Combined Posts 2
Mag Post 2
2 Column Post
Simple Post
Simple Post 2
New Carousel
Video Posts
KIMATAIFA
Najua mtu wangu wa nguvu umezoea
kusikia mishahara ya wachezaji soka tu, lakini leo August 19 2016 naomba
nikusogezee TOP 10 ya makocha wanaoongoza kwa kulipwa mshahara mikubwa
katika soka,
The primary school teacher has been sentenced for sexually assaulting 10 students.
A court in Murang'a has sentenced a primary school teacher to 90 years in prison after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting nine pupils.
John Gichia Mugi, 23, was convicted of indecently assaulting 10 boys of Muthiria Primary School in Kiharu Constituency on various dates between January and May 2015.
The court jailed him for nine years for each of the ten counts.
The victims, aged between 13 and 16 years, had testified that the teacher, who was also their boarding master, would lure them and fondle their private parts after night preps as he kissed them.
Resident Magistrate Jesse Masiga, who handed him the stiff sentence said the accused deserved a deterrent sentence, adding that every count attracted a jail term of nine years.
HEINOUS OFFENCE
The magistrate said the teacher had breached the trust bestowed on him by parents, adding that the offence was too heinous.
"The prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that you had sexually assaulted the boys," Mr Masiga said.
'I sentence you to serve a 10 years prison term for each of the nine counts of sexual assault. The sentences will run consecutively," he added as he read the sentence.
The matter came to light after one of the victims refused to be left in the school by his parents who had attended a parents' meeting.
Upon probing, the pupil revealed how the teacher was indecently assaulting them at night when others were asleep.
The teacher, who was employed by the school's board of management, is said to have fled after the boys exposed him.
Eleven pupils came forward and exposed the teacher but the court later struck out one of them due to lack of sufficient evidence.
MEDICAL RECORDS
Medical records from Muriranjas Hospital showed that the pupils had been indecently assaulted but were not molested.
They narrated to the court how the teacher made attempts to molest them in their dormitories but they were able to resist him.
The school's headteacher was found guilty of professional misconduct and discontinued from service by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) after he tried to cover up the case.
On mitigation, Gichia told the court that the pupils conspired with some teachers to frame him, insisting that he was innocent.
Through lawyer J N Mbuthia, Mr Gichia said there was rivalry between him and three other teachers after he was elevated to head the science department.
Dismissing his conspiracy allegations, the magistrate said that the kids had a cordial relationship with the teacher adding that reporting sexual offences was humiliating in nature that no person can lie about it.
Mr Gichia added that he was his family's breadwinner and was still pursuing further studies.
He also told the court that his strong Christian faith would not allow him to engage in such shameful acts and that pupils also disliked his high handedness.
His parents, who could not control their emotions, broke down as he was whisked into the waiting prison truck to start his new life behind bars.
Simon Bickford-Smith, 39, began a relationship with the girl when she was 17, while he was a teacher at Sixth Form College, Farnborough in Hampshire.
A National College for Teaching & Leadership (NCTL) panel found he engaged in sexual activity with her on at least one occasion.
In its report the NCTL found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
Mr Bickford-Smith was banned from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England.
It added the conduct, which took place between 2014 and 2015, was also likely to bring the profession into disrepute.
Mr Bickford-Smith, who had worked at the college since 2005, resigned from his position as a personal tutor in January 2015.
'Naked images'
The girl, known as Pupil A, stated in evidence that Mr Bickford-Smith invited her to his flat for coffee where he lived on his own.
She told the panel that she and Mr Bickford-Smith kissed on this occasion and also had sex.
He also kissed her on more than one occasion, the report stated.
The panel found Mr Bickford-Smith had exchanged emails with the girl using his personal email address, which she said were "flirtatious" and suggestive at times.
He was also found guilty of posting naked images of men and women on his Tumblr social media account, which he knew she could access.
It concluded his "sexually motivated" conduct had also had a "profound and negative effect" on the girl.
College principal Simon Jarvis described NCTL's decision as "an appropriate outcome in the light of overwhelming evidence".
He said the college had acted "as soon as we had concerns" and "co-operated fully with the authorities involved".
Hampshire Constabulary said it investigated but found no crime had been committed, and no arrests were made.
