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> Paying to be the first App Store entry is great, because it’s Apple showing off the normal Apple content (an app card) within a search list of app cards.

The most lucrative ad-supported site in the world (Google search) also shows normal-looking paid content at the top of a list of search results. Apple doesn't need to accept ugly banner ads to build an enormous ad business.

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It's so normal-looking, its hard to tell the difference between paid and regular content!

Whenever I go actually have to install an app from the apple store I really really have to pay attention to figure out what is an ad and what is what I actually want. Yeah it says it's an ad one it but it shows up first and the "it's an ad" warning feels deceptively subdued.

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