Aditya Kalra, reporting for Reuters:

An investigation by India’s antitrust body has found that Apple exploited its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system, engaging “in abusive conduct and practices”, a confidential report seen by Reuters showed.

and

The CCI’s investigations unit, in its 142-page report which is not public but was seen by Reuters, said Apple wields “significant influence” over how digital products and services reach consumers, especially through its iOS platform and App Store.

“Apple App Store is an unavoidable trading partner for app developers, and resultantly, app developers have no choice but to adhere to Apple’s unfair terms, including the mandatory use of Apple’s proprietary billing and payment system,” the CCI unit said in the June 24 report.

Apple has been facing increased scrutiny in recent times in many parts of the world, some of which have forced the company to make important changes to its billing system on the App Store. While I’m off the opinion that Apple’s billing policies are too staunch, they’re in no way a dominant player in the market where Google’s Android and similar billing policies have traditionally held strong ground.

The Release Notes of the Reuters TV iOS App

Reuters is one of the most widely known news agencies in the world. They offer an app called Reuters TV on the iOS App Store. Available for both the iPhone and iPad, the app offers a personalized TV news service wherein you can watch on-demand & insightful video programming for the topics you’re most interested in. It makes great use of rich media and graphics to offer an immersive experience and it is one of my favorite ‘news’ apps that I use to keep up with the news.

I also love Reuters TV for its release notes on the App Store. Being a news agency, Reuters takes a clever approach towards the Whats New in Version on the App Store. Here’s what the release notes for the latest version released today (v1.1.2) look like:

EAGAN, Minnesota (Reuters) – Battling the onset of a brutal allergy season and unusually high pollen counts, developers in America’s midwest contended with red eyes and runny noses to release another update to the Reuters TV app.

The new release surprised commentators, who had not been expecting a release so soon after iPad compatibility was added. In brief comments, a spokesperson for Reuters TV said the new app resolves a number of minor bugs and speed issues that had crept into the recent release and claimed it addresses “technical debt”.

A high ranking team member, who declined to be identified, described working through the night to deliver improvements for the new version. He claimed the new app will run “a heck of a lot faster” and “a whole lot smoother”.

Analyst Chance Johnellor said he was “confident” the updated app will perform reliably, pointing to research his team had done to suggest the update delivered improved performance and battery life.

Spokespeople for Reuters TV declined to comment further on the release, noting that they appreciated all user feedback and that further updates are planned soon. The team can be reached at [email protected].

This isn’t a one-off case though, they’ve been doing this since the very first version.

Version 1.1.1

reuters-tv-v111

Version 1.1.0

reuters-tv-v110

Version 1.0.1

reuters-tv-v101

The Reuters TV app is available Free on the App Store and you can read and watch the content for 30 days. After that, a subscription is just $1.99 a month.