Apple cracking down even tighter on recommendation apps

Dave LeClair

Posts: 75   +1

apple app store apps app development recommendations

App discovery and recommendation applications for iOS recently made the news after Apple yanked a couple of popular alternatives from its store, AppGratis and AppShopper. Now, PocketGamer is reporting that the Cupertino-based firm is cracking down even harder on such applications and has been rejecting more apps based on the same rule that caused the aforementioned ones to be removed in the first place.

The rule in question is known as App Store regulation 2.25 and restricts any apps that could be confused with the App Store itself, including apps that feature "filtering, bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations." That's a sizeable group of apps, as there are a slew of them designed to help people spot apps that have gone free for a limited time, or offer a better user review system than the official App Store.

PocketGamer spoke to a developer who claimed that their app "primarily focused on sharing recommendations to your friends." According to him, this falls outside of the general scope of rule 2.25, and is not something that could be confused with the App Store itself, yet Apple decided to ban them anyway. This is a scary prospect for other developers, as Apple expanding the scope of this rule could cause them to see a fate similar to that of AppGratis and AppShopper, both of which came back to the App Store with some key changes.

An interesting theory for Apple's reasoning behind these moves is that the company has some plans to tweak the functionality of the App Store with the impending release of iOS 7. Perhaps some of the features included in the social and recommendations applications will be added by Apple, and it is striking out at them preemptively. 

Permalink to story.

 
Their ultimate goal is probably to get rid of all free apps. Why should people get something for nothing when they can't profit from it.
 
Apple iPhone has flat lined!

no more room to grow .. will probably stay steady ..and start to decline over next 5 - 10 years ... as competition eats away some market share...

until a new direction in technology is discovered .. it will stay this way

MS has a great opportunity to give apple a run for its MONEY ..then decided to throw it ALL away by going with a closed system .. just like Apple .. and at best .. becoming the second best ...

in reality they are not even the third best IMO .. so ...

IF Bill Gates was calling the shots ... MS would probably stick closer to its roots ...and we would have a real alternative to apple. Now its just a wanna be copy of apple .. closed system
 
Apple iPhone has flat lined!

no more room to grow .. will probably stay steady ..and start to decline over next 5 - 10 years ... as competition eats away some market share...

until a new direction in technology is discovered .. it will stay this way

MS has a great opportunity to give apple a run for its MONEY ..then decided to throw it ALL away by going with a closed system .. just like Apple .. and at best .. becoming the second best ...

in reality they are not even the third best IMO .. so ...

IF Bill Gates was calling the shots ... MS would probably stick closer to its roots ...and we would have a real alternative to apple. Now its just a wanna be copy of apple .. closed system
Heh, you were sounding okay but the last 3 paragraphs killed you. And then you said that Windows was an "alternative to apple"? Bahaha, Guests always amuse me :p
 
Apple is simply a garbage company.

They restrict not only their users, but also the developers to no end.

They seem to seek complete control and perhaps during the days of

One man leading the charge, with a vision, was a smart thing.

Now however, they just want to rob people of their freedoms in using their

products, while trying to delude the very same people into thinking they're either

more free or different in some unique way. There's no point in purchasing their

overpriced hardware, except either for bragging rights or eye-catching designs.

As for their software, there's no point either. Why rob yourself of what little freedom

you already get everywhere else? ... There's a reason they call it "jailbreaking":
 
Apple iPhone has flat lined!

no more room to grow .. will probably stay steady ..and start to decline over next 5 - 10 years ... as competition eats away some market share...

until a new direction in technology is discovered .. it will stay this way

MS has a great opportunity to give apple a run for its MONEY ..then decided to throw it ALL away by going with a closed system .. just like Apple .. and at best .. becoming the second best ...

in reality they are not even the third best IMO .. so ...

IF Bill Gates was calling the shots ... MS would probably stick closer to its roots ...and we would have a real alternative to apple. Now its just a wanna be copy of apple .. closed system

Lets see Microsoft has really only been in it since windows 8 hit and has 10% of the market
share and its been less than a year so how is it they failed? all they have to do is make stuff better and better and grow market share. I think they are doing well and will get better and take more share
 
Anyone else here old enough to remember why we all started using 'IBM' computers back in the 80's instead of Macs? It's because IBM was willing to let others make computers using their platform, while Apple did not. A few years later there's a whole business making PCs with Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP and IBM all competing while Apple fell behind. That missed opportunity led to Jobs getting fired.

Today, iPods and Smartphones don't have the same problem as the PC because it's much easier to make a 1-size-fits all smartphone and control the experience completely. But I read today an interview with mark zuckerberg, and their new Facebook Home platform for smartphones will only work on Android phones because Apple doesn't allow developers to mess with the lock screen and make news feeds for it. So Facebook is using Google's OS. Google... makers of Google+, Facebook's biggest competition. Surveys show people spend over 20% of the time on their smartphone looking at FB. the next highest apps were Google maps and Instragram at 3%. (thanks WIRED http://www.wired.com/magazine/2013/04/facebookqa/ )

Apple better be careful, because they are risking going down in history as the dumbest bunch of brilliant people ever to make $50 billion a year. They're already the only company I can think of who can report making $10 billion a quarter in profit and have their share price go down.

Learn from your mistakes, Apple. Technology is about giving people freedom.
 
I love the free apps I have gotten from AppGratis. But ever since the app was kicked out of the app store, the apps offered by them have been bad.
 
Heh, you were sounding okay but the last 3 paragraphs killed you. And then you said that Windows was an "alternative to apple"? Bahaha, Guests always amuse me :p

Its the registered users that amuse everyone the most specially when we have someone called m4a4 that cant read at all I mean come one he either cant read or is partially blind no where on the site did anyone say windows was an alternative to apple.

Next time make sure to read stuff properly without getting a ego get in the way, no one likes someone taking the mick out of someone because they blindly read it.

Android is a alternative to apple but microsoft kinda blew it.
 
Its the registered users that amuse everyone the most specially when we have someone called m4a4 that cant read at all I mean come one he either cant read or is partially blind no where on the site did anyone say windows was an alternative to apple.

Next time make sure to read stuff properly without getting a ego get in the way, no one likes someone taking the mick out of someone because they blindly read it.

Android is a alternative to apple but microsoft kinda blew it.
...Are you kidding me? I have to say Windows Phone for you to get it? Yeah, you're right. Registered users amuse everyone the most...
 
Dear Lord, I wish I would be spared all the crap about "apps". The TV commercials and news are just chock full of crapware, like the f***ing, "order a coffee app", "the weather app", the "order a pizza app, "instant sport scores app", the blah, blah, yadda, yadda app, etc., ad nauseum.

Really, if you're in you car there's already "eyewitness weather app" for that". Just look out the ******** window. Unless of course, your new 4G phone is letting you text, try to drive, and download "Angry Birds" at the same time. In that case, you're a true sociopath that needs the whole road to your self. The rest of us just pray that the DOT in your home state will make you download , "the ankle monitor", "sentenced to public service", and "collision avoidance radar apps".

You're not going to be able to do anything about the sport scores, and bad news travels fast anyway, so there's another app to trash.

Although, if you're stupid enough to pay Starbuck's six bucks for a cup of coffee, you could arguably be stupid enough to need a computer app to help you.
 
Back