Tapjoy Scales Back Pay-Per-Install Offers After Crackdown By Apple

Mobile app advertising outfit Tapjoy has begun limiting the overall impact of its cross-promotional app install offers after Apple recently began enforcing restrictions on such promotions. Last week, Apple began rejecting certain apps featuring Tapjoy's "offer walls," which pay developers to promote installation of other apps, often using in-game currency as encouragement. The crackdown appears related to a recent effort by Apple to change the way app rankings work on the App Store. The company has reportedly directed developers to an existing clause in its developer licensing agreement that prohibits "inappropriate methods" used to push a title up the sales charts. Now, after a discussion with Apple, Tapjoy has decided to voluntarily limit the number of promotional installs that can be sent from a single app, in an effort to ensure no app can't rise to the top of Apple's charts solely through this kind of promotion. “We have put in place a capping mechanism, so no single app can drive the [top 25] charts for another app,” Tapjoy CEO Mihir Shah said at VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit, as reported by the site. Shah went on to say that he and other major App Store developers will continue talking with Apple to "find a sustainable way to work with them. ... We only win if Apple wins. Apple is the king of the App Store." Tapjoy, which recently raised $21 million in funding, works with over 7,500 Android and iOS apps, including titles from major game developers like ngmoco and Glu Mobile. Competitors including AdMob, W3i and Apple’s iAds use similar pay-per-install promotions to generate revenue.