App Store Almost Reaches 10,000 Apps

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/29/app-store-almost-reaches-10000-apps/)

While several sites (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/29/10000-iphone-apps/) have reported that 10,000 iPhone Apps have been released into the App Store, the actual number of active iPhone apps that can be downloaded (http://appshopper.com/blog/2008/11/29/app-store-reaches-10000-apps-sorta/) is about 9,676 as of today's count. The discrepancy comes from the fact that many apps have been removed from the App Store for various reasons (trademark infringement, discontinued apps, pulled and released).

Still, the 10,000 active app mark should also be broken in the next few days. Games (http://toucharcade.com/) continue to dominate the App Store with 24% of all apps, followed by Entertainment (11.6%) and Utilities (10.9%). Games also seem to dominate the Top 100 paid (http://appshopper.com/bestsellers/paid) and Top 100 Free (http://appshopper.com/bestsellers/free) apps.

Apple originally launched (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/10/app-store-launch-500-apps-25-free/) the App Store on July 11th with only 500 apps. Due to its success, several competitors have plans for their own version of the App Store.



Article Link: App Store Almost Reaches 10,000 Apps (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/29/app-store-almost-reaches-10000-apps/)

[Surely]

How many of those are flashlights?

[arn]

How many of those are flashlights?

http://appshopper.com/search/?search=flashlight

29ish? (0.27%)

arn

[filmguy15]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

there is a flashlight app? Omg that would be useful enough to post 4000 different versions!

[IndyJonez]

even though most of those are crap, that's still amazing. :D

[rdowns]

10,000 apps
16 flashlight apps
23 tip calculator apps
37 news apps
43 to do lists
826 "social networking" apps

Still, an impressive number for Apple.

[chris200x9]

good job apple :cool:

[Auzburner]

The more we get, the better selection and competition for us, the customers... The only problem is finding the good ones worth using and consuming our time. With such a high number, some greats are going to be brushed under the rug and never seen, but in all this is an exciting number! 10,000!

[Sirobin]

http://appshopper.com/search/?search=flashlight

29ish? (0.27%)

arn

Haha, that made me laugh.

[sushi]

The more we get, the better selection and competition for us, the customers... The only problem is finding the good ones worth using and consuming our time. With such a high number, some greats are going to be brushed under the rug and never seen, but in all this is an exciting number! 10,000!
Agree.

Ten thousand apps is quite an accomplishment.

With this kind of popularity, we may see new touch hardware. :)

[iGuardian]

Yes, there's almost 10,000 apps, yet all the good ones seem not to be available to Canadians.

[Chaszmyr]

Good and bad... It's nice to see developers supporting the iPhone, but there are so many bad apps it can make it tough to find the good ones.

With this kind of popularity, we may see new touch hardware. :)

We may, but I think the biggest reason that iPhone apps are so successful isn't because of the interface, but because everyone figures it's incredibly convenient to have a nice app on their phone, since they always have their phone with them anyway.

[mahonmeister]

Yeah, the app store is pretty awesome; especially with so many great apps that are free. I have yet to pay for a single one.

But I can't help thinking that things would be so much better if Apple would impose less restrictions and allow the apps to have more control over the iPhone/touch.

[zap2]

Very impressive....I recall Palm OS users using that number(sometimes it was 30,000 apps) for Palm OS, impressive how the iPhone has neared that number so soon

[mrcharlie91]

and most of apps are useless crap, of course :eek:

[Doctor Q]

I wonder if Apple expected to do this well.

[sfoalex]

even though most of those are crap, that's still amazing. :D

I was going to write that 9,975 of them are utter garbage, but perhaps it's only 9,950.

Alex Alexzander

[coolfactor]

I wonder if Apple expected to do this well.

They saw the problem.
They solved it.
Consumers responded.

I think that's a recipe for success.

[iParis]

JEEZ.
That's a crap load of apps.
And by crap load I mean that the majority of them are crap.
About 20% of them do the same exact thing as another app.
Then another 10% are light versions.
I think that after Apple hits 20,000 they should go out and filter all the pointless ones.

