Apple instituted new policies to make the App Store a bit friendlier for developers. On Monday, it stopped blocking “bug fix” updates because of minor violations of its rules.
Also, when an application is accused of violating the guidelines, developers have the option to suggest a change to the rules.
Apple terminated Epic Games account on the App Store on Friday. This is the latest move in a battle between the two companies over revenue from in-app purchases in the popular game Fortnite.
Fortnite itself had already been booted from the App Store, and today’s move means other offerings from Epic Games are also unavailable to iPhone and iPad users.
Apple’s lead story on the App Store Today screen is about the upcoming season of PUBG Mobile. The iPhone-maker also recently did a similar promotion for Butter Royale.
It’s clear Apple wants everyone to know that while Fortnite was kicked out of the App Store, there are other battle royale games.
Facebook claims Apple stopped it from telling users about the 30% commission that Cupertino takes from sales in a new online events feature.
According to a Reuters report published Friday, Apple said its rules stop developers from showing “irrelevant” information to users.
In an order issued Monday night, a U.S. district judge blocked Apple from revoking Epic Games’ developer accounts as the legal battle between the two companies moves toward trial.
The move protects Unreal Engine, Epic’s software suite that is widely used by other game developers, from becoming collateral damage in the high-profile legal battle.
Apple won’t be forced to boot messaging app WeChat out of the App Store in China, Bloomberg claims in a weekend report.
According to the publication, the Trump administration is “privately seeking to reassure” American companies like Apple that they can still do business with WeChat in China. Two weeks ago, Trump ordered a U.S. ban on WeChat, although the details were not clarified.
Apple on Friday asked a judge to deny Epic Games’ request for a court order forcing Apple to return Fortnite to the App Store. In a filing, the iPhone-maker said Epic Games brought the ban on itself by its own actions.
The court’s decision will determine whether this wildly popular game will be available for iPhone and iPad users while a potentially lengthy court battle between Apple and Epic Games goes on.
This week on The CultCast: It’s a battle of the titans! Fortnite developer Epic Games takes Apple to court over its App Store policies, and the dev just might get its way. Plus: Apple and its stock hit another astonishing milestone; Jon Prosser was right — Apple has begun rebranding Beats; and Apple TV+ finally makes the move we’ve been waiting for: bundling premium channels for one low price.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
Several major news outlets are throwing their hats into the ring with Epic Games and others in pushing back against Apple’s App Store commission.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a trade body that represents the New York Times, Washington Post, WSJ and other publishers has sent a letter to Tim Cook asking for better terms for digital subscriptions sold through the App Store.
Fortnite is currently banned from the App Store following a big fallout between Apple and Epic Games. But for some players, that doesn’t mean it’s gone from iPhone and iPad for good.
So long as you’ve downloaded Fortnite at least once before, it’s still possible to re-download it today. We’ll show you how to do it.
South Korea may be joining the countries scrutinizing tech giants’ ownership of app stores.
Local startups have submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission, requesting an investigation into Apple and Google regarding whether the tech giants are violating laws by charging 30% commission on app purchases.
Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, is recruiting a team of like-minded companies to join its fight against Apple and its App Store policies, according to a report from The Information (paywall).
The publication claims that Epic is getting in touch with other companies that disagree with the App Store’s strict rules. Two of these companies are reportedly Sonos and Spotify. However, neither of them has officially joined the coalition.
The hugely popular game Fortnite was removed from the iPhone App Store on Thursday. This move came in response to Epic Games instituting a direct payments system for in-app purchases in violation of App Store guidelines.
And Epic Games responded with a civil lawsuit that accuses the App Store of being a monopoly. And a video that harks back to the famous “1984” ad.
Epic Games launched the Fortnite Mega Drop on Thursday. This offers up to 20% discounts on in-app purchases made on iPhone, iPad or Android, as long as these are direct payments — not ones that go through the App Store or Google Play.
