We are currently in preparation for an iPhone app for a local newspaper. In a few weeks the newspaper will be implementing paid premium content on its website alongside free content. It’s planned that there will be several ways to purchase this content:
- Single article
- Daily subscription
- Monthly subscription
- Yearly subscription
A registered user should also be allowed to access the same content inside the iPhone app. Now we have several questions regarding this system:
-
Since all content purchased outside of the app needs also to be available as In-App-Purchase do we need to have all 4 subscription methods as In-App (article/daily/monthly/yearly)? Or can we skip some of these? (The single article would cost approx. 20c which is not possible with in app).
-
Is it even possible to have a daily subscription since Apple states that the shortest subscription time is 7 days?
-
Can the daily subscription be solved as a consumable? Is it allowed that a consumable expires after a period of time (i.e. 24h)?
The answer to your first question is, “Talk to a lawyer if you want an answer you can bank on.”
The second and third questions, no it’s not. However, you can have daily consumables, if you so choose.