Middleware company Tapjoy has complained publicly that Apple's ban of "pay per install" apps and promotions has adversely affected its business and a majority of iOS developers who want to use it. The ban was put in place because of Apple's concerns that developers were paying Tapjoy to boost their game's ranking in the list of top 25 apps.
When an app uses this system, a user is incentivized in some way to install another unrelated app. The developer of the unrelated app then shares the revenue with the original app.
Tapjoy argues that incentivized promotions are "commonplace" and allow developers to create an additional revenue stream. The debate may be that Apple felt like it wasn't getting its fair share of that stream. According to VentureBeat, Tapjoy CEO Mihir Shah attempted to institute a compromise, where a cap "prevented developers from unfairly breaking into the top 25," but it was rejected by Apple.
A Tapjoy survey of developers showed that almost half had begun to receive a large number of customer complaints because of the "sudden inability" to earn in-game currency from installing other apps.
From Apple's perspective, this is a move to bring back fairness of app rankings.
Source: GameIndustry.biz
Comments
Re: Tapjoy Complains About Apple's Ban on 'Pay-Per-Install'
sooo apple banned payed for app advertisements (which no one likes anyways) and someones mad because of it?
tbh i'd pirate an app ( that advertises other things to me that are totally unrelated before i'd waste money on buying ads. and tbh if its worth pirating, its not even worth having, so i just won't have it :) ). unless they somehow (and i've yet to see it happen in small cell phone sized programs) make it completely out of my way so i don't get stuck accidentally clicking it. (EA has a good idea with intigrated little ads that don't do much but ADD to the games immersion)
i mean angry birds advertising angry birds isn't bad IMO as it shows me that theres other versions and neat merchandise i can get if i want. and they still keep it out of my face mostwhat so i dont' have the off chance of clicking it by mistake (Mighty eagle aside, that icon is a nuisance)
i hate ITunes with a passion, i truly do, as it blows on a Windows based system (lockups, memory hogging, crashes, etc..) but i ditched my Android phone for the Iphone ASAP when i could (and payed only $20 to upgrade early... well worth it though)
part of the reason.. the apps on android are so either compeltely useless, or ad ridden it makes them hard to use at all.
so suffering Itunes is hardly a pain, since i can ignore its ads unless i WANT to see them, same goes for other bits on the phone.
i do hope Apple flips them right off.. throw a brother bird at them and knock down their little wall of consumer paid for advertising to said consumer.
if i want an ad shoved in my face every 5 seconds i'll get cable or sattelite.