Cut-throat competition in app store has led to iPhone developers embracing pay to inflate services to push their apps in the top rankings. Many of the marketing firms offering such services employ automated scripts or bots to falsely boost app rankings in the app store. However, according to a report in theguardian, Apple has warned app developers against using such fraudulent services with the penalty of being stripped from releasing any app in the store in future. The iPhone maker has earlier barred iPad and iPhone app developers from using Tapjoy, which involved offering virtual currencies in one game in lieu of downloading another game.

In a note addressed to iPhone developers, the company said-

Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership.

Yesterday, a thread posted on TouchArcade warned about pay to inflate app promotion services that promise Top 25 rankings for a fee. According to the thread, these services make use of automated scripts or bots to boost app rankings into the top charts.

Experts believe the current move will help Apple in making app store ranking more reliable and accurate. Many customers view these free rankings as a representation of the popularity of apps and make buying decisions. Such app users will greatly benefit from the recent guideline to iphone developers.

As the world steps in to the Holiday season, preparing for Christmas and New Year, iPhone app developers are busy submitting their apps on the app store before it shuts down. The Apple app store will shut down from this Thursday and will reopen after 8 days. During the shutdown, iPhone users would be able to download apps but iPhone app developers will not be able to submit any new app in the store.

App developers are not only intending to submit their applications on the store but are also trying to get their apps on the top 25 lists before app store closes for the Holidays. The top 25 list is where most of the users start their shopping from and is generally used as a benchmark for the popularity of app. Moreover, the app store freezes it ranking before shutting down. So apps on the list will continue to occupy their position in the period.

Many iPhone developers therefore try to get to the top of the list and then bring the prices down so as to leverage from the Holiday shopping mood. The Holiday season sees significant increase in app downloads as people download applications for Christmas, Holiday greetings, travel, hotel search etc. There are already reports of increased sales in iPhone this season.

It would be interesting to see download figures in app store for the holidays, this year.

iPad and iPhone app developers reign supreme in the smartphone application market. Not only in number of apps they develop and market but also in the revenue generated across. Accoding to a report by AppleInsider, Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray says that Google’s Android Market has generated around 7% of the gross revenue that Apple’s App Store has earned since its inception.

In a note to investors, Munster writes “In other words, it appears that Apple has roughly 85-90% market share in dollars spent on mobile applications. While Google has closed the gap in terms of app dollars spent over the last year and we continue to believe Android will grow smartphone share faster than Apple, we believe Apple is likely to maintain 70%+ share of mobile app dollars spent over the next 3-4 years.”

The estimates were drawn according to number publicly released by Cupertino based Apple and from Android app discovery tool, Androlib. According to Munster, $330 million has been raked in the Android Market with only 1.3% of the smartphone apps available being paid.

The estimates reached by Piper Jaffray come from numbers publicly revealed by Apple, as well as data from Androlib, an Android application discovery tool. The total app downloads in Android Market is said to be 6.75 billion app downloads to date, with 90 million of these being paid apps. In comparison, it is estimated that Apple App Store has generated $4.9 billion in gross sales since inception with 14% of total app downloads being paid applications.

In terms of average selling price, Munster suggests that Android phone users pay more for a single app, but download fewer paid apps overall. The top 50 paid apps in Android Market have an average selling price of $3.79, compared to $2.01 on Apple’s App Store.

The latest study one again validates the supremacy of iPad and iPhone app developers in mobile app development. One of the key reasons for the popularity of iOS platform is the monetization opportunities it offers to iPad and iPhone developers. While  it is expected that Android will surpass Apple app store in future, however it is to be seen whether it would be able to match the revenue generation potential of the latter.

Source- AppleInsider

Several app publishers and media companies including Amazon.com, Google, Rhapsody and Spotify have been reported to be hit by the new rules in App Store. According to the latest change in the App Store policy, iPhone developers are required to remove links to their own websites from their apps. This change, according to the app developers, will leave the customers confused and thereby affect their business.

The change in App Store rules were announced two months back but it is only last week that Apple informed developers about its enforcement leading to a slew of updates from the app developers in their applications.

