Apple has picked up an Emmy Award for outstanding commercial at the 2023 Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremony in Los Angeles.

The technology giant’s “The Greatest” advert, which was directed by Kim Gehrig raises awareness of seven people going about their lives, who are living with living with vision, mobility, or cognitive impairments.

As a result, the two-minute film showcases how Apple products make life easier for people across the world every day.

The commercials track, “I Am the Greatest,” used lyrics from the speeches of boxer Muhammad Ali, who became an advocate for disability late in life following his Parkinson’s diagnosis

The lyrics were also remixed by DJ and producer Cola Boyy, alongside jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker.

The win comes as Apple recently released a new advert to promote its new software update, showcasing voice-preservation technology which allows users to recreate their voice to ensure that it’s” never lost”.

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Technology giants Apple and Google have been asked by The European Commission to clarify their risk management regarding their online platforms for purchasing apps.

Under the new regulation, Digital Services Act (DSA), tech firms across the globe are facing legal scrutiny amid the introduction of DSA, which came into force this year.

As a result, Apple and Google have been given a 15 January 2024 deadline to reply.

This includes new responsibilities aimed at addressing illegal content, online security risks, and transparency concerns related to online advertisements and recommender systems.

In a statement, the EU executive said: “The Commission is requesting the providers of these services to provide more information on how they have diligently identified any systemic risks concerning the App Store and Google Play.”

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Technology giant Apple has partnered with British artist David Hockney to “Christmas cheer” to London’s Battersea Power Station.

Until Christmas Day, a pair of Christmas trees will light up the London landmark’s two wash towers on the building’s north facade, which also houses Apple London’s HQ.

Drawn on an iPad Pro using Apple Pencil, Hockney’s 10-minute animation transforms the 100-metre-high chimneys that overlook the River Thames.

“David is one of the world’s most important and influential artists, and we couldn’t be more excited to see his latest creation lighting up Battersea Power Station,” Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak said.

“It is a privilege for us that he chooses iPad for his work, and to create this beautiful Christmas gift for the people of London.”

Hockney added: “Battersea Power Station is such a beautiful building, I wanted to decorate it in a way that I hoped would bring joy and hope to Londoners.”

The news comes as Apple recently released a new advert to promote its new software update, showcasing voice-preservation technology which allows users to recreate their own voice to ensure that it’s”never lost”.

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Apple has released a new advert to promote its new software update, showcasing voice-preservation technology which allows users to recreate their own voice to ensure that it’s”never lost”.

Directed by Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi, the phone giant’s new campaign features a young girl helping a giant mystical creature to find its ‘lost voice’ in the wilderness.

After searching throughout the forest and seas, it is revealed the narrator is in fact voiced by the girl’s father, who appears to have lost his voice due to an illness, however, through Apple’s technology he has managed to preserve it.

The whole advert is entirely narrated by AI-generated speech.

Starring disability advocate and physician Tristram Ingham, the ad was released in support of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Ingham said: “Disability communities are very mindful of proxy voices speaking on our behalf. Historically, providers have spoken for disabled people, family have spoken for disabled people.”

“If technology can allow a voice to be preserved and maintained, that’s autonomy, that’s self-determination. When you have something that is so precious – a taonga, a treasure – I think we should do anything we can to make sure we keep hold of that.”

“At Apple, we design for everyone, and that includes individuals with disabilities,” Apple Senior Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives Sarah Herrlinger added.

“Communication is a crucial part of what makes us human, and we’re committed to supporting nonspeaking users as well as those who may be at risk of speech loss.”

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The Marketers for an Open Web (MOW) has made submissions to the CMA’s investigation into Apple. In the submissions, Apple has been accused of limiting competition between apps available on the open web and those on its App Store, while also limiting competition between app stores.

The MOW goes further by claiming that Apple increases revenues and profits by locking in customers and suppliers to its App Store, accusing the company’s $2bn Search Ads business and Workbench products of collecting people’s browsing history for sale of its own ads and then restricting rivals’ ability to compete, particularly highlighting Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework.

The alliance of marketers also accuses Apple of not holding itself to the same standards as it holds third-party app developers, due to Apple not providing its users with notice about collecting their personal data when it monetizes its own apps with advertising.

“Apple’s Practices have gone on for far too long,” said Lawyer Tim Cowen, of Preiskel &Co, acting for MOW. “The EU Commission has been looking at them since Spotify filed its complaint, in March 2019 which was followed by a complaint in France of last year. Now the UK is looking into the issue. Who will achieve a result the fastest is now the key question. All these investigations fail to address the issues and, in the meantime, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.”

