Apple confirms it pulled app discovery tool AppGratis from the App Store for promoting other apps and direct marketing
Thou shalt not promote thy neighbour's app
Late last week, Apple pulled the popular app promotion tool AppGratis from its App Store.
After two days of silence on the matter, though, Tim Cook & co. have given their justification for removing the app discovery application from their online marketplace.
According to Apple, the AppGratis app, which was used as a marketing tool to help increase visibility of games and apps produced by AppGratis's clients, was in violation of App Store guidelines, specifically the now-infamous clause 2.25.
This relatively recently added App Store clause prohibits a developer from releasing "apps that display Apps [sics] other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store".
Victim of success?Given the express purpose of the AppGratis app was to promote other apps, it's easy to see why Apple felt it was entitled to bring down the banhammer.
Indeed, the iPhone maker set a precedent regarding this clause last December when it booted app discovery platform AppShopper from its virtual marketplace.
What is considerably less clear, however, is why near-identical services to AppGratis like FreeAppADay and App-O-Day are still available on the App Store.
One explanation, put forth by PocketGamer.biz's Jon Jordan, is that AppGratis had simply become too successful for Apple to ignore.
You see, at the time of its removal, AppGratis was more than three times larger than its nearest rival, owning a 4.6 percent share of US iPhone monthly user volume for app discovery (according to Onavo).
And there's more...Apple also confirmed to AllThingsD that the AppGratis app was in violation of clause 5.6 of its developer guidelines.
For those not familiar with this clause, it basically means iOS apps "cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind".
Again, though, PocketGamer.biz's Jon Jordan argues that "all [free app promotion and discovery services] effectively break this clause daily by advertising their promoted apps".
