Microsoft offered to remove all paid subscription option, but the compromise was rejected.
There is little to stop MS from expecting the DropBox model to be accepted - it depends what else they are asking.
We simply don't know the details of all this, beyond the MS focused blog item.
MS want Skydrive and their own mobile/tablet App prowess recognised..
.. and here they are David compromising with Goliath!
I don't fully understand your question. We have a voip app that among other things allows users to call landline or mobile numbers. These calls are not free, so a user must pay. We started with web site+flash and added paypal and stripe payment options. Then we've created iOS app and as anyone else found out about 30% tax. Long story short, nothing worked until we added in app purchases. Before that, the app was continuously rejected on the grounds that if it's possible to pay on website and then use that credit on iOS app, then we must provide also in app purchases.
> I can see why apple doesn't want you to sell it anywhere else.
It's not that apple don't want you to sell it anywhere else, but that if you do sell it anywhere else, you have to sell it also on iOS.
Your app, like Dropbox and Skydrive, is providing a consumable service.
If you're app-independent website that also has an app, that's not true.