If the judge in the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit decides to rule against the iPhone-maker, she may have already signaled the significant App Store change she would order to satisfy the game developer’s complaints.
The judge asked a question that shows she’s considering allowing developers to point customers to their own websites to make in-app purchases. Currently, these purchases must go through Apple’s payment system.
The App Store protected customers from more than $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2020, Apple said Tuesday. And the company’s App Review team rejected thousands of fraudulent applications.
The timing for this statement from the iPhone-maker isn’t accidental. In the ongoing Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, the game developer argues that the App Store is a hinderance to innovation. Cupertino wants customers to hear its side of the story, too.
At the core of Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple is the assertion that the iPhone-maker has a monopoly. With testimony from an expert witness, the game developer has begun laying out its arguments to convince the judge why she should agree.
Essentially, it claims that switching from iPhone to another device is so difficult that Apple can treat its users as if they had no other options.
Legal action taken against Apple in the United Kingdom could see the company have to repay close to 20 million customers for allegedly overcharging them.
A landmark class-action lawsuit argues that Apple’s 30% commission on App Store purchases bilked customers out of more than $2 billion over a number of years. The plaintiffs want Apple to repay the money it supposedly owes.
The process for checking applications submitted to the App Store became the major focus of the Epic Games v. Apple court battle Friday. An important detail that came to light is that Apple employs 500 human experts checking submissions.
Epic Games used Friday’s trial testimony to bring to light fraudulent or inappropriate apps that slipped past Apple’s review team and onto the App Store. Fortunately, the problem is fixable: Put more people on the job. Double or triple the number.
In testimony on Thursday in the Epic Games v. Apple trial, Trystan Kosmynka, the senior director for the App Store review process, confirmed that around 5 million appications are submitted to the software store per year. And roughly 35% are rejected.
If 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s prickly AI, HAL 9000, picked up a sense of humor and then decided to make weather apps, the results would probably be a bit like Carrot Weather.
The sarcastic weather app has been a fixture on iOS for more than half a decade, and has not only gotten more hilariously abrasive during that time, but more useful as well. On Thursday, creator Brian Mueller unleashed the app’s latest update.
TikTok enjoyed another month atop the App Store in April, according to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower.
It received a massive 59 million installs that month, across both iOS and Android. That’s ever so slightly up from March, when it racked up just over 58 million downloads.
The latest insider info brought to light by the Epic Games v. Apple trial is the lengths the Mac-maker went to convince Netflix to continue taking subscriptions in its iPhone/iPad app. But Netflix stopped anyway, and Apple took no action.
When Epic Games tried to do something similar, Apple banned all its software from the App Store.
Many people may be surprised to hear that while Tim Cook has often taken thinly-veiled shots at the targeted ad-supported business model of some rivals, Apple does itself sell targeted ads.
Although there is a bit more nuance to that, it can look like a contradiction, or even a bit of hypocrisy, from the outside. As emails highlighted during the current Apple vs. Epic legal battle shows, Apple employees also grappled with whether or not Apple should offer ads in the App Store — and whether this opposed Apple’s messaging.
Epic Games suggested a change to the iPhone App Store that, if Apple had followed it, might have prevented the lawsuit that landed the two tech giants in court this week.
The game developer recommended that Apple continue to police third-party software, looking for malware, privacy violations, etc. But once the iPhone-maker signed off on an app, it would be up to the developer how the software got distributed.
The European Commission accused Apple on Friday of wielding an unfair advantage over Apple Music rivals because of Cupertino’s tight control of the App Store’s commission system.
“By setting strict rules on the App Store that disadvantage competing music streaming services, Apple deprives users of cheaper music streaming choices and distorts competition,” said Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager in a statement. “This is done by charging high commission fees on each transaction in the App Store for rivals and by forbidding them from informing their customers of alternative subscription options.”
If you check Amazon, the Harry Potter books remain big sellers, even approaching a decade-and-a-half since the last volume was released. While Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery can’t claim that kind of longevity, the iOS game continues to be a cash machine three years after launching.
