Class-action lawsuit could force Apple to compensate users for app prices

A class-action lawsuit filed in the UK wants to force Apple to compensate users for potentially inflated app prices.

Until recently, Apple took a 30 percent commission on all app sales. Most app developers feel the cut is unjustifiable and critics believe that it’s an abuse of Apple’s market dominance.

Apple claims the legal action is “meritless”.

Similar criticisms have been made about other app stores but Apple’s grip over its operating system means...

11 May 2021 | App Stores

Report: 96% of iOS 14.5 users in the US are blocking ad tracking

According to a new report, around 96 percent of iOS users in the US are using Apple’s new privacy feature to block ad tracking.

Starting with iOS 14.5, apps that wish to track users for advertising purposes must ask for explicit user consent.

Flurry Analytics has been tracking daily opt-in and opt-out rates following iOS 14.5’s launch and found that – of a sample of 2.5 million active users – only around four percent in the US are allowing apps access to their...

7 May 2021 | Advertising

Google CEO teases ‘significant’ announcements at I/O 2021 as some normality returns

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told investors this week to expect “significant product updates and announcements” at this year’s I/O developer conference.

Pichai said the company’s product releases are returning to their normal pace now that employees have adjusted to working from home.

Google is allowing employees to return voluntarily from next month and is expanding its remote working policy to allow for working from overseas for more than 14 days a year if they...

29 April 2021 | Android

Apple and Google ‘hold data hostage’ with their platform rules, Senate told

During a hearing, US senators were told Apple and Google “hold data hostage” with their platform rules.

The two largest mobile platform-holders are under scrutiny from the Senate anti-trust committee and smaller companies such as Spotify, Tile, and Tinder-owner Match have been airing their grievances.

Kirsten Daru, Tile's General Counsel, said: "We welcome competition but it has to be fair competition and Apple's idea of competing is patently...

23 April 2021 | App Stores

Play Store’s AI security blocks almost one million policy-violating apps

Google’s AI-powered Play Store security has blocked almost one million policy-violating apps from reaching users.

In a blog post, Google detailed what it’s been doing to protect the billions of Android users and millions of developers creating apps for the world’s largest mobile platform.

2020 was a year when many of us made sacrifices to our freedoms to protect not just ourselves, but those around us. Unfortunately, criminals sought to take advantage of more...

22 April 2021 | AI

Report: Developing markets are suffering a mobile malware pandemic

Anti-fraud platform Secure-D has released a report highlighting the mobile malware pandemic that developing markets are suffering.

The report is based on Secure-D’s processing of one billion mobile transactions and service sign-ups for 35 mobile operators in 23 emerging markets, helping to protect a total of almost 840 million users.  

Secure-D detected 46,000 malicious apps; with around one in six (16%) mobile devices in emerging markets carrying at least...

21 April 2021 | Android

HARMAN’s Ignite Store Developers Portal provides a hub for Android Automotive devs

Samsung subsidiary HARMAN has launched the Ignite Store Developers Portal, a hub for the Android Automotive developer community.

HARMAN is traditionally an audio company but began its transition towards offering connected services in 2015 following the acquisitions of Redbend and Symphony Teleca. The following year, HARMAN acquired automotive cybersecurity firm TowerSec.

The company now has years of experience in the automotive industry and launched the HARMAN Ignite...

20 April 2021 | Android

Zoom is pumping $100M into advancing its third-party app ecosystem

Zoom is building on the momentum it’s gained over the past year with the launch of a $100 million fund to advance its third-party ecosystem.

During 2020, Zoom's business customer base grew by 470.33 percent. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom's business customer base had grown 217.44 percent across the two years between January 2018 and 2019.

Third-party app developers have been sharing in the company’s success through Zoom Apps, which were first announced during...

19 April 2021 | Ecosystem

Open-source solution switches GMS for HMS to enable AppGallery distribution

Bluesource has released a solution that switches apps using GMS (Google Mobile Services) for HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) to enable AppGallery distribution.

The open-source solution is called the Choice SDK and aims to save developers time and cost in converting their existing apps which use GMS and Firebase frameworks to be usable in Huawei’s ecosystem.

Martin Sprengseis-Kogler, Managing Partner at Bluesource, said:

“Businesses across Europe would like to...

14 April 2021 | Android

Huawei aims for HarmonyOS to connect 300M devices this year

Huawei’s in-house operating system HarmonyOS is aiming to connect 300 million devices by the end of this year.

The OS claims to enable devices to connect and collaborate “in a single language” to deliver a seamless user experience. The concept can be likened to Microsoft’s ambitious Universal Windows Platform (UWP) which, though exciting, has struggled to gain traction.

Huawei’s universal platform effort may fare better than Microsoft’s thanks to support for...

12 April 2021 | Ecosystem