Amazon is apparently restricting mobile apps from using its product advertising API.
Well, this sucks. I had not yet gotten around to downloading the new Delicious Library iPhone app, which I heard was great. And now I can’t because the developer had to remove it from the App Store. Why? Because of Amazon.
A recent change to Amazon’s Product Advertising API means that apps like Delicious Library are being restricted from using it, according to Alan Quatermain. And what’s really perplexing is that this change apparently only matters on mobile devices, meaning bye bye to an iPhone app that took its developers 8 months to build.
Here’s the official wording that killed the app:
You will not, without our express prior written approval requested via this link , use any Product Advertising Content on or in connection with any site or application designed or intended for use with a mobile phone or other handheld device.
Developer Wil Shipley tried to reach out to Amazon to see about getting permission, but Amazon apparently said no exceptions were being made. Not only that, “they [Amazon] told me to remove it today, or they’d shut me down,” Shipley tweeted out.
And this data is crucial to Delicious Library, because it’s how it pulls its product information. So it won’t be back unless Amazon changes that rule, which it doesn’t appear to be ready to do anytime soon.
It would seem that Amazon only wants you to be able to access its product data through its own mobile site and apps. But that’s a problem because, as Quatermain points out, the Amazon iPhone app isn’t even available in places like the UK.
Yeah. This is fairly ridiculous.