Apple’s App Store is changing, starting with subscriptions
At next week’s WWDC, Apple is set to unveil some major changes to the way developers and users interact with the App Store. According to Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing (and perennial WWDC keynote presence) Phil Schiller, Apple is working to improve everything from the app review experience to the discovery process. But the most notable change is a shift in the business models to allow for subscriptions from any kind of app.
As The Verge reports today, the 70/30 revenue split between developers and Apple will stay in place, but apps that keep a user subscribed for more than a year will see that split shift in their favor to 85/15. “Now we’re going to open up to all categories,” Schiller told The Verge, “and that includes games, which is a huge category.”
According to LoopInsight, developers will be able to choose “one of over 200 subscription price points” and will be able to create region-specific pricing. If a developer chooses to raise a subscription price, users will have to re-authorize the price increase. The new system will also effect current subscription-based apps.
The shift looks enticing for developers, who will now be able to offer their apps and games for a monthly fee rather than a single price up front. And with iPhone sales finally on the decline, the arrangement also allows Apple to turn existing users into even more lucrative revenue streams.
Also per Schiller, Apple will be introducing display ads into the iOS App Store search results for the first time. Although Apple has previously stated that Featured positioning in the App Store is “not for sale,” Schiller now feels confident they’ve built a system that will work for everyone. The auction system behind the ads, Schiller said, will be “fair to developers and fair for indie developers, too.”
As for the app review process, Schiller says that the turnaround time has dropped to the point where a full half of the apps submitted to Apple are reviewed in the first 24 hours and 90 percent are reviewed within two days.
Finally, Schiller is looking to drive even more traffic to the App Store, to the point where it becomes a daily visit for most users. One of the ways Apple plans to do that is to add a “Share” button to every app’s 3D Touch menu on the home screen. As you might expect, tapping the share button allows you to shoot off a download link on your social network of choice.
Google Also Planning to Adopt 85/15 Subscription Revenue Split for Developers
Just hours after Apple announced plans to implement App Store revenue sharing changes that will see developers getting an 85/15 revenue split for subscriptions maintained for longer than a year, Re/code says Google is planning on implementing a similar change for Android.
According to unnamed sources, Google is going to implement the same 85/15 split, but unlike Apple, Google will make the new revenue sharing changes available without the one year requirement. It is not known when Google will roll out its revenue changes to all developers.
Now Google plans to up the ante at its app store: It will also move from a 70/30 split to 85/15 for subscriptions — but instead of requiring developers to hook a subscriber for 12 months before offering the better split, it will make it available right away.
Sources said Google has already been testing the new split with some entertainment companies (so has Apple, to some extent). Google started running the new model over a year ago with video services as a way to get Play subscriptions to work with its TV streaming offerings like the Cast dongle.
Apple currently takes a 30 percent cut of subscription fees in the App Store with 70 percent going to developers, but that’s changing with a new policy that will implement an 85/15 split if a customer stays subscribed to an app for more than one year.
For example, if a customer subscribes to Netflix through the App Store and pays $7.99 per month, for the first year, 30 percent of that amount goes to Apple. If a customer stays subscribed, at the start of the second year, Apple’s share will drop to 15 percent, giving Netflix 85 percent.
In addition to a new revenue sharing model, Apple expanded App Store subscriptions to encompass all App Store categories, giving developers more options for selling their apps and earning revenue, and it introduced ads for App Store search results.
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Apple’s App Store is changing, starting with subscriptions
At next week’s WWDC, Apple is set to unveil some major changes to the way developers and users interact with the App Store. According to Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing (and perennial WWDC keynote presence) Phil Schiller, Apple is working to improve everything from the app review experience to the discovery process. But the most notable change is a shift in the business models to allow for subscriptions from any kind of app.
As The Verge reports today, the 70/30 revenue split between developers and Apple will stay in place, but apps that keep a user subscribed for more than a year will see that split shift in their favor to 85/15. “Now we’re going to open up to all categories,” Schiller told The Verge, “and that includes games, which is a huge category.”
According to LoopInsight, developers will be able to choose “one of over 200 subscription price points” and will be able to create region-specific pricing. If a developer chooses to raise a subscription price, users will have to re-authorize the price increase. The new system will also effect current subscription-based apps.
The shift looks enticing for developers, who will now be able to offer their apps and games for a monthly fee rather than a single price up front. And with iPhone sales finally on the decline, the arrangement also allows Apple to turn existing users into even more lucrative revenue streams.
