Readability (service)

It was similar to competitors Instapaper and Pocket in that it allows a user to save an article from the web and read it later without the clutter of the original website.

In 2011, Readability got a large amount of publicity after Apple rejected their app from the iOS App Store as it used a third-party payment system that circumvented Apple's 30% cut for in-app subscription payments.

Readability argued that Apple's taking of a 30% share from their subscription revenues would cut into the money they were giving to publishers.

This led John Gruber, author of the popular Daring Fireball technology blog, to describe Readability in 2012 as "scumbags"[4] as well as extended discussion among bloggers and journalists as to the ethics of Readability's business model.

[5] Gruber later clarified that his primary issue was that Readability told its users that it would distribute 70% of its subscription fee to publishers, when in fact it was only distributing a portion of that 70% to the publishers who had registered, which he described as "misleading at best, and arguably dishonest".