Huawei’s AppGallery almost doubled its distributions over the past year

Despite the global pressures on its business, Huawei continues to post impressive figures.

Huawei’s AppGallery is one of the largest app stores in the world. Over the past 12 months, AppGallery has witnessed a 33 percent growth in monthly active users (MAUs) and distributed 83 percent more apps.

Zhang Zhe, Director of Global Partnerships & Eco-Development Business Development at Huawei Consumer Business Group, said:

“At the end of 2019, there were 25...

1 March 2021 | App Stores

Charles Hoskinson, Founder, Cardano: On the opportunities for decentralised apps

Blockchain platform Cardano aims to disrupt unfair legacy centralised systems and distribute power to individuals around the world, but it needs your help.

The decentralisation movement really started when Bitcoin was released in 2009 as a global digital currency with a fixed supply that’s immune to inflation, has no central bank, and cannot be shut down.

However, Bitcoin has its limitations. While it’s arguably the ultimate “store of value” asset – which is...

22 February 2021 | Blockchain

Epic Games takes its Apple antitrust lawsuit across the pond

Clearly unhappy with the lack of progress it’s making in the US, Epic Games is also launching its antitrust lawsuit against Apple in the UK.

Apple removed Epic’s hit game Fortnite from the App Store last year for using its own billing system rather than Cupertino’s own—thus evading the 30 percent cut taken by the iPhone maker.

“Epic believes that you have a right to save money thanks to using more efficient, new purchase options. Apple’s rules add a 30% tax...

15 January 2021 | App Stores

Google looks set to finally release the Tiles API for WearOS

Google appears to be gearing up to finally release the Tiles API for its WearOS wearable platform.

Compared to Apple’s WatchOS, developments for WearOS are so few and far between that it often feels that Google has given up.  However, it’s clear Google hasn’t fully thrown in the towel when it comes to its wearable platform.

In 2019, (yes, 2019…) Google announced ‘Tiles’ for WearOS. Tiles are essentially widgets which offer glanceable information to the...

5 January 2021 | API

Apple is notifying devs if they’ve qualified to keep more App Store profits

Apple is notifying developers that applied for its Small Business Program if they’ve qualified to keep more of their App Store profits.

Under the program, Apple will reduce its cut of App Store sales from 30 percent to a fairer 15 percent. Developers that applied on time and qualified have begun being notified:

https://twitter.com/aserkaradeniz/status/1341658991697518593

Any iOS developer which earns under $1 million in sales per year is eligible for the program....

23 December 2020 | App Stores

Progressive Web Apps on Chrome OS will soon support in-app purchases

Google will soon enable support for in-app purchases in Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on Chrome OS.

Mountain View has long been an advocate of PWAs—unsurprising, really, considering Google is the world’s largest web services company.

What is therefore surprising is how long it’s taken for Google to provide support for in-app purchases in PWAs on Chrome OS. Better late than never and all that, though.

Although Android apps are now supported on many...

10 December 2020 | Ecosystem

Native apps vs. WordPress PWAs: Let battle commence

Sponsored When it comes to the world of technology, nothing lasts forever. Just ask Sony, whose revolutionary Betamax machine lost its market primacy to VHS, which in turn was obliterated by the DVD, only for on-demand streaming; okay, you get the idea.

Much like streaming dominates our viewing lives, native apps have become an essential, seemingly immovable pillar of digital strategy, the go-to platform for businesses looking to interface with their customers on mobile. And for...

26 November 2020 | Design

Apple is dropping its cut of most App Store sales to 15 percent

Apple’s cut from most sales on the App Store is dropping to 15 percent in January following increasing pressure.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Apple said its new App Store Small Business Program will enable any developer which earns under $1 million in sales per year to keep more of their revenue.

The previous 30 percent cut Apple took from App Store transactions has come under increased scrutiny over the past year. Apple says the “vast majority” of iOS...

18 November 2020 | App Stores

Opinion: How can overseas developers capitalise on the world’s largest app market?

It’s a question many in the mobile application sector ask regularly – how do you get an app to take off in the lucrative and ever-growing Chinese app market?

The statistics about the smartphone industry and mobile usage in the world’s largest country are emphatic – 1.3 billion mobile internet users, almost 100 billion app downloads in 2019, half of the global consumer spending on mobile apps, and a mobile gaming industry that accounted for US$15B in the first six months of...

5 November 2020 | Android

Play Store downloads hit 28.3 billion during lockdown

It seems Android users spent their extra time during lockdown trying some new apps.

According to data from SensorTower, 24.3 billion apps were downloaded from the Play Store in Q1 2020. This jumped to 28 billion downloads in Q2 and peaked at 28.3 billion in Q3. For perspective, that represents a 31 percent year-on-year increase.

These were the most popular categories of downloads on the Play Store in Q2 2020:

Gaming (13.49%)Education (9.11%)Business (6.95%)Tools...

22 October 2020 | Android