According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the game — which launched in 2018 — has reached player spending of $300 million. In Hogwarts Mystery, players create their own characters, and then guide them through daily life at Hogwarts — including attending classes, forming friendships and rivalries, and more.
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has fined Apple $12 million for allegedly abuse its prominent position in the world of mobile apps.
It claims that Apple gives its own products a competitive advantage on iOS. Apple “respectfully [disagrees]” with the decision.
Australia’s antitrust competition watchdog says that it may have to step in and regulate the App Store if Apple doesn’t do so first.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wants app store operators — including both Apple and Google — to allow developers to take payments outside of the respective app stores. This would stop both companies taking commission from every app-related purchase in which apps are available through their online stores.
Apple debuted iOS 14.5, with its App Tracking Transparency feature, on Monday. But if you updated your iPhone or iPad, and haven’t seen a flurry of alerts about apps wanting to track you, don’t be concerned. The controversial privacy feature is working as advertised.
That’s because the new privacy tracking prompt, which asks users if they want to allow an app to track them on other companies’ apps and websites, will only show up when a developer agrees for the feature to go live on their specific app. Until they push it live, they’re blocked from tracking users via Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (aka IDFA).
European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager is reportedly set to this week issue charges against Apple suggesting that its control of the App Store violates EU rules.
According to the Financial Times, the announcement will be made late this week. This is based on conversations with “several people with direct knowledge of the announcement.”
Today is Earth Day and, to celebrate the occasion, Apple’s introduced a plethora of “Earth Day programming” across its various platforms, including the App Store, Apple TV+, and Apple Watch. For today, at least, no matter where you go for your Earth Day reminders, Apple’s got you covered.
Apple is ramping up the advertising side of its App Store business, according to the Financial Times.
The company currently sells App Store ads, allowing developers to pay for top spots. But soon Apple will roll out another advertising spot for sale in the “Suggested” apps section. This will allow developers to more widely promote their apps, rather than having them show up only in response to certain search terms.
The controversial social-networking service Parler will soon reappear in the App Store. Apple reportedly un-banned the service Monday after it promised to start moderating content.
Then service was banned from the iOS and Android software stores after it was used to plan the attack on the U.S. Capital in January.
Both Apple and Amazon pride themselves in technology that “just works.” One thing that hasn’t previously “just worked,” however, was the cumbersome way purchases had to take place on the Amazon-owned Audible audiobook service.
While people who listen to their audiobooks on iPhone have to use the iOS app, and this app allowed them to search the catalog for other titles, there was no way to actually buy a new book via the app. Instead, users had to go to Audible.com to buy the books they wanted, before switching back to the app to listen to them.
A Senate subcommittee wants to ask Google and Apple antitrust-related questions about their software stores, but the iPhone-maker reportedly turned down a request to testify.
Apple told Senators it could not do so because of ongoing litigation. That’s probably a reference to the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit currently in the pre-trial phase.
In a Tuesday note to clients, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty raised her services-related revenue forecast for Apple through 2022 even as she lowered the overall price target for AAPL stock.
“Following strong March quarter App Store results and an analysis of the key drivers of Apple’s Licensing & Other segment, we raise our already above-street FY21 and FY22 Services revenue estimates by 3% and 5% respectively, and are increasingly convinced that consensus Services forecasts over the next 2+ years are too low,” Huberty wrote.
TikTok topped the App Store charts for another month as the top non-gaming app worldwide. Across both iOS and Android, the popular video-sharing app racked up more than 58 million installs.
The No. 1 audience for TikTok is China, where the app is called Douyin. China accounted for 11% of downloads, followed by the United States with 10%.
Apple reminded developers on Monday that new iOS, iPadOS and tvOS versions coming soon will block applications from tracking users without specific permission. It’ll no longer be possible for networks of apps to surreptitiously track what people use their devices for.
The same note includes a warning that its also is also forbidden to try to find a workaround for this block by “fingerprinting” devices.