Also per Schiller, Apple will be introducing display ads into the iOS App Store search results for the first time. Although Apple has previously stated that Featured positioning in the App Store is “not for sale,” Schiller now feels confident they’ve built a system that will work for everyone. The auction system behind the ads, Schiller said, will be “fair to developers and fair for indie developers, too.”
As for the app review process, Schiller says that the turnaround time has dropped to the point where a full half of the apps submitted to Apple are reviewed in the first 24 hours and 90 percent are reviewed within two days.
Finally, Schiller is looking to drive even more traffic to the App Store, to the point where it becomes a daily visit for most users. One of the ways Apple plans to do that is to add a “Share” button to every app’s 3D Touch menu on the home screen. As you might expect, tapping the share button allows you to shoot off a download link on your social network of choice.
Apple’s ‘Doom and Gloom’ Sentiment Reaches ‘Extreme Levels,’ but iPhone Sales Should Hit Bottom This Quarter
Apple analyst Brian White of Wall Street brokerage firm Drexel Hamilton has issued a research note to investors in which he estimates that Apple will reach a bottom in iPhone sales, and overall revenue and profit, in the third quarter of the 2016 fiscal year, a three-month period that ends in late June.
White claimed that all of Apple’s supply chain partners that his firm tracks reported May sales that were “softer than historical averages” due to the slowdown, but he forecasted that the much-rumored iPhone 7 series will help Apple’s smartphone business return to growth by the second quarter of fiscal 2017.
Until then, the bleeding isn’t over. The firm estimated Apple will sell 38.5 million iPhones in the June quarter, down from 47.5 million in the year-ago quarter, followed by an estimated 41 million and 72.3 million sales in the September and December quarters respectively, both of which would also mark year-over-year declines.
White predicted that iPhone sales will then rebound to an estimated 56 million, 45.4 million, and 47.3 million in the subsequent three quarters, signaling a return to modest year-over-year growth throughout 2017. iPhone sales are estimated to reach 76.3 million by the first quarter of fiscal 2018, which would be a record breaker.
It was initially reported that Apple suppliers projected weak demand for the iPhone 7 series due to a “lack of innovation,” with other market conditions to blame, but a subsequent report said Apple has asked suppliers prepare for the highest iPhone production target in “about two years.”
Apple also reportedly increased iPhone SE orders last month due to strong sales, and the lower-priced 4-inch smartphone should help boost overall iPhone sales.
Mac sales are also expected to bottom out, but not until the second quarter of the 2017 fiscal year, when sales drop to an estimated 3.7 million compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter. Mac sales are then estimated to reach 3.9 million, 4.4 million, and 4.44 million in the subsequent three quarters.
Given the current “gloom and doom” sentiment surrounding Apple reaching “extreme levels” this year, Drexel Hamilton believes the company’s stock represents an “exceptional value.” AAPL is currently trading in around the $98 to $100 range, while the firm has set a “buy” status with a price target of $185.
In April, Apple reported its first year-over-year decline in iPhone sales and quarterly revenue since 2003, and its third quarter guidance of between $41 billion and $43 billion in revenue, which would be up to 18 percent lower than the year-ago quarter, suggests that trend will continue through the first half of 2016.
Brian White is a longtime but somewhat infamous Apple analyst that currently serves as Global Head of Technology Hardware and Software at institutional brokerage firm Drexel Hamilton. He previously worked at investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, where he held the same title, and Topeka Capital Markets.
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Tags: earnings, Brian White, AAPL
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Run Android on an iPhone – with some heavy engineering and caveats
Familiar with cramming one operating system into somewhere it doesn’t belong, developers at Tendigi have just created a homemade iPhone case that lets you run Android on your iOS smartphone. (Well, kind of). Fortunately, because of the Android Open Source Project, it gave Nick Lee the freedom to clone the mobile OS and build his own local hardware. Before he went that far, Lee decided to test the concept — streaming Android across to an iPhone through a cable — with a Nexus 5. He needed tools that could communicate with iOS, as well as services that let USB cables play nice with an iPhone. Lee also crafted software that transmitted what was happening on the Android devices’ screen to the iPhone, while also send touch-input back. The next challenge: cramming it all into an iPhone “case”. See it working after the break.
He then made his own tiny Android development board (all the technical specifics are here), linking it to the soon-to-be franken-iPhone and its own power supply, prototyping and 3D-printing an enclosure to house it all and attach to the iPhone. It’s not the prettiest case, and really you’re ‘streaming’ Android to your iPhone screen, but it’s the man-hours thought that counts, right?
