And a Happy New year to you too. The question for those new to this is whether in:
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected
the phrase "in an App" refers to the "content, functionality, or services" or, ambiguously, to the "to purchase". (i.e "He went to purchase the dog in the window" or "He went to purchase the car online")
You usually cannot buy "extra lives, levels, coins etc. outside of the app" because of 11.1. No issue there. Also, if both the "purchase" and the "content, functionality, or services" are "in (the) App" then 11.2 applies no matter which interpretation you use.
You do not believe it is reasonable for "in an App" to refer to "to purchase". I think it is a possible, ambiguous, interpretation. Here are two extreme cases that justify the ambiguous interpretation that "in an app" refers to "to purchase" - one prohibiting, the other not prohibiting - to make it a bit clearer, or rather, to make the ambiguity clearer.
Can an app display the plumbers in my Zip Code along with reviews of those plumbers entered by other users of the app and then allow me "to purchase...in (the) app" an hour of plumbing service using my VISA card? Check the guidelines. Clearly, I can't do that with IAP (Guideline 11.3) . But can I do it "in (the) app" using my VISA card? The ambiguous interpretation of 11.2 is that I cannot do that. Here the clause "in an app" is interpreted to refer to the action "to purchase" not to the "content, functionality, or services". If, as you insist, the "in an App" appies only to the "content, functionality, or service" then the plumber's services can be purchased within the app since the services are not rendered within the app. So, is it clear to you that 11.2 does not apply to, and therefore does not prohibit, the in-the-app purchase of the plumber's services using VISA or is the other ambiguous interpretation (i.e. "in an App" refers to "to purchase") perhaps possible?
Can you buy, outside of the app, computer storage space that allows you to remotely store and retrieve photos from within an app? Here you are purchasing "functionality...in an App" but the "purchase" is not done "in (the) App". According to your interpretation of 11.2 I cannot do that. Here the clause "in an App" is interpreted to refer to the action "functionality". But if the "in an App" is referring to the "to purchase", the ambiguous interpretation, then this is ok. So, are you sure that 11.2 applies to, and therefore prohibits, the out-of-the-app purchase of that storage space that is enabling "functionality...in an App" or is the ambiguous interpretation perhaps possible?
I think it is ambiguous not nonsense. I recognize that surprisingly missing from this is 'physical goods' and that lends greater credance to the interpretation that "in an App" refers to "content, functionality, or services" - but it's poor drafting language. 11.2 should be either:
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services where such content, functionality, or services are intended to be used in an App will be rejected
or
11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In-App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase, in an App, content, functionality, or services in an App will be rejected
Remember two things about the internet;
1) over the internet you can never be certain whether you are corresponding with a former head of the technology transfer group at a large pharmaceutical company with years of experience writing and interpreting this type of language or a dog and
2) the use of strong perjorative terms like "nonsense" can be misinterpreted, overinterpreted or ignored. I'll choose to ignore.
