Tag: app store
iPhone Analytics
Michael Tsai: I have always preferred to share usage information with Apple because I believe in providing the engineers with as much information as they would need to keep improving the products, not just for me but for all users. However, as Apple shifts to providing ads, I’m not sure if I would still be…
Epic Games Sends Emails to Fortnite Players Blaming Apple for New Season's Unavailability
Epic Games email to players via MacRumors: Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store, and has said they will terminate our ability to develop Fortnite for Apple devices. As a result, the Chapter 2 – Season 4 update (v14.00), did not release on iOS and macOS on August 27. Apple…
App stores, trust and anti-trust
Benedict Evans: Specifically, Apple tried to solve three kinds of problem. Putting apps in a sandbox, where they can only do things that Apple allows and cannot ask (or persuade, or trick) the user for permission to do ‘dangerous’ things, means that apps become completely safe. A horoscope app can’t break your computer, or silt…
Apple defends App Store's 30% cut ahead of Tim Cook testimony
CNBC: For Cook, the questioning is expected to center around Apple’s App Store, which is the only way to install consumer software on an iPhone. For years, developers have alleged Apple engages in anti-competitive behavior, with complaints centering around Apple’s 30% cut of digital goods, and business practices such as requiring developers to use Apple’s…
China drove 40% of mobile app spending and nearly half of all downloads in 2018
Manish Sigh wrote for VentureBeat that China drove 40% of mobile app spending and nearly half of all downloads in 2018. China, which is the world’s largest smartphone market, also accounted for nearly 40 percent of worldwide consumer spend in apps in 2018, App Annie said in its yearly “State of Mobile” report. (Note: Google…
U.S. appeals court revives antitrust lawsuit against Apple
Reuters reported on U.S. appeals court reviving antitrust lawsuit against Apple. But if the challenge ultimately succeeds, “the obvious solution is to compel Apple to let people shop for applications wherever they want, which would open the market and help lower prices,” Mark C. Rifkin, an attorney with Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz representing…
Why not everyone should be doing beta testing
Federico Viticci wrote on MacStories about how apps are getting negative reviews in the App Store for issues with beta versions of iOS and OS X. The frustration of the tweets embedded above generates from the fact that some users are leaving negative App Store reviews pointing out problems with running apps on beta versions…
How NSA and allies exploit Google and Samsung app stores
Ars Technica reported on how the NSA and allies exploited Google and Samsung’s app stores. In 2011 and 2012, the NSA and the communications intelligence agencies of its “Five Eyes” allies developed and tested a set of add-ons to their shared Internet surveillance capability that could identify and target communications between mobile devices and popular…
App store revenue
Benedict Evans wrote about app Store revenues. Google said it paid out $5bn to developers from Google IO in 2013 to Google IO in 2014 (a little over 13 months) Apple said it has paid out $20bn to developers in total by the end of the June 2014 quarter, and at WWDC June 2013 it…
Let’s get rid of App Store star ratings
Marco Arment questions the use of App Store’s star ratings. Matt posted previously about whether we should rate apps when prompted by the app. Developers add prompts to get users to rate the app because having a higher rating would increase the chances of their apps being found and downloaded. Eliminating the star ratings but…