App Store

Apple’s antitrust issues have again hit the headlines this week – not just once, but twice.

First, there were the two additional European Union antitrust investigations, which are just the latest in a long line of probes into Apple’s alleged anti-competitive behaviors. As a non-exhaustive list, there’s Congress, the Department of Justice, a number of US states, the EU, France, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.

Then Apple pulled Basecamp’s email app Hey from the App Store, just days after approving it …

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The creators of Basecamp introduced a new email service this week, simply dubbed Hey. The subscription-based email service costs $99 per year, and that subscription is what’s now causing a battle between Basecamp and Apple’s App Store review team.

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Apple is facing another anticompetitive complaint, this time filed by Rakuten who owns the Kobo ebook brand. The Financial Times reports that Kobo is filing a formal complaint that it cannot fairly compete against Apple Books in the App Store while it is subjected to sharing 30% of revenue from purchases made in the Kobo app.

Kobo is currently forced to sell all of its content through its website to avoid paying Apple 30% of revenues. This means customers cannot conveniently buy books inside of the app itself.

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In a new post on its Newsroom website today, Apple touts that the App Store ecosystem supported $519 billion in billings and sales globally in 2019 alone. This data is based on a study conducted by independent economists at the Analysis Group.

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Thailand is the latest in a growing number of countries seeking to impose a tax on digital services, ensuring that tech giants pay tax locally. If confirmed by parliament, it will hit Apple revenues from the App Store and Apple Music among other things …

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“Just Mercy”, the film based on a true-story about racial injustice starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx has been made available to stream for free on Apple TV.

Meanwhile, Apple has shared a new App Story today titled “Stand Up to Racism” with a number of curated digital resources to keep informed, speak out to your elected officials, donate to charities, learn from history, support Black developers, and more.

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Been on the App Store over the past few days? You might have noticed a curious new free iPhone app in the number one spot called Zynn. As it turns out it’s a TikTok clone that’s going after users of the popular app in the US. So how did it just beat out the massively popular TikTok in the App Store charts? A pyramid scheme that pays people to use it and refer friends…

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It feels like every email I receive mentions COVID–19. Every podcast I listen to mentions COVID–19. On Twitter or LinkedIn, you can’t avoid mentions of COVID–19. Our current pandemic is everywhere, and that is probably as it should be. It’s dominating our lives. As I was headed to the grocery store to pick up an online order, I realized how essential the app economy is right now and how much worse off we’d be if this pandemic would have happened even a decade ago. Here are a few ways that the ‘‘app economy’’ that Apple helped pioneer has allowed us to adjust to a ‘‘new normal’’ while we are all stuck at home.

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Video game company Ubisoft has sued both Apple and Google, accusing the two of selling a game that’s a “near carbon copy” of its popular game “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege.” Ubisoft alleges that both companies are infringing on its copyrights by selling the game in the App Store and Play Store.

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Update 5/11: After over 2 months, the Shadow app is back on the App Store. The update removes the “Quick Launch” feature and now abides by Apple’s guidelines.

Shadow, one of several cloud gaming services to gain popularity recently, has had its iOS app removed from the App Store today. The company made the announcement on Reddit, saying that Apple removed the app because of a violation of App Store guidelines.

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We’re set to learn about Apple’s March quarter performance in detail and just ahead of the company’s earnings call, data shared by SensorTower estimates that iPad app downloads have seen solid growth amid the pandemic. That comes after they saw a steady decline for four years. Along with the uptick in downloads, iPad app Q1 revenue has crossed the $2B mark for the first time.

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A group of major app developers have set up their own association, seemingly geared to doing the same job as The App Association, an existing group sponsored by Apple and other tech giants.

They have formed the App Coalition, which seeks to lobby Congress on behalf of app developers, especially during the coronavirus crisis …

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We already know that Apple can be hard to work with when it comes to launching new apps on the App Store. From the beginning, several developers have complained about the company’s strict rules, and it was no different with Martin Otyeka, an independent developer who tried to launch his first iOS app this year — unfortunately without success.

Martin wrote an article about how frustrating it was to create a new idea for a messaging app and then see it rejected by Apple, as the company said he should try to develop an app like “every other messaging app.”

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A number of autism apps have been highlighted by Apple on World Autism Awareness Day, an annual event intended to educate people about those with autistic spectrum disorders. It is part of the company’s extensive commitment to accessibility.

The United Nations has drawn attention to the specific challenges faced by people with autism during the coronavirus outbreak…

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With coronavirus misinformation common, either through deliberate hoaxes or honest misunderstandings, Apple is doing its bit to help. The company is currently giving top UK App Store billing to an official government health app.

The National Health Service (NHS) app opens with a symptom-checker and a highlighted link to COVID-19 info …

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In a post on its developer website this afternoon, Apple has announced that the App Store is launching in 20 new countries this year. Apple hasn’t yet said which countries are included in this expansion. [Update: View the list below]

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