With its list of finalists for the Design Awards, Apple is praising small tech companies and independent apps over larger tech companies, even those that make AI robots.
This year, they released their list of what they think is the best and most technically advanced software for their platform. This comes at a time when both lawmakers and regulators have questioned the way its App Store works. In this case, the company list of competitors doesn’t include ChatGPT. Apple instead prefers apps from small to medium-sized companies, such as Copilot Money, SmartGym, Crouton (a recipe app), Procreate Dreams (a creative app), Gentler Streak, and others. They also like apps from venture-backed startups, such as Rooms (a creative app) and Arc Search (a redesigned web browser).
The second app uses AI to have an agent browse for you, as well as a new feature that lets you ask questions by holding the phone to your ear and saying “Call Arc.” However, it’s the only app on the list that talks about the technology that has taken the App Store and the tech industry by storm in the last year. 
Apple and Google didn’t name ChatGPT their “app of the year” when it came out last year to track sales. The ADAs would have given Apple another chance to show appreciation for the new idea, but they chose not to.
Apple and independent games
Instead, Apple is considering independent games like The Bear from Mucks Games, a German company that describes itself as a “weird bunch of creatives,” Rytmos from Copenhagen-based Floppy Club, a match-3 puzzler named finity on Arcade, The Wreck from Paris-based independent games studio The Pixel Hunt, and others.
That’s also true of the non-game apps that Apple chose to highlight this year. For instance, an independent developer in India created the meditation timer Meditate; an independent developer in Italy created the sun-tracking app Sunlitt; an independent company in the United States created Dudel Draw; an Australian developer named Isuru Wanasinghe created Bears Gratitude, a journaling app; and Things Inc. created Rooms, a creative app for creating imaginative spaces in an 8-bit style. Former Google employees created it, with support from A16Z. Apple granted Rooms two awards, placing them in two distinct categories.
However, there are some bigger producers on the list, such as Neowiz from South Korea for its game Lies of P, 505 Games for Death Stranding Director’s Cut, HoYoverse (creator of Genshin Impact) for Honkai: Star Rail, and Activision for Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile. But in those cases, Apple makes its choices in part because they use Apple technologies, like MetalFX, or because they optimise their M1 and higher chips (or maybe because they use in-app payments!).
This year, several apps and games specifically designed for the Vision Pro, such as Blackbox, Loóna, Synth Riders, along with djay, NBA, and Sky Guide, have also received app and game awards. Initially developed for iOS, many of these apps eventually found their way onto the Vision Pro.
An “Inclusivity” area also benefits Apple’s global app community. This includes users in the EU, where the Digital Markets Act regulates the app market. In this section, Apple has nominated an app for people with low vision called oko (Belgium), an app for neurodiverse people called Tiimo (Denmark), and games like Unpacking from the digital store Humble Bundle, Quadline from Ukraine’s Kovalov Ivan, and Crayola Adventures.