- UPDATED
Disgraced athlete Oscar Pistorius has removed his prosthetic legs and hobbled through the court room on day three of his sentencing.
The former Olympic runner was asked by his defence counsel Barry Roux to remove his fake limbs in a bid to prove he deserves leniency.
Pistorius took his legs off, then hobbled uncomfortably across the room before leaning on a wooden sideboard next to his lawyer.
He then knelt on a red cushion on the floor.
Pistorius was on his stumps when he fatally shot Ms Steenkamp through a toilet cubicle door in his home 2013 - he testified at his murder trial that he felt vulnerable and thought an intruder was in the house.
Mr Roux said: "This is the person - it's three o'clock in the morning. It's dark.
"He's on his stumps...not on his legs, he is not running around the track.
"He suffers from an anxiety disorder."
Mr Roux added: "When he was on his stumps his balance was seriously compromised and without anything he would not be able to defend himself.
"He was anxious, he was frightened and he was suffering from an anxiety disorder.
"This must all be seen in the context of his disability and the pervasive effect of the disability."
"When I look at him I think how rational can be," Mr Roux added.
He then asked a distressed looking Pistorius to return to his seat.
The runner faces up to 15 years in prison for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The hearing brings to an end years of legal battles - the, a former Olympic sprinter, was originally convicted of manslaughter after he blasted Reeva to death at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013.
The conviction was upgraded to murder by South Africa's Supreme Court last year and judges have said Pistorius has no more options to appeal.
Reeva's father yesterday told the court her fatal shooting has "devastated" his family, and that he thinks about her constantly.
In a voice shaking with emotion, Barry Steenkamp revealed he has tried to imagine the horrific moment of his daughter's death, and said: "Oscar has to pay for what he did."
Mr Steenkamp added that he would like to talk to the former track star in private at a later stage.
The hearing is scheduled to run until Friday.
Congratulations on being a tone-deaf egoist, Donald Trump.
The presumptive GOP nominee set off another firestorm of criticism Sunday after he — in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history — thanked supporters for their praise on his stance against President Obama's refusal to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism."
"Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!" Trump tweeted hours after at least 50 people were killed, and another 53 were injured, in a horrific mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
"Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn't he should immediately resign in disgrace!" Trump posted about an hour later.
He later posted a more comprehensive statement expounded, writing that "Obama disgracefully refused to even say the words 'Radical Islam.'"
"For that reason alone, he should step down. If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words 'Radical Islam' she should get out of this race for the Presidency," he added. "If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country anymore. Because our leaders are weak, I said this was going to happen — and it is only going to get worse. I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack. We can't afford to be politically correct anymore."
Trump also referenced the Afghan background of the shooter and his family as well as the admission into the U.S. of thousands of people of Middle Eastern descent, following up the statement with yet another tweet in which he doubled down on his proposal to ban all Muslims from the U.S.
“What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough, he wrote.
Texas Lt. Gov. ripped for ill-timed tweet after mass shootingThe hate-spewing huckster's tweets and statement came in reference to Obama's reluctance to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism," a phrase he's said unfairly maligns an entire faith and could be misconstrued an attack on the 1 billion Muslims worldwide.
Trump's comments immediately sparked rebuttal.
"@realDonaldTrump You're congratulating yourself because 50 people are dead this morning in a horrific tragedy?," Meghan McCain, a political commentator and the daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tweeted.
"Once again, Donald, you have shown why you cannot lead us. 50 people are dead, and you bask in congratulations," actor and activist George Takei tweeted.
Hours after his son carried out a horrific massacre at an Orlando gay club, Seddique Mateen posted a video online sharing his own anti-gay views — and calling his son a "good kid."
"God will punish those involved in homosexuality," Seddique Mateen said in the video, speaking in Dari.
"It's not an issue that humans should deal with," he added.

Seddique Mateen posted a video online following Sunday's shooting.
(FACEBOOK)Seddique Mateen noted that his son Omar carried out the attack during the holy month of Ramadan.
"I'm extremely upset," he said in the video, which was later deleted.
Seddique Mateen said his son Omar was "well-educated," with a wife and son. The father claims he wasn't aware of his son's deadly intentions.
"I didn't know he had hatred in his heart," the father said.