And V-Bucks or real-money purchases made on Mac, PC and other platforms are also discounted by up to 20%.
Update: Apple responded by expelling Fortnite from the App Store.
The EU’s antitrust investigation of Apple is looking into how Cupertino made it tough for fellow tech giants Facebook and Microsoft launching their own streaming gaming platforms on the App Store. These include the Facebook Gaming and Microsoft’s Project xCloud apps.
As the company behind Android, Google is frequently positioned as one of Apple’s biggest enemy when it comes to smartphones. But it’s actually doing incredibly well thanks to iOS — as a new Sensor Tower report makes clear.
Published Monday, the report notes that Google was the no. 1 mobile publisher in the App Store for July 2020, based on total number of installs. Google’s top apps include YouTube, Google Hangouts, Gmail, Google Calendar, and others.
The Facebook Gaming app finally landed in the App Store on Friday, several months after it made it to Android devices. The delay isn’t the only downside, though. According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, iOS users will get a considerably “inferior experience” due to Apple’s App Store policies.
The app allows users to livestream video games, much like the ultra-popular Twitch app. And the Android version includes mini-games users can play. But not the iOS version. “We had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app,” she said.
The Trump administration wants to eliminate “untrusted” Chinese apps from the App Store as part of a multiphase “Clean Network” plan to cut down on potential security risks from China.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will crack down on apps with parent companies based in China. The two specific apps mentioned are TikTok and WeChat. However, Pompeo simply used these to illustrate the kinds of apps that could get the boot.
Spending on mobile games in the App Store grew significantly over the past quarter, despite the coronavirus pandemic, a new report by Sensor Tower claims. Across the App Store and Google Play, global spending grew 27% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020 to hit $19.3 billion.
Of the total revenue, the App Store made up $11.6 billion to Google Play’s $7.7 billion. That’s even though the App Store only making up a tiny 2.7 billion of the overall 15.1 billion app downloads in the quarter. As ever, the App Store is where the lion’s share of profits is to be made!
Apple now offers a gift card that can be used at the Apple Store to buy hardware and also at the App Store to buy software. And iTunes is included as well.
Previously, the company sold separate cards, one for iTunes/App Store and another for the Apple Store.
Apple agreed to halve its App Store fee for Amazon so the company would bring its Prime Video app to iOS and Apple TV, emails reveal (.pdf).
Apple exec Eddy Cue and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos personally negotiated the deal in 2016, it was revealed during Wednesday’s antitrust hearing looking into tech giants’ business practices. They agreed that Apple would get a 15% revenue cut from day one for customers who signed up through the app. Apple normally gets a 30% cut for the first year of an app’s subscription. It then claims a 15% commission for subsequent years.
Apple’s 30% commission on certain apps is one of the main areas Apple CEO Tim Cook was grilled on during Wednesday’s U.S. House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee hearing.
However, according to internal emails revealed as part of the inquiry, Apple previously considered increasing its cut from 30% to 40% in some cases.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will argue that his company does not dominate any market in which it does business when he appears before the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Wednesday, according to his opening statement released ahead of time (.pdf).
While Cook will say that “scrutiny is reasonable and appropriate,” he will assert that Apple refuses to make “concession on the facts” by agreeing that it is a monopoly. If anything, Cook will argue that Apple is no gatekeeper, but, through the App Store, has actually opened the gate to developers.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook takes questions from Congress on Wednesday, he’ll surely get an earful of software developers’ complaints about how the App Store operates. Chief among the criticisms will likely be the fact that Apple charges a percentage of revenue earned from in-app sales.
There’s not a bit of justification for any of these highly publicized complaints. They come from companies that want to have their cake and eat it, too.
Airbnb and ClassPass are the two latest companies to clash with Apple over the tech giant’s demands for a percentage of in-app sales.
According to the The New York Times, the two companies — reeling from the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses — are upset that Apple demands a 30% cut of sales for their sale of online experiences.