Apple Boosting Their Own Apps in App Store Search
Tour de force piece for The New York Times, by Jack Nicas and Keith Collins, with some extraordinary infographics work, on Apple artificially boosting their own apps in App Store search results.
You could read this and think, “it’s Apple’s store, they can do whatever they want”, but here are a couple of points to consider:
- What is the role of regulation? In my view, regulation exists is to promote competition. Competition spurs innovation, and innovation is good for society. If regulation can promote competition, and by extension improve innovation, then it’s a good idea.
- By making their products win by leveraging their market position, rather than making their products win based on their merits, Apple is sowing the seeds of their own destruction. If Apple doesn’t cultivate a culture of innovation they’ll eventually be replaced by a company that does, just like Apple replaced Microsoft.