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The pressure mounts on Apple over its app store policies

Fortnite developer Epic is not letting up in its crusade against the ‘Apple tax’, opening a new front in Europe with a European Commission antitrust complaint.

• 17 Feb 2021

Apple gets an easy PR win by reducing commission for some app makers

Gadget giant Apple takes 30% of everything spent on its app store, but it’s halving that rate for anyone who earns let than $1 million per year.

• 18 Nov 2020

Epic clash with Apple spreads to Japan

The possible underlying strategy behind Epic’s public flounce becomes clear as Japanese authorities move to scrutinize Apple’s App Store practices.

• 04 Sep 2020

First leg of Epic vs Apple ends in a score draw

A judge has ruled that it’s OK for Apple to remove Fortnite from its App Store, but not for it to restrict use of Erpic’s Unreal Engine developer tool.

• 25 Aug 2020

Apple faces an Epic PR disaster

Gadget giant Apple has decided to completely cut off developer Epic in a major escalation of their dispute over in-app purchase fees.

• 18 Aug 2020

Huawei pledges $1.5 billion to its new developer program

Huawei has announced that it will invest $1.5 billion in the next five years to boost its developer ecosystem for the Kunpeng and Ascend computing platforms.

• 23 Sep 2019

Researchers point to 1,300 apps which circumnavigate Android’s opt-in

Research from a coalition of professors has suggested Android location permissions mean little, as more than 1,300 apps have developed ways and means around the Google protections.

• 09 Jul 2019

Does my aaS look big in this? Microsoft Azure targets IoT amateurs

Microsoft has launched its IoT-as-a-Service offering, seemingly cashing in the gap between IoT euphoria and a lack of in-house expertise to make any sense of it.

• 21 Apr 2017

Court rules Apple can be sued over App Store monopoly

Apple’s insistence that its devices only support apps sold directly through its app store is potentially monopolistic, a US appeals court has concluded.

• 13 Jan 2017

Nest developer programme connects to wider Internet of Things

On the eve of the Google I/O conference, the company’s annual developer shindig, home automation pioneer Nest Labs launched a developer programme to connect its thermostat and smoke alarm devices to the wider Internet of Things.

• 25 Jun 2014

Mozilla makes Firefox apps available on Android

Software developer Mozilla began repackaging Firefox OS applications for the Android OS this week as it continues to champion open web technologies. Android users can now install apps designed and built for Firefox OS from the Firefox Marketplace and have them behave as they would on Mozilla’s platform.

• 13 Jun 2014

Amazon beefs up mobile offering with cloud notifications

Amazon has built up its presence in the mobile space this week with the launch of a cloud-based, cross platform push notification service, making large scale notifications more accessible to developers.

Using the Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) API, application developers can send notifications to Apple iOS, Google Android and Kindle Fire devices.

• 14 Aug 2013

HTC launches developer centre and SDK for Sense

As Android’s march towards mobile OS domination appears to continue unchecked, device manufacturers are joining the scrum to differentiate themselves from the competition. HTC has joined the ranks of manufacturers increasingly looking to pull in the developers to create device-specific apps, announcing a dev-friendly programme to be launched in parallel with an SDK for its Sense user interface.

• 07 Jun 2011

Paying Rent: A Developer Manifesto on Pricing

There’s been a flurry of tweets and posts recently regarding some of the terms of conditions imposed on developers to commercialize their Android apps. As one of the oldest app stores around (.est. 2005) it never ceases to surprise us how people fawn on developers to get their content and then impose draconian terms on them that make monetizing their excruciatingly painful.

• 19 Apr 2011

Telefonica joins with Microsoft to woo developers

European carrier Telefónica joined forces with Microsoft on Monday, in a bid to make developers feel more love from the carrier camp. José Valles, head of Telefónica’s BlueVia developer programme, openly admitted that operators had not had the best relationship with developers in the past before proclaiming that all that is about to change.

• 28 Mar 2011

Microsoft improves developer services for WP7

Microsoft has revealed a number of improvements to its developer relationship for Windows Phone 7, the platform that marks its latest assault on the smartphone market. The firm said that the first payments to developers would be made a little ahead of schedule, and it is now able to offer feedback to developers on the performance of their apps within the Windows Phone Marketplace.

• 10 Dec 2010

Orange unveils new developer interface

International carrier Orange has announced an overhaul of its own-branded application store that it said will dramatically cut the time it takes for developers to get their apps to Orange customers.

• 08 Dec 2010

WAC expands memberships, launches first spec.

The Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), the alliance designed to build an open platform for delivering applications to all mobile phone users, has expanded its member base with the addition of 32 new organisations from across the industry. The body also announced the availability of the WAC 1.0 specification on Monday.

• 18 Oct 2010

Verizon opens up with developer APIs

US telco Verizon Wireless on Wednesday made a total of 20 different APIs (application programming interfaces) available to developers, opening up its network to new messaging and location-based services.

• 22 Sep 2010

Alcatel-Lucent picks up OpenPlug

Infrastructure vendor Alcatel-Lucent on Wednesday announced the acquisition of mobile application tools developer OpenPlug, giving it a strong presence in the developer space.

• 02 Sep 2010