Tag: app store

Apple 2022 App Store Award Winners Announced, BeReal Named App of the year

Apple has released the list of its 2022 App Store Award winners to highlight the 15 best apps and games of the year across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV categories. The list includes novel social media app BeReal, the productivity tool GoodNotes 5, immersive 3D family genealogy app MacFamilyTree 10, the Latin American entertainment platform ViX, and workout tracker Gentler Streak. The Cupertino tech giant has awarded Apex Legends Mobile, Moncage, Inscryption, and El Hijo as the best gaming titles on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV respectively.

The list of the company’s picks for the top apps and games for 2022 was announced in a blog post. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement all the apps and games on the list have “delivered fresh, thoughtful, and genuine perspectives.”

The company also separately released a list consisting of five ‘Cultural Impact Winners’, which the company claims have had “a lasting impact on people’s lives and influenced culture” by “engaging more deeply with their emotions.” Emotional well-being app – How We Feel, storyteller app that spotlights systemic housing injustices and its impact on people of colour – Dot’s Home, widget app – Locket Widget, hydration app Waterllama complete this year’s cultural impact winners list, and history exploration app Inua – A Story in Ice and Time completed the awards list in the Cultural Impact Category.

BeReal has been named as the iPhone App of the Year, while GoodNotes 5 has received the title of the iPad App of the Year. Meanwhile, MacFamilyTree 10 is the Mac App of the Year. ViX was named the Apple TV App of the Year, while Gentler Streak won the title of Apple Watch App of the Year.

In addition to these apps, Apple named the best games available on the App Store. Apex Legends Mobile earned the iPhone Game of the Year award. Meanwhile, Moncage received the iPad Game of the Year title.

Apple picked Inscryption as the Mac Game of the Year, while El Hijo was featured as the Apple TV Game of the Year. Wylde Flowers was named the Apple Arcade Game of the Year.

As usual, winners of the best apps and games will receive physical App Store awards which have the signature blue App Store logo set on 100 percent recycled aluminium, along with the name of the winners engraved on the other side.

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Apple vs Epic Games: Fortnite Creator to Fight Against Antitrust Ruling Favouring Tech Giant

Epic Games on Monday will try to overturn portions of a court ruling in an antitrust trial last year that largely favoured Apple.

The “Fortnite” creator sued Apple in 2020 alleging that the iPhone maker’s App Store rules, under which software developers must pay commissions of up to 30 percent on in-app purchases, violated US antitrust law.

After a three-week trial last year, a judge largely sided with Apple, stopping short of dubbing the company an “illegal monopolist” and upholding its right to charge the commissions.

But the judge did find that Apple violated its home state of California’s unfair competition law and ordered the company to let developers tell users how to make app purchases outside of its proprietary payment system.

Apple appealed the order, and Epic appealed the finding that Apple did not violate antitrust laws. The two sides will argue their case before the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Monday, with representatives from the US Department of Justice and the state of California also making appearances to describe relevant laws.

According to its court filings, Epic plans to argue that the trial judge did not properly interpret US antitrust laws. In particular, the trial judge ruled that Apple’s contracts with developers to use its App Store did not violate antitrust laws because they were non-negotiable agreements — developers either agreed or could not use the App Store. Epic argues that such standard agreements are still subject to antitrust laws.

Other large technology companies use similar agreements to guard access to their systems. The Department of Justice, which has been investigating Apple and other tech companies, asked to join the Epic appeal because it said the lower court ruling could “significantly harm antitrust enforcement beyond the specific context of this case.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

 

 

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Apple to Place Ads in App Store Today Tab, Individual App Pages: Details

Apple is planning to show ads in the App Store’s Today tab and on individual app pages. According to reports, two new ad placements will expand upon the ads users can already see in the App Store’s search tab and in search results. Ads in the Today tab will appear in the larger card format used by other content in that tab, but users will see a small blue box with the word ‘Ad’ inside it under the app’s name. Ads in individual app pages will appear under the ‘You Might Also Like’ header that suggests apps related to the one a user is looking at.

Like in App Store search, ads on app pages will be highlighted in blue to distinguish them from other recommendations. According to a report by 9to5Mac, ad buyers won’t be able to target specific applications for these ads, but the ads will be relevant to the app they’re shown under.

“Apple Search Ads provides opportunities for developers of all sizes to grow their business,” Apple said in a statement to 9to5Mac.

They added, “Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built upon the same foundation–they will only contain content from apps’ approved App Store product pages, and will adhere to the same rigorous privacy standards.”

