App Store

When you launch an app designed to alert you the moment a crime is reported in your immediate vicinity, you’re asking for trouble if you name it Vigilante, as app developer Sp0n quickly discovered.

The app is designed to allow people to report crimes, and for anyone close by to receive an instant alert. Less than a week after it went live in New York, Apple has pulled it from the App Store …

Expand
Expanding
Close

There have been predictions for years that China would eventually be a larger market for Apple than the USA. The weak Chinese economy means that it hasn’t yet happened in hardware, but the latest App Annie data says that it’s already got there on the software side.

The highlight of this report is certainly China overtaking the U.S to become the largest market in the world for iOS App Store revenue — earning over $1.7 billion in Q3 2016. We predicted in Q1 that China’s rapid iOS revenue growth would drive it right past the U.S well before year’s end — China is now leading the U.S by over 15%.

The rapid growth in Chinese spending – a 500% increase in two years – is in line with earlier predictions. The stats also illustrate the importance of games in driving App Store sales …

Expand
Expanding
Close

Earlier this year, Apple introduced a handful of changes to the App Store, one of which being the inclusion of ads in search results. The capability was included in iOS 10 when it went into beta, but now Apple has officially launched Search Ads and opened them up for any developer to purchase.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Previously available on Android only, Google today released its Cardboard Camera app for iPhone and iPad alongside new features for the experience.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has announced that Super Mario is coming to the iPhone, as part of its iPhone 7 event. The company brought Shigeru Minamoto on stage to announce Apple bringing Nintendo’s top franchise to the iPhone.

Get the new Mario game app later this year in December, but you can go to the App Store today and get it to “Notify” you when the app launches. The game will have some free trial content and one in-app purchase to unlock everything.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has just published a list of App Store improvements that will begin to go into effect next Wednesday, September 7th. The changes seek to remove broken and forgotten apps from the App Store, apps that are currently breaking App Store review guidelines, and that are just no longer functional.

Expand
Expanding
Close

At WWDC back in June, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased that the company was approaching the $50 billion milestone in money it had paid out to App Store developers. Today, Cook announced on Twitter that Apple has now paid over $50 billion to App Store developers, while also noting that July was a huge month for the platform.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The above concept of how Apple could improve its current iTunes/App Store web view comes from STRV designer Ales Nesetril. It’s not the first time someone has suggested it, but it got me thinking once again about app installs via the web. What is Apple waiting for?

Expand
Expanding
Close

Without giving away official download numbers or stats (or ever featuring the app), Apple has officially shared that Pokémon Go has broken the record for the highest number of downloads during launch week on the App Store. The popular iOS app has ranked #1 on both the Free and Top Grossing Top Charts in the App Store since its launch earlier this month.

Expand
Expanding
Close

App analytics company App Annie is today out with a new report concerning the second quarter of 2016. At the beginning of this year, we covered the firm’s wrap-up report for 2015, noting that Apple’s App Store brought in 75% more revenue than the Play Store, despite a large difference in downloads. Now, the gap has gotten even bigger as the App Store continues to grow.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: Netflix has addressed the issue on Twitter:

We are aware of an issue where some users cannot download the latest Netflix version on iOS devices. We are investigating the issue.

— Netflix CS (@Netflixhelps) July 14, 2016

According to a variety of posts from Twitter user and confirmed by my own testing, Apple’s App Store appears to be suffering from a handful of issues tonight. Users are unable to update a variety of apps. The issues most notably seems to be affecting Netflix and Snapchat.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s new European iOS App Development Center, announced back in January, is about to officially launch as the Università di Napoli Federico II in Italy today confirms it has partnered with Apple on the initiative (via Macerkopf). 

When Apple first announced its plans for the new development center, the first of its kind to offer training for app developers in Europe, it didn’t say which school it would be partnering with to push the specialized curriculum. Today it confirmed the Università di Napoli Federico II will play host to the “iOS Developer Academy” with a dedicated facility that will offer Apple’s specialized app development training to a couple hundred students.

The program will begin in October and last nine months.

Expand
Expanding
Close