The CMA launched its investigation into Apple earlier this month to consider whether Apple’s terms and conditions are ‘unfair’ to app developers, following complaints from developers about the App Store.

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Complaints from developers focus on the terms they are forced to agree to that mean they can only distribute their apps to iPhones and iPads via the App Store, as well as the fact that some developers who offer in-app extras are required to use Apple’s payment system rather than an alternative. Apple charges these developers a commission of up to 30 per cent whenever a transaction is carried out.

As such, the CMA will investigate whether Apple has a dominant position when it comes to the distribution of apps in the UK and, if so, whether Apple uses this position to impose ‘unfair or anti-competitive’ terms on developers.

“Millions of us use apps every day to check the weather, play a game or order a takeaway. So, complaints that Apple is using its market position to set terms which are unfair or may restrict competition and choice – potentially causing customers to lose out when buying and using apps – warrant careful scrutiny,” said Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA.

“Our ongoing examination into digital markets has already uncovered some worrying trends. We know that businesses, as well as consumers, may suffer real harm if anti-competitive practices by big tech go unchecked. That’s why we’re pressing on with setting up the new Digital Markets Unit and launching new investigations wherever we have grounds to do so.”

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The Post-IDFA Alliance – made up of Liftoff, Fyber, Chartboost, InMobi, Vungle, and Singular – has launched ‘No IDFA? No Problem’, a resource for mobile marketers and app publishers that aims to help to transition seamlessly in the wake of the upcoming iOS 14 update. This will give users the choice to block IDFA at app level and require the industry to adopt the App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATT) and SKAdNetwork inline with Apple’s consumer privacy guidelines.

The resource features a range of videos, articles, case studies, best practices, webinars, and tools to help guide mobile marketers and app publishers through the more privacy-centric mobile advertising environment.

The alliance is also working together to develop techniques and protocols to maximise client success, investing in research into alternatives such as ‘blended LAT traffic’.

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Apple’s announcement has been met with a rather mixed response. A mixture of praise and anger with a sprinkling of cynicism.

“As a business that works with a huge number of start-ups and with services catered to bring them to the market successfully, we see the reduction of the App Store commission structure as a positive shift in the ecosystem. Developers have historically been at the mercy of the big tech providers, with stringent, and at times arbitrary, rules imposed on developers. One of the biggest obstacles for any app entering the market is sustainable business growth and revenue generation. The 30 per cent commission structure is a big hurdle that impacts many app businesses’ ability to make a profit,” says Megan Dean, Associate Growth Director at Yodel Mobile.

“Apple has historically tried to cater to the pleas of indie developers, such as the redesign of the App Store with iOS 11 to offer further opportunities for discovery. In tandem with this new policy change, it is definitely a step in the right direction, and we would love to see them keep making more of these positive changes in order to be more in line with the demands of the developers.”

The cynicism around Apple’s decision stems from the timing of the announcement – in relation to legal challenges faced by the company over its App Store practices – and the fact that reducing commission for small developers does very little damage to the tech giant’s App Store revenue.

Data from both App Annie and Sensor Tower suggests that around 98 per cent of iOS apps generate less than $1m in annual revenue, but these apps only provide between five and eight per cent of Apple’s App Store revenues.

“Apples App Store bottom line stays healthy, because 95 per cent of Apples App Store revenues are generated by less than 20,000 developers and publishers who will not be participating in this reduction of the App Store tax,” says Kristan Rivers, CEO of AdInMo. “This was a cynical but also typically brilliant move, a way for Apple to generate goodwill with a large number of developers and allow the company a plausible defence in conversations in courtrooms and with regulators, all while taking a very minimal hit to margins.”

Liz Waldeck, Regional Lead of Client Partnerships at AdColony sees this as a “great move for smaller developers” and feels the move will “tamp down anti-competitive rhetoric coming from some corners”.

But, as you’d expect, certain major developers – namely Spotify, Match Group, and Epic Games – aren’t so happy, showing that Apple continues to be seen in this unfamiliar role as the “bad guy of the industry,” as Rivers puts it.

Currently, we know very little about the ‘App Store Small Business Program’ that Apple will introduce in January, other than its plans to reduce the commission for small developers. From what we do know, Apple’s application of the $1m threshold could cause some problems for the small developers it’s intended to help.

