Comments on: App Store Broken or Developers? Losing iReligion vs. the Two App Stores

By: SmartphonesDev

SmartphonesDev — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:43:18 +0000

Fastlane, you're an idiot. Go develop an iPhone app before you lecture us about everything we're not doing right.

iBamse, you have a good idea, but it's not practical. To "get in touch with your customers" you have to know who they are- or how to communicate with them. As numerous developers have pointed out, Apple builds a wall and doesn't let developers communicate with customers. Try collecting customer info in your app and Apple rejects it.

To market outside the App Store, as our web developer 'friend' advocates, you could run Google AdWords ads, although 97% would be wasted because the iPhone is still a very small part of the market- and it it's infinite wisdom, Google AdWords prohibits you from including the word "iPhone" in your ad. I tried, and they repeatedly rejected it. I can run an add to the whole world, but I can't target iPhone users on Google. Nor can you target iPhone users. You can target "smartphones" but that includes a variety of devices, and thus wastes valuable marketing dollars. To target only iPhone users, you can run AdMob ads, but the only one that pays off for is AdMob.

In a nutshell, save the lectures about marketing unless you've developed your own app and somehow managed to find a way to successfully market it to the masses- outside of the App Store. Once you figure out how to do that, we'd love to hear your secrets. In the meantime, get off your pedestal and stop throwing rocks!

By: Raul L

Raul L — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:35:03 +0000

@fastlane Lol, clearly I am clearly wasting my time since you dont seem to be able to pull yourself above 80 IQ to produce an intelligent comment (if in doubt go back and read your own replies). I guess you prefer to be shutted up or ignored. It’s all good man, just get over it and move on, I am done with you. Ps. If you need help, team up with Icebike, maybe between the two of you can produce the mental horsepower to produces smart replies.

By: iBamse

iBamse — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:54:15 +0000

Using my best Cartman voice, "You guys s*ck!"

At least spend a little time on creating a proper website with a proper user manual, extensive screen shot gallery and support section with an FAQ, online support forum and some kind of warranty as to how many updates I can expect and how often they will arrive.

Do your freaking homework. Get in touch with your customers!

It is DEAD SIMPLE!

By: Fernando

Fernando — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:25:15 +0000

The inclusion of “Genius” for apps should help developers get their products noticed beyond the reliance on Top 25 or What’s Hot lists. I’ve already found and purchased apps that are superior to ones that I already had thanks to Genius.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:20:28 +0000

Developers spend hundreds of hours working on a product that has the App Store as a great distribution channel with the potential of millions of consumers, but are concerned about getting caught in obscurity. Uhh... haven't bands been doing this for years with their music? Or film makers with their films?

Welcome to independent distribution!

Maybe take a page from their book and start marketing your product outside of iTunes to generate some buzz like mentioned above. iTunes is a great channel to distribute and monitize your hard work, they said nothing about free marketing - that's your job as well. The last five apps I bought, I found through website reviews, not iTunes top 10.

By: Mark Bergman

Mark Bergman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:58:18 +0000

I think that there are a combination of factors working here and no one camp bears the full responsibility. First, in any economy the seller (developer) must seek out exposure and third party reviews. Secondly Apple can do a lot to enhance app visibility. A better presentation of new apps and top sellers would be a beginning. As a consumer, I’d like to see the business model changed to follow the examples set by shareware and Palm developers; free trials. Given the vast number of apps that have come on the market in a very short time, there are some phenomenally great apps, but there is also a lot of ****. I would trial lots of apps and, based on past experience, I’d buy quite a few. My business runs a contact management software that began life as shareware. Even today that developer offers a 30 day trial. Even a 7 day trial program would be a win-win for developers and iPhone users. If I could test new apps before spending, I’d spend more time exploring in the iTunes store and I’d pay more per app if I didn’t need to gamble. A trial program would also reduce the amount of piracy that’s going on.

By: NevadaScott

NevadaScott — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:25:00 +0000

I think we all could agree that everyone gets a little concerned with buying an app from a developer they’ve never heard of. when it comes to ea or gameloft or even others there might not be a need to test drive the product, but if apple would allow developers to put in free trials for 1, 3, 7, 15 etc days then I would imagine that top products would surface. reviews will still have to be sorted through but not as much. I’m just thinking about how adobe has free trials. it allows me to try it and see if it’s a fit. a dumbed down completely free app doesn’t always show the full power of the full featured app. am I wrong here? I’m not a developer, but I’d really like to see quality apps surface and not have 15 apps doing the same thing with different UI’s ranging from free to whatever amount of money. sadly I probably won’t be on this thread again to see if anyone replies. so see you all on the next thread!

By: frog

frog — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:12:14 +0000

I actually often disregard an app that's $0.99, on the assumption of the developer thinks it's only worth that - that it's probably not very good.

An app that's $5+, draws my attention.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:55:20 +0000

I think there are categories already in the app store, what do you want 5000 categories. The app store will never be perfect for everyone, but you can do your own advertising and it shouldn’t cost a lot of money just time. So you need to decide is the app worth the time, will I make my money back. I hope this does weed some of the junk out, and we get more quality over quantity.

By: fassy

fassy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:41:46 +0000

The article (and most commenters) creates a false dichotomy by saying that either devs are whining or the app store is broken, when those are not the only two options.

1) Do developers need to work harder now that the market is crowded, and are they primarily the ones responsible for their own success or failure? Yes.

2) Do certain structures and policies of the App Store throw unnecessary roadblocks into the face of developers trying their honest best at #1? Yes.

The answer to the oddly worded question "App Store Broken or Developers?" is simply "yes."