In a separatevideo interview with the Washington Post, Seddique Mateen expressed sadness for the shooting and shared his sympathies to the victim's families.
"I wish I did know. If I did know, I would have stopped him," he said. "I know as much as you do at this point."
The videos follow an interview with NBC News when the father claimed the attack had nothing to do with religion — and that his son was enraged after seeing two men kissing in Miami months ago.
"They were kissing each other and touching each other and he said, 'Look at that. In front of my son they are doing that,'" Seddique Mateen said. "And then we were in the men's bathroom and men were kissing each other."
Seddique Mateen has posted dozens of hour-long episodes of a bizarre talk show — "Durand Jirga Show" — on YouTube between 2012 and 2015, with the show reportedly featuring anti-U.S. tirades.
The father also pretends to be the president of Afghanistan in some of the clips.
A 20-year-old man going to a massive gay pride parade in West Hollywood, Calif. was arrested on Sunday morning with assault rifles, ammunition and explosive materials in his car Sunday, police said.
The bust came the same morning a terrorist in Orlando killed at least 50 people in a gay nightclub, in the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the two incidents are "completely unrelated."
The suspect, James Wesley Howell of Indiana, was taken into custody by Santa Monica police officers after a resident reported his "suspicious" behavior shortly before 5 a.m., cops said.
Cops found three assault rifles, high capacity magazines, ammunition and camouflage clothing in his vehicle, a law enforcement source told the Daily News.
They also found a 5-gallon bucket of chemicals that can be used for forming an improvised explosive device, Santa Monica police said.
A source identified the material as tannerite-type powder.
Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said on Twitter Sunday that Howell admitted he planned "to harm (the) Gay Pride event." However, Seabrooks later clarified that the initial reports of wanting to do harm were incorrect, and that the suspect had only admitted to going to the parade.
The FBI is investigating the arrest. Police have released no other details on his possible motive.
Before it was deactivated Sunday, Howell’s Facebook page said he attended Ballard High School in Louisville, Ky., before he became an auditor at Clarcor Air Filtration Products in Jeffersonville, Ind.
"Wow. I just can't believe it," Howell's friend and former co-worker Cary Goodman told the Daily News on Sunday night. "I worked with him until probably a month ago. He seemed like he was a pretty good person."
Goodman said that Howell mentioned he had a male partner, so he was surprised police said he might have been targeting the Pride event to cause harm.
A terrorist who pledged allegiance to ISIS sprayed bullets from an automatic weapon, killing 50 people and wounding 53 others at a popular gay club in Orlando early Sunday — the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
Omar Mateen, an American citizen whose parents were born in Afghanistan, died in a shootout with police following a three-hour standoff at the Pulse nightclub.
Mateen, of Fort Pierce, Fla., called 911 about 20 minutes into the shooting, which started just after 2 a.m., according to CNN. In the phone call, he pledged allegiance to ISIS and referenced the Tsarnaev brothers who carried out the deadly 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon.
Authorities said the 29-year-old Mateen had twice been grilled by the FBI for possible connections to terrorism, but the probes were inconclusive. He wasn’t charged. A handgun and the AR-15-style weapon he carried into the club were legally purchased. The terrorist bought them within the last week or so, officials said.
Mateen, who was born in New York, had worked as a security guard and was licensed in Florida to carry a firearm, Florida records show.Police said the killer also had some type of device, possibly an explosive, on his body.The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the carnage.In a sobering address to the nation hours after the shooting, President Obama called the attack “an act of terror and an act of hate.”
“This is a sobering reminder that attacks on any Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country,” he said.
The hate-filled attacker died in a shootout with police. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said the shooter was “organized and well prepared.”
Mateen was not under investigation at the time of the attack. He had been investigated by the FBI twice since 2013 for possible terrorist ties, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper said.
In 2013, Mateen was investigated for making “inflammatory comments to co-workers alleging possible terrorist ties,” Hopper said. Nothing was confirmed. The following year he was investigated for ties to Moner Mohammad Abusalha, an American suicide bomber who killed himself in Syria.
“It didn’t seem to rise to terrorism,” Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) added.
The attacked club went from a place of revelry to a nightmare.
“There’s blood everywhere,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

Omar Mateen, the lone suspect for the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
(MYSPACE)The carnage began just around closing time at 2 a.m. as about 320 people finished up their drinks and prepared to head home following “Latin Night” at the club.
