Tapjoy Launching Web-Based App Marketplace This Week

Social app and game monetization company Tapjoy is set to launch its own web-based app marketplace tomorrow, November 1, allowing users to interact directly with the company. However, the company told business website VentureBeat that the move has nothing to do with Apple's updated ad policies from earlier this year. Apple began rejecting certain apps featuring Tapjoy's "offer walls" back in April, which pay developers to promote installation of other apps, often using in-game currency as encouragement. Tapjoy decided to voluntarily limit the number of promotional installs that can be sent from a single app, in an effort to ensure no app can rise to the top of Apple's charts solely through this kind of promotion. It also announced a new Android Fund in June, as a means of focusing its business more on the Android OS platform. This new web-based app store from Tapjoy will allow consumers to purchase Tapjoy games from a new source, and to connect with an existing App Store account to gain virtual currency in games. "It is not [a way to circumvent Apple]," said a Tapjoy spokesperson. "In fact, the wheels for this were put in motion long before Apple ever changed their policies." "Tapjoy realized in order to get really big, we needed direct relationships with consumers," it continued. The service is launch tomorrow, and will feature a customer portal with direct access to the web app.