Time: 3 minutesBuying eBooks for the Kindle app on your Android smartphone requires an extra step.
If you’re an Amazon user, you’ll have noticed that you can no longer order Kindle books via the Android app. This development came more than a decade after the option was nixed for iOS users.
When adding a new Kindle book to their cart, Amazon users are directed to a page that explains this feature is no longer available. The move came as Google cracks down on apps that don’t abide by its billing rules, something the company has been lax about for a very long time.
Why eBook Purchases Are Off the Table
In 2011, Amazon stopped offering digital book purchases via its iOS app. The company made this move in order to avoid paying extra fees on digital goods, as per the Apple App Store rules.
While Google has similar rules for its Google Play Store, they have seldom been enforced. More specifically, as per Google’s Play Console Help page, Google expects apps to use the company’s own billing system to sell digital goods. In doing so, Google gets a share of the sale.
Of course, as everyone knows, not all sellers have been abiding by this rule, including Amazon. But, as of June 1st, 2022, Google promised to actually enforce the policies and make companies respect its billing system rules, threatening to remove them if they did not comply.
As a result, Amazon decided to stop allowing users to buy Kindle books via its apps, whether we’re talking about the Amazon app or the Kindle one. The message displayed to shoppers suggests it’s Google’s fault for not permitting eBook sales, but it’s Amazon’s decision to just pull the functionality.
How to Buy Kindle Books and Other eBooks From Amazon
While users may be mad they’ve lost the ability to make an easy purchase via the Android app, it doesn’t mean there’s no other way to do this. Instead, you just have to visit Amazon via your browser to finalize your purchase. If you have your card saved with Amazon, the whole process only takes a few extra seconds.
You can continue browsing Amazon’s Kindle book list and add books to your favorites list. Then, when you reach a computer, you can move those books from the favorites list to the cart and make the purchase. In this way, all that time spent browsing books while commuting doesn’t go to waste.
Once the purchase is complete, the titles are added to the Kindle library. From there, Android users can still use the Kindle app to read books on the go.
How Things Could Change in the Future
Following pushback from the European Union, Google decided over the summer of 2022 to allow developers of non-gaming apps to offer alternative billing systems. The company would still get a cut from the purchases, with the number going down from 15 to 12%. So, Amazon could, technically, go back to allowing customers to purchase eBooks via its apps through its own system, but the company would have to pay 12% to Google.
Given how no changes have been implemented from Amazon’s side since the announcement was made, it doesn’t seem like the company is eager to take that route either.
Amazon Bypassed Rules for Years
The rules regarding Google Play and its billing system are definitely not new, but Amazon had gotten used to bypassing them for years and years until Google finally cracked the whip.
Since Google will continue to take a cut from digital goods sales via apps installed through Google Play and Amazon doesn’t seem at all keen to share the profits, it looks like avid readers will just have to take an extra step to purchase their eBooks from the retailer.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/no-kindle-books-via-amazon-android-app/
Ref: makeuseof
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