The killer first opened fire inside Pulse, mowing down clubgoers. Confusion and chaos overwhelmed the club. Music abruptly stopped and gave way to cries of terror.
“It’s just something that you see in the movies but never think would happen to you,” Kenneth Melendez, whose four friends were shot, told the Orlando Sentinel. “At first, when I heard the shots, I thought it was part of the music, but then we realized it was really happening. I started running and saw someone bleeding from the arm and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really happening,’ and I kept running.”
He added that he frequently went to Pulse because it was a “safe environment where you could express yourself ... Not anymore.”Mateen exchanged fire with an off-duty cop outside the club before reentering, firing several more shots and taking hostages.
“Everyone get out of pulse and keep running,” the club posted to Facebook in the midst of the madness.Christopher Hansen was in the VIP area when the slaughter began.
“I was thinking, are you kidding me? So I just dropped down. I just said, ‘Please, please, please, I want to make it out,’” he said. “And when I did, I saw people shot. I saw blood. You hope and pray you don’t get shot.
”The gunman holed up in the club, creating a standoff with police.“We were just leaving the club and we started hearing the shots,” clubber Anthony Torres told the Daily News. “Everyone was running and screaming.”
Agonizing hours passed until around 5 a.m., when police opted to mount an assault. They detonated two explosives to distract the gunman as 11 officers stormed the club and shot and killed the terrorist. Police, using an armored vehicle, rescued about 30 people still held hostage in the club, Mina said.
One cop dodged death thanks to his Kevlar helmet, which protected him from a bullet to the head.
Police announced the shooter was dead just before 6 a.m. and called the incident a “mass casualty situation.”
About 12 hours later, bodies were still inside the club, which was perforated with bullet holes. Investigators combing the scene tuned out the constant ringing of phones belonging to the dead who had yet to be publicly identified, according to CNN.
Parts of the building had been blasted through, apparently by explosives.
The death toll exceeded the carnage at Virginia Tech in 2007, where 32 were gunned down, and in Newtown, Conn., where 26 people were killed in 2012.
As police sought to determine a motive for the latest massacre, Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, said that radical Islam was not a factor.
“This has nothing to do with religion,” the dad told NBC News.
He said that his son had become angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami several months prior.
“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country,” Seddique Mateen said.
A portrait of Mateen as a violent, unstable man began to emerge late Sunday.
Mateen inflicted “physical and emotional abuse” on his spouse during a brief marriage in 2009, the ex-wife’s dad in Edison, N.J., told The News. The killer’s former father-in-law, who asked not to be named, said his daughter divorced the deranged man in 2011.
In Paris, people rallied in support of Orlando. The City of Light was the site of the November ISIS attacks that killed 130, including 89 in a shooting rampage during a rock concert at the Bataclan theater.
The shooting at Pulse happened during Pride Month, a national LGBTQ celebration honoring the Stonewall riots in 1969.
The devastated owner of the club, Barbara Poma, said Pulse had been “a place of love and acceptance for the LGBTQ community” for nearly 15 years.
The carnage at Pulse follows the murder of “The Voice” contestant Christina Grimmie, who was shot to death during a meet-and-greet after her Orlando concert Friday.
Pulse is approximately four miles from the Plaza Live theater, where Grimmie was slain. Authorities said the two incidents are not related.
As in Burundi, the judiciary became dysfuntional and under the control of the ruling party barons. In Kenya, the Supreme Court and the judiciary are no longer trusted intitutions
T he fight over Kenya’s soul is well under way. The proverbial cross roads are staring starkly at Kenya. Which road Kenya chooses could lead to revival and transformation or ruin and disintegration.
As in Burundi recently, the beckoning elections in Kenya are shrouded in controversy and exemplified by lack of confidence in the electoral process and its ability to deliver a free, fair, credible and peaceful poll.
Like Burundi, Kenya is characterised by an incumbent regime determined to retain power by any means, shrink the democratic space, undermine human rights and even unravel the very foundation of a very shaky nationhood stalked by ethnic chauvinism.
Just as Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza and his band of friends were willing to tear up the tenuous compact fashioned in Arusha to heal Burundi, so is President Uhuru in cahoots with those who were against the 2010 constitution willing to suffocate the possibility of a new constitutional order in Kenya.
