Apple’s new policy to show more advertising in the App Store is the subject of much criticism, especially on the promotion of gambling. Faced with complaints, the firm has already had to backtrack…

Apple’s new policy to show more advertising in the App Store is the subject of much criticism, especially on the promotion of gambling. Faced with complaints, the firm has already had to backtrack…

All is well – or almost – for Apple. The Cupertino company has just published record results with a turnover of 90.1 billion dollars over the last three months – more than the GDP of some countries… –, an increase of 8% over one year . A good progression in this gloomy period, marked by generalized inflation – and despite the very mixed reception of the iPhone 14, which does not arouse the desired enthusiasm, in particular for the Plus version, whose production will be reduced. But this is obviously not enough for Apple, which always wants more! And to rake in even more money, Apple recently decided to boost its already substantial advertising revenues by including more ads in its App Store – its essential application store on iPhone and iPad. But the selection of sponsored software is far from unanimous, quite the contrary! And just a few days after setting up its new ad system, the Apple firm had to backtrack in the face of discontent from users and developers.

Advertising on the App Store: the discontent against gambling

The fact that the firm allows advertisers to promote their apps on app categories other than their own product is annoying, especially when it comes to gambling and casino games. “My app page now displays gambling ads, and I’m not okay with that. Apple shouldn’t be okay with that either.”, sorry Marco Arment – who is known for working on Tumblr and developing Instapaper and Overcast. Same story on the side of Simon Støvring, the developer of Scriptable, Jayson and Data Jar. It’s even more horrible when you see that ads of this type are even in the lead on applications to help people addicted to games or intended for children! Even Apple’s apps aren’t spared – what’s the connection between Apple Books and an erotic cat ?

These new announcements raise other issues, as Apple is moving away from the policies the company championed under former CEO Steve Jobs and for which the company is famous. For his part, legal expert Florian Mueller considered that the advertisements are “another way to increase the effective rate of app tax, by forcing developers to buy ads on their own app pages to prevent others from driving customers away from those pages”. This is all the more embarrassing since Apple is already in the sights of legislators in several countries due to its monopoly position on the iPhone. Faced with criticism, the firm announced, in a press release sent to McRumorshave “paused gambling ads, and a few other categories on App Store product pages“, without however justifying its excesses. Perhaps it could be inspired by Google, which now makes it possible to specify the “sensitive” subjects that one wants to avoid seeing in advertisements – alcohol, games of money, dating, weight loss, pregnancy and parenthood – thanks to its My Advertising Preferences…

Apple App Store: ads from the home page

Admittedly, advertising continues to invade services and applications! After social networks – Facebook and Instagram are integrating more and more sponsored channels to the detriment of their users’ interests – it’s the builders’ turn to give in to the sirens of this – comfortable – source of income. While Glance undertakes to display advertising from the lock screen of the smartphone, Apple is also attacking the development of advertising. La Pomme is not a beginner in the field of advertising. In the United States and English-speaking countries, the firm places ads in the News and Stocks application. On Apple TV+ too, advertisements have appeared during baseball games offered by the streaming service for a short time. And that’s just the beginning…

As a reminder, the App Store has included – since 2016 in the United States and in 2018 in France – ads, in the form of banners, but only in the Search tab. They take the form of suggestions surrounded by a blue box, in order to distinguish them from simple recommendations. In the search results, Apple systematically puts in the first place an advertisement for which the developers have paid in order to obtain the best position. In September 2021, the firm began asking users for permission to enable personalization of sponsored content. It has taken the next step by integrating advertising from the Today tab – in other words, the homepage – but also in the individual pages of each application since October 25th.

“The exposure this location provides makes it an ideal choice for raising awareness of your app, especially when launching new content, special events and seasonal promotions.“, explained Apple in an attempt to attract future investors. These ads take the form of a large blue block with screenshots of the app in question and a small “Announcement” badge. on the product pages, they display “in all relevant app categories” in order to “Promote your app to interested people when they visit different pages in the App Store.“

The “Today” tab is the area in which we arrive each time you log in to the App Store. It presents the latest news, best sellers and application suggestions based on those already downloaded on the platform. the firm now places sponsored content to promote an application, or display a selection of software classified according to a specific theme.They are identifiable by the presence of a small blue cartridge on the side.

Advertisements are also present in the individual pages of the apps. At the very bottom of the screen, there goes a “You may also like” section to suggest software that the user might like. Of course, the first application offered is an advertisement paid for by the software publisher. Note, however, that ad buyers cannot themselves target the pages on which to display their ads.

iOS: soon advertisements in native applications?

Apple seems to want to significantly increase its advertising revenue. Revenues that are already very comfortable, which would already amount to some 4 billion dollars per year according to Mark Gurmann, the famous journalist of Bloomberg specializing in news from the Apple firm. As he explains in an article published on August 14, 2022, this turnover could well jump, Todd Teresi, vice-president of the advertising branch of Apple, indeed wishing to increase it to 10 billion dollars per year at least. And, to achieve this, iodée would directly integrate advertising into the applications installed as standard on iPhones and iPads – the so-called “native” applications –, in addition to that added in the App Store, the app store. An intrusion that may not please all users…

Apple could well display more sponsored advertisements in its Maps, Books or Podcasts applications. Indeed, according to Mark Gurmann, the firm has several leads for that. First, Apple Plans could offer merchants to buy advertising banners to appear ahead of the competition during a search. Apple Podcasts and Apple Books could also host ads while browsing. Attention is also on the side of Apple TV Plus, the company’s SVOD service, which could offer a new, cheaper subscription formula on the condition of accepting advertisements, like what Disney + and Netflix are in the process of setting up.

Since April 2021, Apple has encouraged iPhone and iPad owners to opt out of ad tracking. In May 2022, the firm even deployed an advertising campaign dedicated to privacy on television and on social networks. One of them depicts an auction during which several actors fight to acquire the data of an iPhone user. The addition of advertisements may therefore seem somewhat contradictory, although Apple ensures that these advertisements will respect its standards for the protection of privacy. The giant with the apple explains that “Apple Search Ads gives developers of all sizes the opportunity to grow their business. Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built on the same basics: they will only contain content from approved App Store product pages and will adhere to the same rigorous standards of confidentiality.” There is therefore a priori nothing to fear on this side, but that does not prevent this decision from impacting users, especially since they are obliged to go through this store to download applications, unlike Android. More generally, this more “aggressive” advertising strategy could have a hard time getting through to users, who agree to pay for more expensive devices so as not to be bothered by this kind of inconvenience…