In addition to the humanitarian reasons for their exit, there are other costs - sanctions and complications with payments make it difficult to continue supporting Russian customers regardless. Numerous tech companies, including Apple, Airbnb, Microsoft, Adobe, PayPal, Netflix, Snap and many others have also suspended sales and operations in Russia as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If App Store or Google Play users had these cards on file, they would have stopped working anyway. That’s because this week Visa, Mastercard and American Express all announced they would suspend operations in Russia in protest of its invasion of Ukraine. Free apps will remain available on the Play Store, the company said.īut the app platform themselves don’t necessarily have to shut down payments for Russian users to experience issues with billing and transactions, as some Russian App Store users now are. This week, Google announced it was suspending Google Play’s billing system for users in Russia in the “coming days,” which means Russian users won’t be able to purchase apps and games, make subscription payments or conduct any other in-app purchases of digital goods using Google Play in Russia. As businesses pulled out of Russia, the ability for Russian consumers to transact on the app stores and in apps is similarly being impacted. Image Credits: Mika Baumeister / UnsplashĪs the Russia-Ukraine war continued this week, the app ecosystem also saw further impacts. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place, with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps to try, too.ĭo you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: /newsletters Top Stories Russia’s app economy shuts down This was up 20% from 2020, when 193 apps and games topped $100 million in annual consumer spend, and just eight apps topped $1 billion. In 2021, 233 apps and games generated over $100 million in consumer spend, and 13 topped $1 billion in revenue. In markets like Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea, users surpassed five hours per day in mobile apps in 2021.Īpps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours, either. And they’re not even the world’s heaviest mobile users. The average American watches 3.1 hours of TV per day, for example, but in 2021, they spent 4.1 hours on their mobile device. Today’s consumers now spend more time in apps than ever before - even topping the time they spend watching TV, in some cases. Downloads of apps also grew by 5%, reaching 230 billion in 2021, and mobile ad spend grew 23% year over year to reach $295 billion. Global spending across iOS, Google Play and third-party Android app stores in China grew 19% in 2021 to reach $170 billion. The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.
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