Initially, additional advertising spaces are to be set up in the App Store as a test. Meanwhile, Apple has to deal with criticism of the approach to crypto apps.
Apple opens up the App Store even more for advertising and thus also increases its income. In the future, app developers can also allocate advertising space in the “Today” tab, which appears first after opening the App Store app, and in the app recommendations, which are displayed on the detail pages of individual apps.
The new placement options should first be tested with a small group of developers before they are available to everyone, reports MacRumors. So far, app developers can only place their ads in the search results and in the search tab in the recommendations displayed there. In the future, ads that should be clearly recognizable as such would also appear between the editorial contributions of the App Store and in the app recommendations of individual apps. In Germany, Apple introduced search advertising in August 2018.
Personalized advertising possible with restrictions
However, it remains the case that only advertising for other apps should appear in the App Store. Apple continues to apply much stricter criteria for targeted display than its competitors: When using Apple’s apps for the first time, users are asked whether they allow personalized advertising. According to MacRumors, people seem to make a lot of use of rejecting this. According to MacRumors, 78 percent of the search volume in the App Store is generated by users who have switched off personalized advertising. In any case, Apple excludes all users under the age of 18 and accounts with connected minors under the age of 13 from targeting.
In addition, tailored advertising does not allow audiences smaller than 5,000. Denomination, political orientation and health are not selectable criteria. In addition, advertising cannot be displayed across apps via an Apple ID linked to the user. While Apple is aggressively promoting the data protection of its system, the Federal Cartel Office has been taking a closer look since June 2022 to see whether Apple is not granting exceptions to itself. The IT company denies that.
Criticism, Changes and Crypto
Smaller developers in particular are critical of what Apple presents as a service to developers so that they can grow with their apps: They would be more interested in Apple improving the charts and other overviews that draw new users’ attention to apps to read in reactions. Advertising could be afforded primarily by those who are already successful. But Apple’s ability to decide what’s best for developers will shrink with the Digital Services Act in the European Union. Among other things, the new law provides for alternative app stores.
Apple is currently also facing headwinds in its home country, the USA. There, the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs now has Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a questionnaire for the publication of crypto apps in the App Store. By August 10, Cook is to explain the criteria used to check them and what Apple is doing to prevent fake apps from appearing in the App Store users. The committee cites investigations by the FBI that some users have lost a lot of money through fake crypto apps.
