Apple Puts Together 'Secret Team' to Explore Paid App Store Search Results

Apple has put together a 'secret team' to explore making improvements to the App Store, including charging developers for prominent placement, reports Bloomberg. It's unclear why the team is considered to be secret.

Among the ideas being pursued, Apple is considering paid search, a Google-like model in which companies would pay to have their app shown at the top of search results based on what a customer is seeking. For instance, a game developer could pay to have its program shown when somebody looks for “football game,” “word puzzle” or “blackjack.”

Apple apparently has 100 employees working on the project including many engineers who were previously on the iAd team. Leading the efforts is Apple VP Todd Teresi, the same executive who led iAd.


In addition to working on paid search, Apple is trying to improve how users browse the App Store. Efforts have not been underway for long and it's not known when any changes would be introduced.

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