As the net closes on third-party app promo tools, Apple launches its own solution

The reasoning behind Apple's decision to add a clause to its App Review Guidelines that restricts the ability for developers to push other titles in-app may have just become clear.

TechCrunch has uncovered a new tool in the iOS Developer Library that enables studios to present a "store that allows the users to purchase other media from the App Store" within their apps.

Power play

As such, it's clear Apple isn't concerned about users browsing other games in-app, but rather who controls that process.

The now infamous clause 2.25

Little is known about the impact of clause 2.25 yet which outlaws apps that "display apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store" although PocketGamer.biz has spoken to one developer that supposedly broke the rule.

Turkish app iTurkeyBiz - launched by those behind iOS blog iPhoneTurkey.biz - was asked to add either location-based or social filters to the way it displayed apps in order to make it "visually distinct from the App Store."

However, when the developer removed a top 10 apps option that displayed apps topping the charts in different countries around the globe, the app was suddenly approved.

The new option cited by TechCrunch seems to back up the suggestion that Apple is looking to retain control over just how users flow through its marketplace and discover apps, wrestling control away from third-parties.

[source: TechCrunch]