Developers who qualify for the program are those who made up to $1m this year. Should any of these developers exceed $1m in revenue, Apple will apply the standard commission rate of 30 per cent for the remainder of the year and it will automatically also apply to the following year. Should sales fall back below $1m in that year, the developer can requalify for the program in the next calendar year. So, for example, if an app makes over $1m in 2021, it would be paying 30 per cent on all sales throughout 2022. Should sales fall below $1m in 2022, it would be able to return to the program in 2023.

“The $1m revenue line isn’t hard for a successful publisher with a good monetisation team to cross either,” Waldeck adds. “Is it possible some smaller hyper-casual publishers move to more in-app purchases without a 30 per cent Apple tax? Maybe. It will be interesting to watch advanced publishers’ behaviour as they get close to that line in the sand. Turn off in-app purchases? Crank up ads? Change in-app purchase prices?”

Apple’s decision to reduce App Store fees for smaller developers may also help other developers in a way many may not have considered, providing a “lifeline” for those who make most of their revenue from ad-supported free apps, according to Ionut Ciobotaru, Chief Product Officer at Verve Group.

“Apple’s announcement certainly helps smaller, indie developers who make their money from subscription-based models or in-app purchases. But it’s also a bit of a lifeline for developers that make the majority of their revenue from ad-supported free apps, especially in light of the upcoming IDFA deprecation on iOS,” says Ciobotaru.

It’s a still a little too early for us to predict the full extent to which Apple’s commission cuts will benefit or hinder smaller developers, but the general outlook is a positive one for small businesses.

Apple will continue to face scrutiny from regulators in the US and Europe, and continue to be criticised by the likes of Spotify, Match Group, and Epic, though the introduction of the App Store Small Business Program will go toward placing the company in a better standing in its legal disputes.

“Small app developers can often feel straightjacketed because of the amount of commission taken from them by the app marketplace,” says Aude Barral, Co-founder of CodinGame. “The announcement means that smaller developers will now enjoy a bigger slice of the Apple pie. And giving more money back to small businesses, particularly with so many struggling to keep their heads above water during the global pandemic, can only be a positive development.

“On the other hand, cynics will say this announcement was conveniently timed, diverting attention away from ongoing legal disputes that Apple is tied up in,” she concludes.

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From January, app developers who earn $1m or less from the App Store will only have to give Apple 15 per cent of the money they earn. Currently, 30 per cent of the revenue made by apps on the App Store goes back to Apple. The changes are part of Apple’s ‘App Store Small Business Program’.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy and the beating heart of innovation and opportunity in communities around the world. We’re launching this program to help small business owners write the next chapter of creativity and prosperity on the App Store, and to build the kind of quality apps our customers love,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has been an engine of economic growth like none other, creating millions of new jobs and a pathway to entrepreneurship accessible to anyone with a great idea. Our new program carries that progress forward — helping developers fund their small businesses, take risks on new ideas, expand their teams, and continue to make apps that enrich people’s lives.”

The launch of the program comes on the same day as Fortnite maker Epic Games filing a lawsuit against Apple in Australia, alleging that the tech giant misuses its power by claiming a piece of all the revenue earned by apps. Epic filed a similar lawsuit against Apple in the US earlier this year.

In June, the European Commission opened up formal investigations into Apple’s App Store rules.

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The IDFA enables advertisers to track users via unique device ID numbers for better ad targeting. However, NOYB argues that, because tracking codes are placed on devices without consent, they are in breach of EU law.

“EU law protects our devices from external tracking,” said Stefano Rossetti, Privacy Lawyer at NOYB. “Tracking is only allowed if users explicitly consent to it. This very simple rule applies regardless of the tracking technology used. While Apple introduced functions in their browser to block cookies, it places similar codes in its phones, without any consent by the user. This is a clear breach of EU privacy laws.”

NOYB also acknowledges Apple’s plans to restrict the use of IDFA for third parties but says this doesn’t go far enough, as Apple will not impose the same restrictions on itself. Under the plans, a dialogue box will appear when first opening an app to ask for access to the IDFA. At the same time, the initial storage of the IDFA and Apple’s use of it will continue without prior user consent.

“We believe that Apple violated the law before, now and after these changes,” said Rosseti. “With our complaints we want to enforce a simple principle: trackers are illegal, unless a user freely consents. The IDFA should not only be restricted, but permanently deleted. Smartphones are the most intimate device for most people and they must be tracker-free by default.”

NOYB’s complaints have been filed in both Spain and Germany under Article 5(3) of the e-Privacy Directive rather than under GDPR, meaning the authorities in both nations do not need to cooperate with the EU.

NOYB is currently also reviewing a similar tracking system being used by Google.

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