The latest change is a part of a long-running spat between Apple and iOS app developers. Apple takes a 30% commission on revenue earned on applications submitted to its store. Developers feel that the app store rules are framed to protect Apple’s interest in commissions preventing them of earning profits from their creations and services.

Cupertino base Apple is set to introduce a new volume purchasing program which will allow organizations to purchase apps in bulk and distribute it among its workforce. The program will allow organizations of any size to search, buy and distribute apps to its employees. Apple currently runs a similar program for educational institutions and now is targeting enterprises with the similar feature.

Organizations can also get custom B2B apps perfectly built to their requirements by third-party iPhone and iPad developers and business partners to cater to a specific business process, integrate with office environment, or to deliver an interface for their customers. The program, will allow organizations to securely and privately purchase apps for iPhone and iPad.

The Volume Purchasing Program also makes it easy to distribute applications within the organization. The buying organization will get redemption codes for each app. These app codes then can be sent to users via email. Organizations can also use third-party Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to manage distribution of codes centrally.

IPad, iPod or iPhone developers registered with the iOS Developer program can build custom B2B apps for customers enrolled in the Volume Purchase Program.

Businesses in the US can participate in the Volume Purchasing Program by enrolling and creating an account with Apple.

Reports say that Apple has made price changes for its products in several countries. There has been lowering and increase in prices in many countries. In addition to the United Kingdom, pricing changes have happened in a number of country specific App Stores. While Australia, Japan and Switzerland saw a price drop in its app stores prices went up in Mexico and Norway.

The fluctuations in dollar have led to discrepancies in pricing in many countries and with this pricing rejig, Apple seems to have attempted to address that and brought some parity.

Apple yesterday announced that more than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store by over 200 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users across the world. The App Store offers over 425,000 apps and more than 100,000 native iPad apps.

“In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

“Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

The Apple App Store is available to iPhone users in 90 countries and offers apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, education, sports, health, reference and travel. Apple has paid iOS developers over $2.5 billion up till now.

There are over 100,000 apps available for iPad on the App Store. The figure was reached less than 16 months since the iPad was released. The number consist of only those applications that are written exclusively for the Apple’s tablet and does not include iPhone apps that also run on iPad.

With over 425,000 applications, Apple’s App Store is the biggest store and is one of major reasons behind the popularity of Apple devices. As app usage increase, application choices have become one of the major determining factors in the Tablet buying decision. And, with the app number increasing for iPad, rivals like Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom will have difficult time luring buyers.

A study to unravel download volumes of apps in Google Android market, conducted by Distimo reveals interesting insights on download volumes vis-à-vis Apple App Store. The study found that it is more difficult for Android developers in comparison to iPhone developers to monetize using on-off fee. Some of the key findings of the study are-

• 96 apps have been downloaded over 5 million times in the Google Android Market. Google Maps is the only app with over 50 million downloads, making it the most popular application of all-time in this store.

• 20 percent of all free mobile apps and 80 percent of all paid apps have been downloaded less than 100 times in the Google Android Market.

• Only 2 paid apps have been downloaded more than half a million times in the Google Android Market, whereas 6 paid iPhone generate the same number of downloads within two months in the US alone.

• There are five games in Google Android Market with more than 250,000 downloads while ten iPhone games generate over 250,000 downloads in the US alone in two months.

• There were 94 distinct apps with a top 10 position in the Apple App Store in the month of April in the US; while there were only 26 distinct apps that reached a top 10 position in the Google Android Market.

Interested iPhone developers can read the full report here.

Apple temporarily suspended accepting apps with in-app purchasing feature from iPhone developers following legal notices sent by Lodsys to developers and publishers. AppleInsider has posted an update which reads “Though in-app purchases were problematic for some developers for a week now, the issues in the system have reportedly been addressed, suggesting that any holdup was not related to the patent infringement suit.”

Several websites on Wednesday reported that iPad and iPhone developers are not getting approvals for their apps from the Apple App Store. Though it was not certain, but there was widespread belief that Apple has temporary suspended App Store approvals for apps with in-app features because of the patent infringement issue.

Lodsys has served legal notices to many iPad and iPhone developer for using its in-app purchasing feature. Yesterday, there were reports that Apple’s legal team is closely investigating the patent infringement issue.

Via AppleInsider