As in Burundi, the lead-up to the next election is characterised by popular mass demonstration against a lopsided electoral contest that is wholly controlled by those in power. The peaceful demonstrations in Bujumbura were met with violent security crackdowns and persecution of opposition politicians and civil society.
In Burundi, the minister in charge of internal security, a retired army general, and the police boss could suspend sections of the Burundi constitution, banning citizens’ rights with an off-the-cuff declaration in a press briefing. So is the Kenyan retired army general reading from the same script?
As in Burundi, the Judiciary became completely dysfunctional and under the thorough control of the ruling party power barons. In Kenya, the Supreme Court and the judiciary generally deteriorated from an emerging trusted institution before the presidential petition in 2013 to a discredited marketplace of rent seekers and ethnic chauvinists. Both in Burundi and in Kenya, the judiciary is no longer a place to seek just resolution of conflict.
As in Burundi, the Kenyan electoral management body is a discredited and distrusted institution.
In Burundi, the independent electoral commission had the firm support and protection of the ruling party and the police. It had the confidence and unreserved backing of the supporters of the president and no one else. In Kenya, this similarity is there for everyone to see: In both countries the arrogance of the commissioners was also noteworthy.
As in Burundi as time went by, the media became complicit in its reporting or faced the risk of the wrath of those in power, including persecution, prosecution, denial of advertisement and other forms of economic sabotage, suspension of licenses and even complete shutdown.
Anti-media laws and administrative actions were unleashed on the media sector in a no-holds-barred fashion.
Honest journalists become an endangered species; Many faced violent attacks, incarceration or were forced to flee the country.
As in Burundi, the Kenyan ruling coalition is demonstrating intransigence.
that. is characterized by hawkish behavior, use of threatening language and a culture of impunity. The use of threatening and violent coded language and posture is setting the stage under which the next elections will be held.
The whipping of ethnic tensions and creation of siege mentality among their supporters is following the slippery slope of the Burundian hardliners.
Like in Burundi, the Kenyan ruling coalition is exploiting lack of unity among the religious leaders in the nation. The use of “gifts and favors” and other worldly considerations have silenced many would be voices of reason among the clergy. Worse still, the manipulating of ethnic sensibilities in place of heavenly commandments is irreparably damaging the credibility of religious institutions.
Like in Burundi, despite the tall-tale signs that the coming elections are going to lack credibility and may very well be disputed and could lead to violence, the region and the international community voices are silent or muzzled. The warning signs towards the 2007 elections were ignored or down played and of course the consequences were catastrophic.
What is the cost going to be for disputed elections in Kenya? Is it going to be a peaceful “reke Tumwano” as Dr. David Ndii postulated recently or is it going to be something more ominous?
As in burundi the lead-up to the next election is characterised by mass demostrations

We may be used to the idea of the Naked Chef (thanks, Jamie Oliver), but London’s latest high-concept pop-up restaurant goes further. A lot further. This week sees the opening of The Bunyadi, the city’s first “naked restaurant”, which promises an experience that is “free from the trappings of modern life”. With that in mind, there are no clothes, no mobile phones and no food preparation that requires electrical appliances (all cooking is done with fire), while the food is free of modern preservatives and the furniture is hand-carved. The staff will be (mainly) clothes-free, and guests can dine nude (they will change into a gown and can then disrobe if they wish). So, how do you run a place with a naked clientele? We asked its founder.
The menu
“We had to choose the menu based on nudity,” says Seb Lyall, the Bunyadi’s founder. “Once we had announced the concept, all the jokes started coming out, all the tweets, all the articles. And they all said one thing: ‘Don’t spill the soup!’ So, it’s no hot soup or broths for us.”
Staff uniforms
“For logistical reasons, our waiting staff will be covering their bits and bobs,” says Lyall. “If you’re sitting and someone is serving you, the height of your face and certain parts of their bodies is kind of the same. It’s something that didn’t occur to us at first, but a customer pointed it out in an email. We were like: ‘Woah, OK. That’s interesting … one of our potential customers has thought about it, so we should think about it.’ That’s the way we let the concept develop.”
