{"id":1238238,"date":"2022-10-29T19:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/29\/elon-buys-twitter-new-app-store-rules-gambling-ads-backlash\/"},"modified":"2022-10-29T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T19:00:48","slug":"elon-buys-twitter-new-app-store-rules-gambling-ads-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/29\/elon-buys-twitter-new-app-store-rules-gambling-ads-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon buys Twitter, new App Store rules, gambling ads backlash \u2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.<\/p>\n

Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has slowed down. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Global spending across iOS and Google Play last year was $133 billion, and consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps.<\/p>\n

This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.<\/p>\n

Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com\/newsletters.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Musk buys Twitter<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s official, Elon Musk now owns Twitter. In typical Musk fashion, the transition has been nothing but chaotic, with the deal closing just ahead of the deadline set by the Delaware Chancery Court \u2014 the court where Musk was planning to try to exit the deal by claiming Twitter had misled him about the number of bots on the platform. (He was really looking to get the price down, of course!) In any event, the Telsa and SpaceX exec now has a new toy and everyone is waiting to see what comes next. Earlier, Musk had hinted at layoffs, then later retracted his statements, saying he wouldn\u2019t fire 75% after all. However, he did immediately clear out the C-suite, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde \u2014 a sign that he\u2019s planning to fill out Twitter\u2019s top ranks with execs who will do his own bidding and not fight for the Twitter of days past.<\/p>\n

Still, Musk\u2019s talk about a Twitter that\u2019s more permissive of \u201cfree speech\u201d doesn\u2019t quite align with his message to advertisers posted shortly after the deal\u2019s close: He promised marketers that Twitter can\u2019t turn into a \u201cfree-for-all hellscape.\u201d That\u2019s clearly a tacit acknowledgment on Musk\u2019s part that advertisers don\u2019t want to post their content next to hate speech-filled tweets. And despite Musk\u2019s plans to grow Twitter\u2019s subscription business, around 90%<\/a> of Twitter\u2019s revenue today comes from advertising. Given what he had to pay to own Twitter, Musk probably doesn\u2019t want to have to pay to keep it running, too.<\/p>\n

App Store Review Guidelines now give Apple a cut of NFTs, in-app advertising<\/h3>\n

Along with the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple also introduced new App Store Review Guidelines. Among the major changes were two new rules designed to give Apple a bigger slice of the NFT market and Meta\u2019s core advertising business.<\/p>\n

The company said apps will be allowed to list, mint, transfer and let users view their own NFTs, but clarified that owning an NFT could not be a shortcut to unlocking any more features in an app. In other words, the ownership of an NFT shouldn\u2019t be a way to route around Apple\u2019s in-app purchases. In addition, Apple said NFT apps can\u2019t display external links or other calls-to-action to purchase NFTs \u2014 that can only take place through Apple\u2019s own in-app purchases system, as well.<\/p>\n

This change is not all that surprising. As the web3 market grows, Apple wanted to find a way to stake its claim on the revenue and transactions that are occuring inside these new apps. Plus, it\u2019s a better consumer experience for NFT marketplace apps to not just function as a showcase for users\u2019 purchases, but as a place where users can actually transact.<\/p>\n

The other big rule adjustment, however, is a bit more startling. In a bold move, Apple essentially said it deserves a cut of Meta\u2019s ads business as well as any other social app. The new rule around social media apps now states that purchases of \u201cboosts\u201d have to flow through Apple\u2019s in-app purchase system.<\/p>\n

This could impact any app that sells the ability to boost a post to a wider audience, like Meta (Facebook, Instagram), TikTok, Twitter, dating apps and others. Meta, of course, took significant issue with this change, saying that Apple\u2019s policy undercuts others in the digital economy after Apple had previously said it wouldn\u2019t take a share of developer ad revenue. While Meta isn\u2019t exactly a sympathetic player here, it\u2019s concerning that Apple has decided it can now tax advertising inside iOS apps at the same time it runs its own expanding ads business. That seems like a move regulators will need to look into asap.<\/p>\n

App Store gambling ads backlash<\/h3>\n

Speaking of Apple\u2019s ads business\u2026The company\u2019s App Store ads platform expanded this week to include new ad slots like the main Today tab and a \u201cYou Might Also Like\u201d section at the bottom of individual app listings. The slots are available in all countries as of October 25, except China. The ads have a blue background and an \u201cAd\u201d label to differentiate them from other listings.<\/p>\n

