Another regulatory brick in the wall for Apple: The iPhone maker agreed this weekend to changes to its App Store in the Netherlands focused on dating apps, agreeing to allow local developers of dating apps to be able to offer non-Apple based payments (via Reuters). In December, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) […]
Fortnite is coming back to iOS, but not on the App Store
Fortnite is back on iOS — well, kind of. Through Nvidia’s streaming game service GeForce Now, mobile users on iOS and Android will be able to play a touch-control version of Fortnite through cloud gaming. Players can now register to join the closed beta test for Fortnite’s new mobile work-around — you don’t need to […]
Music app AmpMe lowers pricing after accused of being an App Store scammer
Around the same time Apple was touting its sizable App Store revenue growth this week, developer and noted App Store critic Kosta Eleftheriou brought to light what appeared to be yet another App Store scammer hiding in plain sight. On Twitter, Eleftheriou documented the earnings for a music syncing app called AmpMe, which claims to […]
Apple paid out around $60 billion to App Store developers in 2021
Despite facing numerous antitrust lawsuits and tighter regulations in certain markets, Apple today reported new figures indicating record App Store growth in 2021. The company in a press release said it has now paid out more than $260 billion to app developers since the App Store first launched in 2008, a number that’s up from […]
How the mobile app ecosystem adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the mobile app ecosystem, according to an annual retrospective released today by app intelligence firm Sensor Tower. In the early days of the pandemic, a number of apps saw rapidly increased usage — like that focused on online shopping, entertainment, business and education, for example. Though much of the […]
Meta’s Oculus VR companion app gained ~2M downloads since Christmas
Consumers worldwide have downloaded Meta’s Oculus app, the mobile companion for Oculus VR devices including the Quest 2, roughly 2 million times globally since Christmas Day, according to new data from third-party app intelligence firms, Apptopia and Sensor Tower. Already, had been some indication that the Quest 2 was a popular holiday gift after the […]
「1月1日におみくじアプリをリリースする」にチャレンジしてみた
新年あけましておめでとうございます🎍 クラスメソッドの年末年始休みが12月25日からで長いお休みだったので「年の終わりに何かにチャレンジしてみよう」と思い、お正月に自宅で気軽におみくじを引いて楽しめるアプリを作ることにし […]…
India antitrust watchdog orders investigation into Apple’s business practices
The Indian antitrust watchdog on Friday ordered an investigation into Apple’s business practices — in particular, the company mandating iPhone app developers to use a proprietary payments system — in India, where the American firm commands less than 2% of the smartphone market. The Competition Commission of India, which ordered the Director General to conduct […]
Tumblr is at war with Apple over ‘mature’ content on its app again
Hide your “Tony the Tiger”/”Eugene Levy” fan fiction — those phrases, along with hundreds of others, are now banned from Tumblr’s iOS app. Now, any personal blog that flags itself as “mature” is not accessible on the iOS app — users will see a pop-up explaining that the content has been hidden because of “potentially […]
This week in TechCrunch Experts: conversational UX, brand building 101, marketing survey
I reached back out to 10 marketers we’ve met through our Experts program and asked them to share predications for the new year and reflect on some of the trends we’ve seen in 2021.