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Report: Apple Store App to Get Personalized Recommendations

The redesign includes a "For You" section, Bloomberg reports.

 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

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Apple is planning a redesign of its Apple Store app to recommend products based on a user's purchase history, Bloomberg reports.

Citing people familiar with the intended revamp, Bloomberg said the recommendation feature will work the same on the iPad and iPhone versions of the app, and it could possibly roll out within the next two weeks. An Apple spokesperson did not immediatley respond to a request for comment.

The recommendations will likely come in the form of a "For You" tab, similar to the recommendations section of the iTunes and App stores. It's unclear whether the section would include third-party products or just Apple hardware and software.

Apple has experimented with changes to the Apple Store app before, though not as frequently as it has with iTunes or the App Store. When it released the iPad version of the app, it added a "Now Trending" section a list of store items curated in real time based on which items were selling and which ones users searched.

The Apple Store website is now mobile-friendly and serves as an alternative to the app, but it didn't use to be that way. The Apple Store app rolled out before Cupertino redesigned its website to fit in a mobile browser window. In addition to buying products, the app added a convenient way for customers to make and modify Genius Bar appointments.

If Apple does move toward a more personalized shopping experience for the Apple Store app, it would follow other recent changes that Cupertino has made to its commerce platforms. The App Store already organizes search results based on an app's popularity. Soon, ads will start showing up in the search results, allowing developers to target you based on your demographic profile and your device's location.

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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