Apple relaxes its limits on apps

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. said Thursday that it had relaxed many of the restrictions placed on mobile-app developers, which will allow the use of third-party tools such as Flash in applications on the company’s popular iOS mobile operating system.

In a statement, Apple said it had relaxed all its restrictions on what tools developers can use to create iOS apps, so long as those apps do not download code. The company said it was also publishing its App Store Review Guidelines in order to help developers better understand how the company reviews apps submitted for the online marketplace.

“We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart,” the statement read.

Analysts say Apple’s move was likely prompted by increased competition from competing mobile platforms — most notably the Android operating system from Google Inc. Other competitors include the BlackBerry platform owned by Research In Motion Ltd., Symbian from Nokia and the soon-to-be-launched Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft Corp.

“I think there is one big conclusion they came to, that Apple is concerned that being too closed is going to lead to more adoption of alternatives — specifically Android,” said David Smith, mobile analyst for Gartner Inc.

Android has been catching up to Apple in terms of device sales. By the end of the second quarter, Android had 17.2 percent of the global smart-phone market, ahead of 14.2 percent for Apple’s iOS platform, according to data from Gartner. Even more notable, Android’s market share had ballooned from just 1.8 percent in the same period last year. Apple’s market share by the middle of 2009 was 13 percent.

Apple still manages the largest mobile-app store, with more than 200,000 apps available for the company’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices. However, Android now boasts more than 100,000 apps, according to third-party tracker AndroLib.

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