The latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy can be found in this week's This Week in Apps.
In the first half of the year, global app spending was $65 billion, up slightly from the $64.4 billion in the same period in the previous year. According to multiple year-end reports, the app economy is continuing to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the Apple and Google Play stores. Consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps and global spending was $133 billion.
The latest from the world of apps can be found in this week's edition of This Week in Apps.
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Apple is trying to open up its platforms to allow support for third-party app stores in the EU in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act, which is due to take effect in 2024, according to a report. EU regulators want to level the playing field for app developers and improve the consumer experience, and they believe forcing Apple to compete on merit with other app stores is one way to do it Apple has long argued that third-party stores introduce too much risk to consumers in terms of safety, security and privacy. Apple handles payment processing for the apps it sells on its own store. App makers can't track users with the new App Tracking transparency protections.
Apple is trying to become a bigger competitor in the ads business by focusing on privacy. Some of Apple's protection doesn't apply to its own apps. Many would argue that it seems like an imbalance to charge apps that compete with Apple's own services a commission on their businesses, the way it charges Spotify when it runs Apple Music, or how it charges streaming apps commission when it runs Apple TV+. Apple continues to expand into new app markets, with subscription services like Apple Fitness+, cloud storage through iCloud, and news reading and magazines with News+.
Apple will reportedly allow sideloading apps with iOS 17
App developers feel that Apple's 30% price for discovery, distribution and security is too high. Larger companies are more likely to market, distribute and sell their own apps. The anti-trust issues that Apple is being sued over are currently under appeal. It wants to be able to sell its apps directly to consumers.
Even if the EU force platforms to open up to more competition, it is possible Apple could adjust its policies to apply a commission structure to the third-party apps and app distribution systems.
The problem has been allowed to get this far by Apple. In an effort to appease regulators and lawmakers, the company has cut back on commission for a number of apps. Apple may have made a mistake by not just cutting commission across the board to appease the developer backlash. The downfall of Apple may be its greed as it will now be up to regulators to set the terms.
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There has been a noticeable impact on the App Store's Top Charts this week. The photo and video editing app has a new feature that allows users to turn their selfies into styled portraits of themselves as sci-fi or fantasy characters. Consumer demand for the app, and for AI edits more broadly, pushed numerous other "ai" apps into the U.S. App Store's top charts. The top three spots on the U.S. App Store were all held by artificial intelligence photo editors.
In the first 11 days of December, the app had over 12 million global installs, up 600% from the 1.8 million installs it had in the same period in November. Estimates show that the U.S. accounted for 3.6 million of the new installs.
More artificial intelligence apps have climbed the charts. Eight of the top 100 apps by downloads on the U.S. App Store were artificial intelligence art apps, according to data.
The No.2 and No.3 apps were included. During the month of December, the former saw 1.7 million global installs, up 229% from the 71,000 it saw during the month of November. Dawn saw 1.7 million installs, up from the 28,000 it saw in late November.
There were more than one app in the Top Charts, including Wonder and Voi. In the Graphics & Design category, you can find Profile Artificial Intelligence:Avatar Creator, Dream by Wombo, and Inspire.
It's clear that developers learned to exploit consumer demand for artificial intelligence by stuffing their app names and descriptions with terms like "ai" and "avatar"
Some people are worried about the ethics of using artificial intelligence.
The Stable Diffusion model is controversial for how it uses images from artists without their permission. It was found that Lensa was tricked into making pornography. According to MIT Technology Review, Lensa created topless images and skimpy and sexualized avatars when tried by a female reporter who was of Asian heritage.
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A number of new features have been introduced to make it easier for users to keep up with their real world friends. The new products include Notes, a feature that Meta had considered turning into a competitor to the popular micro-messaging service. Adding a different format for social updates beyond the images and videos is possible with Notes.
The idea of leaving text notes for others to read is similar to the idea of hand-picking people who can read your posts. Users can leave notes by going to the top of their inbox and selecting the followers they follow from their existing list. They will type out the note in 60 characters or less. For 24 hours, the note will appear at the top of friends' inboxes, and replies will be sent as Direct Messages.
Meta had considered making Notes a more direct competitor to the social networking site. The New York Times reported that Meta considered making Notes its own feed in the app. The product that the company is launching has been in testing for a while. It's too bad.
Here are the top features of Apple’s iOS 16.2 update
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Twitter suspends Mastodon’s account and bans links to Mastodon servers
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Netflix rolls out two more mobile games, will release a Vikings: Valhalla game next year
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A former Amazon Prime Video executive co-founded the video shopping app Trendio. The app offers easy ways to purchase beauty products through live and recorded videos from creators, as well as personalized content. Coola and Avene are supported brands.
The startup was co-founded by the former vice president of Prime Video U.S. and head of Beauty at CVS. Also on the team are Julie Novak and a former head of Make-up category management. The full review can be found here.