Hello everyone. Happy Tuesday. We kick things off with Neil’s thoughts on the App Store turning 15 years old. The discussion then turns to Mark Lucovsky, who led Google’s AR software efforts, quitting Google in a very public way. We conclude with how the Apple Vision Pro unveiling has already impacted the AR/VR market.

App Store Turns 15

Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of Apple launching the App Store.

Five years ago, we recapped the App Store’s trajectory at the 10-year mark. A year prior, Apple had announced a major redesign to the App Store that included the Today, Games, and Apps tabs. Apple also unveiled the App Store’s editorial direction.

For today’s discussion, it’s worth looking at the major App Store developments that have materialized over the past five years.

Apple Arcade. After a few strategy shifts and changes, Apple landed on what has been Apple Arcade's current strategy of being more of an essential service grabbing subscriber time and attention (versus having games that subscribers would play when they had a few minutes of down time). The 100-game soft ceiling was expanded to more than 200 games (with no advertising or in-app purchases). The higher game total also reflected Apple including older iOS games with a proven track record of market success in the service.

Advertising. By expanding Apple Search Ads

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