Source: Tendigi
Google’s new iOS app turns Live Photos into GIFs
Cinemagraphs — those artsy hybrids of animated gifs and film stills — used to require a good deal of work to set up and create. That changes today with Google’s latest iOS app Motion Stills, which uses Apple’s Live Photos feature along with Google’s own video stabilization to freeze the background of your photos and create dramatic looping gifs or video snippets.
The Motion Stills app combines a couple pieces of technology Google already featured in Photos, like video stabilization and auto-creating gifs from bursts of photos. According to Google, the new Motion Stills algorithm “uses linear programming to compute a virtual camera path that is optimized to recast videos and bursts as if they were filmed using stabilization equipment, yielding a still background or creating cinematic pans to remove shakiness.” In other words: you’ve got a virtual tripod or steadicam rig built right in.
In addition to keeping your shots steady, the algorithm does a lot of heavy lifting to identify moving objects in the foreground to keep them isolated from movement in the background. And for a handy bonus, it will also pick an optimal loop point to cut off those embarrassing moments when your video ends with you putting your phone back in your pocket.
The app works its magic on your phone, so you won’t need a data connection to create your latest masterpiece, but you will, of course, need a signal to share it to your social network of choice. Motion Stills is available on the App Store.
Custom Built Case Allows Android to Work With an iPhone
Developer and Tendigi CTO Nick Lee, who previously got an Apple Watch to run Windows 95, today showed off a new project he’s been working on, which allows Android to work with an iPhone using a specialized iPhone case.
As seen in the video below, Lee created a 3D printed iPhone case and outfitted it with a built-in Lemaker HiKey board, a battery pack, and other hardware so it could support a version of Android. The case plugs into an iPhone’s Lightning port, turning the iPhone into a display and emulating touch events on Android. While the iPhone is able to display the Android operating system, the Android OS itself is powered by the hardware in the case.
Lee outlines the case’s creation process in a detailed post on Medium, explaining that he figured out how to clone the Android Open Source Project to make a customized version of Android Marshmallow, which is what is displayed on the iPhone.
Over several design iterations and experiments with 3D printing, Lee was able to shrink the case containing the parts down to a reasonable size and perfect the connection between the case and the iPhone. The result is an relatively thick iPhone case that lets the iPhone display and control a full version of Android.
Like Windows 95 running on the Apple Watch, Lee’s Android case is conceptual and not practical for real world use, but it’s an interesting take on getting Android to work with an iPhone.
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You can finally post to Instagram from other iOS apps
Ever since Apple introduced app sharing extensions in iOS 8, budding iPhone photographers have been wondering where Instagram’s extension was. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could share a photo from any app, rather than diving into Instagram and choosing from your camera roll? You’re getting that chance today: Instagram has quietly introduced a sharing extension to the latest version of its iOS app. So long as you turn on the extension, any app that supports iOS’ official sharing method can send a photo Instagram’s way. That’s a particularly big deal if you’re fond of third-party imaging apps, which don’t always automatically save pictures to your photo library.
The addition is overdue, to put it mildly. Android users have had this share-from-anywhere luxury for a while, and numerous other photo-focused apps (such as Flickr) have had iOS sharing extensions for a long time. All the same, it’s good to see Instagram fill in a missing piece of the puzzle.
Via: iMore
Source: App Store
Apple Honors the Life of Muhammad Ali on its Homepage
Apple recently updated the homepage of its website with a tribute to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who died on Friday at age 74. Ali was admitted to a hospital earlier in the week due to respiratory ailments, which were further complicated due to a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The tribute on Apple’s website includes a quote that reads, “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” Apple has been a long-time supporter and admirer of Ali, showcasing the boxer in one of its famous “Think Different” campaign videos back in 1997.
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” Rest in peace #MuhammadAli
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 4, 2016
Following the announcement of his death on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a commemorative Tweet about Ali on his account, as did Phil Schiller. Ali’s family has also taken to Twitter to share more details about his passing and honor his life, including his daughter Hana.
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Apple’s App Stores, Some iCloud Services Experiencing Temporary Outage
According to Apple’s system status page, multiple store services are currently experiencing an outage. The App Store, Apple TV App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes in the Cloud, and the Volume Purchase Program are unavailable for some users.
The outage started just after 12:30 p.m., and we have also heard reports of problems with Apple Music and Apple News, though those are not service outages currently listed on the system status page.
Apple is investigating the issue and will bring the services back online as soon as possible.
Update: Several more iCloud services are now experiencing issues, as seen on Apple’s system status page.
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