While Apple and Android may not be exactly the best of friends, both companies have their reasons why they’ve been on an application ban spree that’s kicking up for Android in particular these past few months.  After all, business is business.  If you get in their way when it comes to their emerging mobile apps marketplaces, they will eradicate you.  Not negotiable.

App removals happen for a variety of reasons across each platform, some in response to a cultural shift that’s taken place, other times to keep end users safe.  And sometimes an app is removed merely for its competitive potential, which can be the most difficult reason to cope with for many developers looking to mobile app marketplaces for commercial purposes.  Here we explore the cultural and economic affects of recent app banning, as Apple and Google both churn a business out of their evolving ecosystems.

Android removes apps that breach privacy, security and business relations

Since Android is more open to developers compared to Apple, they’ve always been the easy target for adverse apps.  Android is growing in notoriety for banning a profuse number of applications over the past months because of malware and privacy intrusion (spying/hacking) issues.  An example of this furtive application is the SMS Replicator that, once installed into someone else’s smartphone, will forward all of that person’s incoming messages to the planter’s phone. There’s also one called SMS interception malware which is more notorious than the SMS Replicator, as it forwards to a remote server not only incoming messages, but all of the victim’s messages.

Back in March, Google eliminated over 50 apps in the Android Market because they contained malware believed to compromise sensitive personal information.  It’s good to be open to developers, but Google’s openness has been thrown overboard in many respects.

The removal of invasive apps is an understandable and necessary move, but sometimes Google seemingly takes down apps to appease a business partner. Android pulled game emulators off the Android Market earlier this year, possibly to fulfill a request by Sony Ericcson.  The app removal took place across the board, and happened shortly after Sony’s Android-powered Xperia Play gaming phone hit the market, promoting its own PlayStation network and subsequent titles.

One particular video game emulator developer, Yong Zhang, had his account disabled from the market and all his applications removed. He published a good amount of emulators including Nesoid, Snesoid, Gensoid, N64oid, Ataroid, Gearoid and Gameboid.  Though he did not violate Google’s terms of service, as owning a console emulator is legal, his problem is copyright infringement by reusing a third-party source code without consent.  But his account was banned without a warning.

Google also changed the algorithm of search in its Android application marketplace, which enraged Android developers that leverage the Market for marketing purposes. Some developers complained that their downloads dwindled by 80 percent because of it.  The main thread tackling the issue in the Android Support forum got over a thousand replies, contained in a mere 30 pages.

Apple’s notorious for banning apps

Android has its share of grievances from too much openness, but Apple’s stern attitude gains a negative standing as well.  Their banning pattern is a little trickier to note, but the overarching instances indicate that apps which potentially compete with Apple’s native apps or products will get shut down.  This has always been the case, and many developers have a hard time pinpointing why their apps get banned from the Apple App Store. Though I’d at least have to agree that taking down apps such as ‘Baby Shaker’ and ‘I am Rich’ are inarguable.

Tapjoy once accused Apple of hurting mobile game developers because of its hard-and-fast ban on ‘pay per install’ incentive promotions.   Apple explained that Tapjoy could be involved in an unfair gaming system that will hurt the quality of game rankings by receiving covert payment from developers for a top 25 spot in the App Store.  Tapjoy refuted the claim and said its promotional system is common, and that it allows for healthy competition amongst developers.  Tapjoy CEO Mihir Shah even had a meeting with Apple to allow for a limited amount of pay-per-install promotions, but to no avail, he failed to convince the company.

However, if there’s a will, there’s a way. Game developers who are seriously hurt by the banned app distribution technique of Apple resorted to another method to get their games noticed. One such method is called incentivized app distribution.  A developer inserts an app download as an ad into other games.  You might have already noticed those Mafia Wars download ads while playing FarmVille.  If you download it, it will entitle you premium money that you’d otherwise have to pay with real money.  Adknowledge is another company looking to create a third party means for promoting and marketing within apps, developing more ways to directly interact with consumers.

It goes without saying that Apple’s got a lot riding on digital publishing as it pertains to the consumer cloud right now.  They’re looking to control in-app purchases for e-readers and other digital pub apps, taking a cut of digital publication subscription and they’re promoting their own iBooks service, landing new deals as well.

Apple was recently spotted kicking out Google Books off Appstore, and it was rumored that Kindle could be the next to get booted. To be fair with Apple, Google Books did not comply with the store’s revised rules, even as they were given enough time to do. Meanwhile, other e-reader apps like Barnes and Noble and Kobo conformed to Apple’s updated standards, leaving Google as the standalone rebel.