It will be great if someone from Apple officially confirms that the IAP subscription policy will not apply to SaaS. It will also be interesting to see whether they provide clear definitions for what they consider as SaaS.
In general, the mandatory subscription policy was a bad idea - for SaaS it is an even worse idea.
I think that Apple will ultimately back down from this policy (not just for SaaS, but for all apps) - partly because of DOJ concerns (antitrust regulators are looking at the policy as per the NYT) and also because they will lose a lot of apps from companies ranging from Rhapsody to Netflix.
Losing the "there is an app for that" slogan will be a huge loss to Apple and someone at the company is bound to realize that.
It all seems very subjective at this point doesn't it? What's the difference here exactly? If you're selling your content then you pay, if you're moving data around you don't?
On top of that I'd be HUGELY nervous if I was a SAAS provider that Apple might change their mind... they've done it before.
In general, the mandatory subscription policy was a bad idea - for SaaS it is an even worse idea.
I think that Apple will ultimately back down from this policy (not just for SaaS, but for all apps) - partly because of DOJ concerns (antitrust regulators are looking at the policy as per the NYT) and also because they will lose a lot of apps from companies ranging from Rhapsody to Netflix.
Losing the "there is an app for that" slogan will be a huge loss to Apple and someone at the company is bound to realize that.