Games played on iPhone and Android represents 61% of the overall gaming market, according to two market analysis firms. And mobile’s lead over PC and console gaming is growing.
The total gaming market is set to hit $222 billion in 2022. For comparison, global film revenue for 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year) was $42.5 billion.
App Store revenue for smaller developers increased by 113% over the past two years – more than double the growth of large developers, according to a study financed by Apple.
And the iPhone app economy supported more than 2.2 million jobs in the U.S. in 2021.
Ahead of the June 30, 2022 deadline, Apple has reminded developers that if they offer users an option to create new accounts from their app, they must also provide a way to delete them.
Apple first announced this change in June last year, with the rule initially set to go into force by January 31, 2022. However, due to the complexity involved, the company delayed its implementation by five months to give developers additional time.
Apple has sent out emails to its customers in India informing them that it won’t be accepting credit and debit cards for payments on the App Store and other Apple services starting June 1, 2022.
The announcement comes ahead of the new regulations from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) going live.
Pay attention to renewal notices for App Store subscriptions because these are the only notification you’ll receive that the cost is going up. Developers are now allowed to increase iPhone app subscription prices without users having to opt in.
There are limits on how much the fees can go up, though.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Services, is reportedly looking to restructure the company’s offerings to make a more significant push in streaming and advertising.
Apple’s services business has been growing rapidly over the last few years. It currently boasts more than 825 million paid subscribers.
Third-party iPhone apps scored significantly lower than their Android counterparts, according to an analysis of user reviews of 4,400 top mobile apps.
This does not necessarily mean that Android offers better third-party software, though. iPhone users simply expect more from their apps.
“The data shows iOS users are more critical of mobile apps than Android users are,” said David Kravets, senior content marketing manager for unitQ, the company that did the research, in an interview with Cult of Mac.
And after going through nearly 122 million reviews, unitQ analysts say there’s “lots of room for improvement” in mobile software.
Apple still intends to remove iPhone applications it considers outdated from the App Store, but has given developers more time to update their software. The deadline has changed from 30 days to up to 90 days.
And Apple says it focuses the App Store Improvements process on applications that are hardly ever downloaded.
The government of Japan said it’s considering new regulations to ensure fair app store competition amid the dominance of companies like Apple and Google. In response, Apple insisted its practices do not limit competitors.
Anyone experiencing trouble with the App Store or Apple Music on Monday can relax. Apple reports that it resolved the issues that plagued these services earlier in the day.
This is after they were down for about eight hours.
