Apple accused of favoring its own applications in the search engine on the App Store

The manufacturer would place his own services in the first position, based on certain specific keywords. Apple says otherwise and indicates that its algorithm is neutral and open to competition. 

The Wall Street Journal has conducted numerous tests to determine whether or not Apple favored its own apps on the App Store. More than 600 searches were made, with specific keywords relating to 40 software developed by the Apple brand.

The manufacturer would highlight its subscription services to counter competition

For application searches, from the term "GPS", for example, to find a mapping application, the journal suggests that 60% of requests return, in the first place, to an Apple application. The figure even climbs to 95% when searching for a paid service that Apple offers, such as Apple Musicor Apple Books. 

However, when we know that 65% of applications are downloaded as a result of a search on the App Store, we can understand that third-party publishers are particularly unhappy with this situation.

Apple rejects these accusations and denies any favoritism

Apple obviously disputes these results. The manufacturer says it has done its own testing internally and that in many cases its applications did not get to the top positions. 

Apple did not want to reveal the formula of its search algorithm but gave some indications on how it works. The firm uses 42 criteria to establish a ranking, and four of them would be particularly taken into account: the number of downloads, ranking, relevance and "user behavior", the ratio between the number of searches a specific application and the number of its downloads. 

the comments would also have great importance in the research position but Apple does not allow to give its opinion on its own applications. The manufacturer gives as an explanation only the popularity of its pre-installed software on the terminals and ensures that the rules of the App Store are the same for everyone. 

This is in any case new information that will not play in favor of the manufacturer, accused by several companies of anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominant position on its application platform.