Convincing the council
“We briefly thought they might have a problem with it, but it all seems to be fine at the moment,” he says. “What we’re doing is totally legal and ethical. After all, being naked in the UK is perfectly legal, even on the street. So, why wouldn’t we be allowed to do that in a confined, private space?” (The law states that it is not an offence to be naked, provided there is no intention to upset or shock.)
The cooking
“For safety reasons, we can’t have staff cooking naked. But that’s the least of our worries,” Lyall explains. “The really difficult thing is cooking food without using anything gas-based, or any blenders. We’re even having to make our own flour. But it’s the nudity that everyone talks about – and that’s the easiest bit.”
Finding staff
“How did we recruit staff who are happy to be naked? We didn’t have to – we had people approach us,” explains Lyall. “We didn’t make them get naked during interviews, though. We couldn’t, really. If I asked people to strip and said: ‘Show me how you look before I present you in front of my customers,’ then it’s against the whole ethos of the restaurant. We don’t want anyone to be judged on their bodies.”
Health and safety
“There really aren’t any extra health and safety issues to worry about by having a naked restaurant,” says Lyall, “although we got a lot of guests asking: ‘Is it going to be hygienic for me to sit naked on a seat that someone else has been nude on?’ We’ve had to point out that you will be sitting on a gown, which is effectively a cushion.”
Convincing customers
“People eat naked anyway. A lot of people eat naked sitting at home,” Lyall says. “The only new thing is convincing them to do it in public. It wasn’t a problem in the end, though. We had 40,000 people apply, and we’ve only got 6,000 places. At this rate, we might open it as a permanent restaurant.”
So, is Lyall right – do you eat naked “sitting at home”?
If you sell an app, subscription or other product through the App Store, Apple gets 30% of the money.
That's how its been since the App Store's inception seven years ago.
But soon Apple will for the first time lower its App Store commission on one condition: if an app can retain a subscriber for over a year, the revenue split will be 85/15.
The change will apply immediately to existing apps with users that are more than a year old - potentially providing an injection of extra revenue for many companies.
Spotify, for example, boasted of having 20 million subscribers this time last year.
For the sake of argument, if even just half of those subscribers are still paying members today, the change could potentially represent around $15m in extra subscription revenue for Spotify every month, and that's probably a conservative estimate.
'Terrific news'
As well as price, Apple will introduce another significant change to App Store subscriptions. Until now, only apps in certain categories - media and entertainment content - could charge subscription fees. Soon, any app will be able to offer such an option.
This is widely seen as a way for Apple to encourage high-end productivity apps onto its mobile operating system, iOS.
"This could be the change that makes the market for professional-calibre iPad apps possible," wrote John Gruber, a technology writer and long-time Apple watcher.
"I think this is terrific news both for developers and users."
The danger, of course, is by opening up subscriptions to every type of app, Apple risks creating a frustrating environment that's irritating for users who were accustomed to the simple model of paid or free apps.
Then again, subscriptions are surely more likely to encourage quality compared to one-off payments - the challenge for developers shifts from being convincing people to pay once, to convincing them to keep paying, again and again.
Search ads
The revenue split change is just one piece of Apple's plans for its store, which now has 1.5 million apps on offer - second only to Google's Play store.
It means discovery for apps seeking to gain new users can be difficult, with limited possibilities for promotion within the store other than becoming an Apple "featured app", a lucrative accolade that can make or break a new app.
Soon, ads will appear at the top of searches made in the App Store. They will, Apple says, be relevant to the search in question, and be clearly marked as being a paid-for position. Ads won't be shown to users who are under 13.
Location data is used to power some of the ads, but users can opt out of this, Apple said, and no user data is shared with the advertisers in question.
Developer's conference
The changes have been announced ahead of Apple's annual Worldwide Developers' Conference, or WWDC.
More announcements are on the way, but it's traditional for WWDC to be more about software improvements than new hardware.
Microsoft, Facebook and Google have already held their equivalent events, and at each, artificial intelligence was the main talking point. Will Apple offer the same?
There's rumblings in the Valley that Apple lags way behind the others when it comes to machine learning and AI technologies - presenting a problem which one prominent observer warned could see Apple become the "next Blackberry".
Such talk is premature, of course, when talking about the world's most valuable company. The changes to the App Store - outlined in Apple's words here - are about maintaining dominance of the market, not chasing it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)

Recent Comment