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Last December, Apple pulled the popular app aggregate service AppShopper from iOS, claiming the company violated clause 2.25, which states that apps displaying other apps for purchase or promotion “in a manner similar to or confusing with” the App Store will be rejected. Today, AppShopper found a way back into the App Store with some major changes that will keep it from being “too similar.” Unfortunately, the company has chosen to launch it as an iPhone app, instead of optimized for the iPad.
When Apple pulled AppShopper, I was very disappointed. Of course, I still have it on my iPad and still use it on a daily basis. However, it seemed arbitrary to me that Apple would claim that the aggregate service was anything like the App Store.
The new AppShopper Social app lets users follow other users and recommend apps to each other. This, apparently allows the service to circumvent clause 2.25. According to the company’s blog, the Friend Steam shows apps that other AppShopper users have added to their Wish List or My App List. AppShopper has created a list of special accounts for users to follow in order to maintain the friend recommendation aspect of AppShopper, even if you don’t have any friends using the service.
Hearing the news today makes me happy on the one hand, but worried on the other. If AppShopper decides that their new social app is more useful, relevant, and important than the other app, they may decide it isn’t worth the effort and shut down my iPad app. However, if AppShopper Social is a big success, it is just as possible that the company will optimize it for the iPad. I guess we just have to wait and seen.
In the meantime, don’t delete AppShopper from your iPad. You can have both apps on the same device, so it won’t hurt anything to keep it for a while longer.
» Related posts:
AppShopper Falls Victim To Clause 2.25, Removed From App Store
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Apple Restricts In-App Promotion, Is This The End of ‘Free App’ Apps?