Developers, however, were immediately disturbed by the instant deluge of gambling ads that appeared marketed alongside their own, including against kids\u2019 applications and, in at least one case, a gambling addiction recovery app. This was a poor look for Apple. After all, the gambling category itself is already controversial \u2014 many developers would rather not share an app marketplace with these often predatory apps in the first place, much less have them advertised alongside their own.<\/p>\n

Apple at least moved quickly to respond to the backlash by \u201cpausing\u201d gambling ads and a few other categories on App Store product pages, but the company didn\u2019t say how long this pause would last or what it planned to do about the situation in the long term.<\/p>\n

Spotify accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior, this time around audiobooks<\/h3>\n

Just ahead of its Q3 earnings, Spotify published a blog post that again accused Apple of anti-competitive behavior with regard to its launch of audiobooks in the U.S. On an accompanying website, Spotify noted that its app update to include the audiobook expansion was rejected three times without \u201cclear direction\u201d as to what needed to be changed to come into compliance. The site details Spotify\u2019s criticisms of Apple\u2019s platform, explaining how Apple requires audiobook purchases to use Apple\u2019s own in-app purchases \u2014 or, if selling elsewhere, prevents Spotify from telling users why, where or how to make those purchases outside of iOS.<\/p>\n

Because Spotify wants to avoid the 30% IAP commission, it doesn\u2019t let users buy audiobooks in its app. Instead, users select the book they want to purchase and are emailed a link that points to a website where they can complete the transaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Audiobooks purchase flow that Apple\u2019s rules force us to provide consumers today is far too complicated and confusing \u2014 confusing because they change the rules arbitrarily, making them impossible to interpret,\u201d Spotify\u2019s blog post stated.<\/p>\n

The company has regularly battled with Apple over its App Store policies but is sometimes seen as an unsympathetic victim due to its size, revenues and its role in moving the music industry to streaming, which artists say doesn\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n

Platforms: Apple<\/h3>\n
\"Holding<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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  • Apple released iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, macOS Ventura and watchOS 9.1.<\/strong> The updated software delivers new features like iCloud Shared Photo Library, Continuity Camera, Stage Manager for the Mac and iPad, Live Activities, Apple Fitness+ for iPhone and more.<\/li>\n
  • Apple expanded its App Store ads platform<\/strong> to include the main Today tab and a \u201cYou Might Also Like\u201d section at the bottom of individual app listings in all countries on October 25, except China. The ads have a blue background and an \u201cAd\u201d label to differentiate them from other listings.<\/li>\n
  • SKAdNetwork 4.0, which lets advertisers measure ads\u2019 success, became available<\/strong> in iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 this week.<\/li>\n
  • Apple also released the first betas of macOS Ventura 13.1, iOS 16.2, and iPadOS 16.2<\/strong> which included the new Freeform app, announced at WWDC. The app is a whiteboard app that lets you create sketches notes, files, documents and more, which can be accessed across devices.<\/li>\n
  • Apple reported its Q4 earnings with iPhone revenue up 9.67% YoY to $42.63 billion, Mac up 25.4% to $11.51 billion, but iPad revenue down 13.06% to $7.17 billion.<\/strong> Wall Street was expecting iPhone revenue of $43.21 billion, sending the stock down in late trading. Other products were $9.65 billion (up 9.95%) and the Services division, which includes the App Store, was up 4.98%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Platforms: Google<\/h3>\n
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    • Google filed a brief opposing Epic and Match\u2019s recent motion to amend and expand their antitrust claims in the ongoing antitrust lawsuit against the Android maker.<\/strong> In it, Google disputes that its incentive program for developers to publish to the Play Store would prohibit developers from creating competing app stores, as alleged. It also noted the motion from Epic and Match comes too late, after the December 3, 2021 amendment deadline.<\/li>\n
    • Google hosted its Android Developer Summit where it announced the first stable release of Compose Material 3,<\/strong>\u00a0the library that allows developers to build Jetpack Compose UIs with Material Design 3.<\/li>\n
    • The company also announced updates across three main areas of Jetpack:<\/strong> architecture libraries and guidance, application performance and user interface libraries and guidance. It noted that 90% of the top 1,000 apps use Android Jetpack.<\/li>\n
    • Google introduced a Gradle Bill of Materials (BOM) specifying the stable version of each Compose library. The first BOM release, Compose October 22,<\/strong> contains Material Design 3 components, lazy staggered grids, variable fonts, pull to refresh, snapping in lazy lists, draw text in canvas, URL annotations in text, hyphenation and LookAheadLayout. And it launched the first alpha of Compose for Android TV.<\/strong><\/li>\n
    • Android Studio got updates, too, including updated templates for Wear OS. <\/strong>And Google launched\u00a0a stable Android R emulator system image for Wear OS.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n