Shortly after The New York Times’s September 9 story on Apple’s manipulation of App Store search results, Apple’s search rankings changed dramatically. On information and belief, Apple changed its search algorithms in an apparent attempt to remove the manipulation and suppression techniques it had previously employed, now under scrutiny in the wake of the Times’ extensive report.
Days after the story was published, BlueMail shot from #143 to #13 for simple keywords such as “email” in the iOS App Store – despite no change in the BlueMail iOS app itself.
BlueMail was not the only Apple Mail competitor to see this sudden change. Yandex Mail, another competing mail app, jumped in the rankings for “email” from approximately #160 to #32 on September 26, 2019.
This was not limited to mail apps. On information and belief, given the widespread nature of Apple’s reported search-result stacking, the same practice harmed competition across many categories of apps that compete with Apple’s default apps, and many different competitors enjoyed a sudden, unexplained rise in search rankings following the Times exposé.
In addition to suppressing the highest-quality alternatives to its default apps in search, Apple has taken a number of other affirmative steps to abuse its monopoly over iOS apps and protect its own apps from fair competition.
Apple designed the iOS App Store so that its own apps are the top-ranked result for a number of keywords, including “mail” and “email.” This makes it harder for consumers to discover competing apps such as BlueMail.
On information and belief, users rarely if ever select search results outside the top 20 to 25 for a given query, and frequently review only the very top results.
By designing its search algorithms so that competitors (but not Apple) fall outside the top-ranked results, Apple effectively forecloses competition. If consumers only review the top results, Apple can create the illusion of competition – while in fact foreclosing it – by making sure its own apps occupy the top positions.
On information and belief, Apple specifically designed its iOS App Store search algorithms to ensure that Apple’s apps – not competitors’ apps – would hold the top-ranked position for keyword searches such as “mail” and “email.”