Welcome back to this Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that summarizes the latest operating system news, the applications they support, and the money flowing through it all.
According to App Annie's recently published State of Mobile annual report, the app industry is hotter than ever with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $ 120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes a day on apps that compete with television. Apps aren't just a way to spend idle time – they're big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had an overall valuation of $ 544 billion, 6.5 times higher than companies with no mobile focus.
In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps that are delivered weekly.
This week we're examining the further impact of the corona virus on the app industry, which is now leading to major cancellations of major events – including Google I / O and SXSW starting this week. This raises the question of whether WWDC will be the next. And what does that mean for developers who rely on the annual event to make these invaluable personal connections? We're also looking at the revised review guidelines for the App Store and what that means for developers, as well as Walmart's plan to dramatically change his app strategy. Robinhood's bad week, the launch of a new Spotify competitor from the world's most viral app makers, TikTok, and more.
Headlines
Apple changes the rules
Apple has alerted developers this week to a new set of App Store review guidelines that detail which apps are accepted or rejected and which apps are allowed. Policy changes affect reviews, push notifications, Apple sign-in, data collection and storage, mobile device management, and more. The more well-known changes include the ability for apps to now use notifications for ads, stricter rules for dating and fortune-telling applications, and a new rule that Apple can use to reject apps that help users avoid law enforcement, among other things.
