Apple to stop people earning money from affiliate app sales

Starting on October 1st, apps won't be part of Apple's affiliate program anymore. Cupertino has announced that partners will no longer be getting commissions for iOS and Mac apps as well as in-app content after the next couple of months. The tech giant cited the launch of the new App Store and the fact that it was designed to be much better for app discovery as the reason behind its decision. Partners can only continue earning affiliate money if they recommend the other types of content Apple sells: music, movies, books and TV.

Last year, Apple slashed referral commission rates from 7 percent to 2.5 percent. While it was a huge blow for partners, the rates still applied for apps, at least -- now, no one has an incentive to point people to the best applications on the platform anymore. The move could kill publications and services that revolve around finding the best offerings among all the options out there. Sure, the redesigned App Store makes it easier to find applications, but some might prefer getting opinions from people who've tested and compared similar applications against each other.