Apple has been cracking down on app discovery resources in recent months, removing high profile apps like AppGratis for violating guideline 2.25 , which states the following: "Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected." A report from AllThingsD in early April indicated that AppGratis' rejection from the App Store was just the first phase of a much wider crackdown, which was today confirmed by Pocketgamer after Apple began rejecting apps that feature tools for "filtering, bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations." We've been contacted by one developer whose app discovery tool has recently been blocked by Apple because it includes such features, with App Store regulation 2.25 - which restricts apps that could be confused by consumers as app stores in their own right – cited within the reasoning.

comScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the January-March period, showing that Apple's smartphone market share rose 2.7 points from December to March, from 36.3% of total U.S. smartphone platform and hardware sales to 39%, marking a record high share for the company

AllThingsD shares details on a new report from J.P. Morgan analysts Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz, who unsurprisingly argue that Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone will still be a "mid-end" device rather than competing against the true low end of the smartphone market. The analysts point to Apple's previous introductions of the iPod nano and iPad mini as cheaper versions of their parent products that were still significantly more expensive than low-end competitors due to Apple's refusal to sacrifice quality for the sake of price

As part of its quarterly earnings release today, U.S. Cellular announced that it will begin carrying Apple products later this year, although the carrier offered no additional details on its plans. "We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year

Apple has posted a new contest on the App Store [ Direct Link ], offering a $10,000 gift card to whomever downloads the fifty billionth app from the App Store, similar to previous promotions. Apple said during its most recent earnings call that the company has surpassed 45 billion app downloads.

A new national stolen phone database is having little effect on smartphone thefts in the U.S., according to an article in The New York Times . The country's four major carriers all contribute to the database , which lists stolen phone ID numbers that should not be activated on domestic networks. However, the database appears to be ineffective for several reasons

T-Mobile's acquisition of MetroPCS was finalized today, but the merger will not bring the iPhone to MetroPCS customers in the near future. T-Mobile CEO John Legere, who spoke to AllThingsD , said it is possible that MetroPCS might be able to offer the iPhone at some point, but no plans are currently in the works.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the opening night speaker at the 11th D: All Things Digital conference next month. Last year, Cook joined hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg for a 100-minute session that covered a wide variety of topics. There’s lots to talk about, from the explosive growth of the mobile market to intense competition from a range of rivals, most especially Google’s Android, as well as innovative offerings from Korea’s Samsung

Samsung and Apple will be heading back to court in November for a partial retrial, reports FOSS Patents . The trial follows judge Lucy Koh's March ruling that struck $450 million from the $1 billion in damages that were awarded to Apple last August, on the premise that the original damages may have been miscalculated by the jury

Echoing recent reports about a redesigned 'flatter' user interface in iOS 7, 9to5Mac says the next version of the operating system will lose "all signs of gloss, shine and skeuomorphism" . Jony Ive took charge of all Apple's user interface teams last October following a management shakeup .