The company plans to begin testing the new ads soon. As previously mentioned, developers who want to promote their application on Apple’s App Store will not be able to target a specific application for product page ad placement, but users will see ads relevant to each product page, according to the report.

According to a report by The Verge, Apple first started showing ads in App Store search results in 2016 and began asking users for their permission to enable Personalized Ads in September.

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Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) Disappears from Google Play, Apple App Store Following Government Order

Battlegrounds Mobile India, better known as BGMI, has disappeared from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store following a government order. Those who already have it installed on their devices can still play the game, at least for now. The removal happened without warning late on Thursday evening, leaving many users surprised. However, Google has now confirmed that it received a government order directing it to delist the popular online game. BGMI was launched in India by Krafton as a response to the government banning multiple Chinese apps including the then-popular Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) due to security risks. A similar game, Garena Free Fire, was also banned in February this year.

As #BGMI and #BGMIban started trending on Twitter, rumours and speculation about possible reasons for a ban included connections to recent allegations of video games being connected to violent incidents, and new concerns about data privacy and online security. New State Mobile, which is published as a separate app by Krafton, remains available.

According to Reuters, a Google spokesperson has confirmed that the removal was a result of a government order. Details of the order are awaited. 

Developer Krafton claims to have invested over $100 million to develop BGMI and an esports ecosystem in India over the past few years. The company also recently announced that BGMI has surpassed 100 million registered users. At that time, Krafton CEO Changhan Kim had said “India is an important market for Krafton. We are positive about the opportunities in the country and are committed to create a robust gaming ecosystem. Our focus is pivoted towards constantly elevating the mobile gaming experience for our growing community and invest in the flourishing start-up landscape here”



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Google Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Legal Fight With App Developers

Alphabet’s Google has agreed to pay $90 million (nearly Rs. 711 crore) to settle a legal fight with app developers over the money they earned creating apps for Android smartphones and for enticing users to make in-app purchases, according to a court filing.

The app developers, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, had accused Google of using agreements with smartphone makers, technical barriers and revenue sharing agreements to effectively close the app ecosystem and shunt most payments through its Google Play billing system with a default service fee of 30 percent.

As part of the proposed settlement, Google said in a blog post it would put $90 million in a fund to support app developers who made $2 million (nearly Rs. 15 crore) or less in annual revenue from 2016-2021.

“A vast majority of US developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose,” Google said in the blog post.

Google said it would also continue to charge a 15 percent commission to developers who make $1 million (nearly Rs. 6.5 crore) or less annually from the Google Play Store. It started doing this in 2021.

The court must approve the proposed settlement.

There were likely 48,000 app developers eligible to apply for the $90 million fund, and the minimum payout is $250 (nearly Rs. 19,800), according to Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, who represented the plaintiffs.

Apple agreed last year to loosen App Store restrictions on small developers, striking a deal in a class action. It also agreed to pay $100 million (nearly Rs. 790 crore).

In Washington, Congress is considering legislation that would require Google and Apple to allow sideloading, or the practice of downloading apps without using an app store. It would also bar them from requiring that app providers use Google and Apple’s payment systems.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Apple’s Music, Gaming Revenue to Rose to $8.2 Billion by 2025, Predicts JP Morgan

Apple’s revenue from gaming and music offerings is expected to jump 36 percent to $8.2 billion (roughly Rs. 64,000 crore) by 2025, JP Morgan said on Monday, as the iPhone maker taps its huge user base to drive its subscription services.

The two services are likely to have a combined subscriber base of about 180 million by 2025 – 110 million for music and 70 million for gaming – boosted by the rapid spread of the internet and a booming gaming industry, according to JPM analysts, led by Samik Chatterjee.

Apple Music, which was launched in 2015 and is the second-biggest music-streaming service after Spotify, is expected to account for a bigger chunk of that revenue, raking in about $7 billion (roughly Rs. 54,600 crore) by 2025, the brokerage said.

Apple Arcade, the gaming subscription service launched in 2019, is estimated to pull in $1.2 billion (roughly Rs. 9,400 crore).

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company does not give a sales breakup for gaming and music services but the overall segment, which includes App Store, Apple TV+, Arcade and Apple Music, reported revenue of $19.82 billion (roughly Rs. 1,54,600 crore) for the March quarter. The business is seen as Apple’s engine for expansion.

Chatterjee, who is rated five stars for his estimate accuracy on Apple by Refinitiv Eikon, expects the gaming-market size to hit $360 billion (roughly Rs. 28,08,800 crore) by 2028 and music streaming to reach $55 billion (roughly Rs. 4,29,100 crore) by 2025.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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