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Jul 14, 09 - 02:01 pm Comment from: Deus Ex Technica

Also: Improved categorization and search, to help developers get more exposure within the store.

Jul 14, 09 - 02:03 pm Comment from: John E

Search. we need smart search in the App Store part of iTunes. i don't want to see music, movies, and whatever else when i'm just searching for an app. and need to be able to limit by app category. and yes, a shopping list of course.

Apple is so stubborn. iTunes has gotten so huge it needs to greatly improve user navigation through it.

Jul 14, 09 - 02:06 pm Comment from: Deus Ex Technica

How'd it get popular? Easy - lots of apps. How'd that happen? Even easier - the App Store is a very free marketplace.

Apple keeps the playing field very level for all participants, which allows the developers to reap rewards commensurate with the value they bring to the marketplace. This spurs innovation and choice for the consumers, who buy more apps, which attracts developers, etc.

I wonder... could these principals be applied to a bigger market? Hmmm...

The iTMS is looking really creaky in general, including the App Store. Tabbed browsing, bookmarking, wish lists, better search, and overall better organization are all SORELY missing.
Don't get me wrong; I buy almost all my music, all my TV (no cable subscription), and rental movies (as well as some purchased movies) through the iTMS, but that only makes me more aware of it's shortcomings. It was designed years ago for fundamentally more simple tasks.

Ultimately, I want to be able to buy regular apps for my Mac on there, too. They could use the same model as the mobile App Store, even just making "Mobile" and "Mac" the first branching of hierarchical organization within the same store.

MDN word "ahead", as in; "All that said, iTMS and App Store are still way ahead of any other online purchase and delivery system.

Something else that is important, is that developers can count on the end-users phone having the latest version of the OS, and not just the version that was available when the phone was originally purchased. It makes things easier and better for both the consumer and the developer.

Remember this iPhone app (App Store tagging for later purchase)

SECONDED.

I have to keep a list in "Notes" of the apps I'm interested in, while I'm researching them (and their competition). Being able to "bookmark" those apps within the App Store itself would be ideal.

Why have so many apps been downloaded? Because of all the free apps. I have downloaded and deleted dozens of free apps. Very few apps have actually earned the right to stay on my iPod touch. It is like being on the windows side of things: a huge number of apps exist for the platform, but very few are of high enough quality to actually use. The rest is just clutter that gets in the way and makes finding the good apps that much more difficult.

Jul 14, 09 - 02:51 pm Comment from: Original Jake

@John E:
Nearly everything you ask for is ALREADY present. Smart search is simply called "Power Search," and you can access it from the iTunes home page. You can search apps by category.
A shopping cart for apps WOULD be nice though...

I have tried to use OVI for the Nokia phone and gave up after 30 mins because it is :
1. difficult to use.
2. No PC/MAC end to browse the app - you have to send a link and then download it over the phone network
3. Installation takes ages.
4. too many button presses to use the app
5. Most apps have a catch - in that you have to pay for it after a certain number of days
6. UI is dreadful
7. too many steps to buy apps
8. in the end it was just too stressful to use this app store so gave up and went back to itunes and the app store there.

It doesn't matter if those applications were kept or deleted. All that matters is that they're getting exposure and interest from users and that they were in fact downloaded. That is all that's needed as an incentive for other developers to want to put their applications out there.

They also need to start coming up with sub-categories, as they do with games. There's currently 208 pages in the Utilities section. How in the hell are we supposed to find anything in there?

@ mrboma - You could make the same argument about all the zillions of apps available for desktop OS's, many of which can be found for free. I don't think the quality-to-crap ratio in the App Store is as bad as you imply.

Jul 14, 09 - 07:22 pm Comment from: Spark

My son sent me an email today that simply read,

"I'm working on an iPhone game!"

Jul 14, 09 - 07:41 pm Comment from: Spark

One More:

Opportunity to make a reputation

Jul 14, 09 - 09:07 pm Comment from: Cubert

How about a better means of finding apps? The App Store reminds me of the widgets when they took off after the release of Tiger.

Jul 14, 09 - 09:28 pm Comment from: The Other Steve

The one thing most people miss,
build rich tools for developers that are easy (well, easy for developers) to use.

That's the part that most competitors miss, and the most difficult to duplicate.

Jul 15, 09 - 09:19 am Comment from: NCMacMan

What other companies also forget is that the SDK software Apple uses has been around since the early 90's and refined over time. You can't duplicate the simplicity involved which has enabled mom and pop developers to make apps.

Score???
Apple -- 1.5 Billion, all others -- 0

Development to the people! Apple has not only redefined "who" can develop apps but also the "how".

By basically giving away one of the best development environments in the business to every school kid, they've created an instant army of eager new talent.

If I was a youngster today, and had an iTouch and a mac with Xcode – OMG! Looook the fark out!

Every iTouch developer is by default an OSX developer, what happens when they turn that collective talent back on the mac itself?

Game Over

Given this huge success of the App Store, it is worth thinking about the factors that contributed to the App Store's success and what Apple could do to make the store even better. Even though a number of companies are trying to emulate the App Store model now, we think that a number of factors contributed to Apple's massive success. Some of these may be very hard to replicate for other companies.
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