[gomatt]

knock on wood is still my fav

[.Andy]

Another vote for more quality apps. I haven't been tempted to drop any dough lately. Besides Fuzzle, Caissa Chess, and Netters the apps are leaving me wanting. I've a graveyard of apps on my HD that have only briefly seen the light of day. There's almost too many apps to sift through looking for quality. Even with recommendations from the forums or touch arcade or appshopper.

[SnowLeopard2008]

Regardless of "pointless" or not, there is a huge selection of apps from games to password makers and dictionaries. Again, read the last few lines, a bunch of companies will copy Apple, as usual. For example, Dell/Sony/HP copied Apple's AIO concept. *Sigh*

[nado]

Wouldn't it be nice if every app had a "license" field linked to it, like MacUpdate has? "Free" and "lite" versions of apps should go in shareware/demo, allowing to exclude them... It sucks to have the top 100 free littered with junk I can finish within five minutes!

[branjosef]

I wonder how many of the games are crappy useless advertisements for some upcoming movie or something, but under the guise of a game. You know alot of hotels in the United States purchase art for their rooms and lobbies from companies that have that have warehouses full of artists in places like china that sit and paint all those pictures like they are on some assembly line. I wonder if the big movie studios have a warehouse filled with geeky programmers that are continually churning out iphone games for their latest CGI blockbuster hit. Has anyone played the useless "bolt" game. 10,000 apps of which maybe 1% are worth anything. We have the "wooo button" app, the zippo lighter app, about a thousand "learn to speak another language" apps, and countless social networking apps all of which promise the experience of a lifetime. Oh I forgot to mention the numerous bible apps each offering their take on holy forgiveness and sanctuary for a convienent low price. Nothing beats getting your bible on using the worlds fastest smartphone, unless you live in England of which that statement has been banned because those speeds have been exagerated. :D


-sorry for the rant.

[branjosef]

knock on wood is still my fav

Thats the best app in the world. Unfortunately I downloaded the lite version of that app so all I have is "knock on plywood"

[Cassie]

Regardless of "pointless" or not, there is a huge selection of apps from games to password makers and dictionaries. Again, read the last few lines, a bunch of companies will copy Apple, as usual. For example, Dell/Sony/HP copied Apple's AIO concept. *Sigh*

The AIO isn't Apple's invention. The original Mac 128k was an AIO, but so were many other PC's at the time.(Eventually, other maker's moved on to other footprints; so did Apple, but they kept the AIO design at the same time.)

But I do see what you're saying, Apple brought the AIO back into style.;)

[Digital Skunk]

Cool!

This can go along with the 100,000 useless, redundant, all but forgotten Widgets that Apple has choking it's servers.

iPhone Apps! The new Widget!



Some let me know when there's an app that lets me create MS Office documents and save them to the iPhone's flash drive, then bluetooth them to a BT enabled printer or another real smartphone.

[branjosef]

Cool!

This can go along with the 100,000 useless, redundant, all but forgotten Widgets that Apple has choking it's servers.

iPhone Apps! The new Widget!



Some let me know when there's an app that lets me create MS Office documents and save them to the iPhone's flash drive, then bluetooth them to a BT enabled printer or another real smartphone.

I totally forgot about widgets. you're right!! Best widget of all time is the Chuck Norris factcheck widget "Chuck Norris doesn't throw up...he throws down!!"

We need a Chuck Norris iphone app. That will restore balance to the force

[iParis]

I totally forgot about widgets. you're right!! Best widget of all time is the Chuck Norris factcheck widget "Chuck Norris doesn't throw up...he throws down!!"

We need a Chuck Norris iphone app. That will restore balance to the force

So true.
Any developers out there wanna go for it?
I wonder if there's just a website with 5415129729259+ Chuck Norris jokes.

[sflocal]

It's funny listening to everyone complain ("whine") about the quality of the apps on the iPhone.

Yes most apps are garbage but what did you expect? Most of the complainers would whine if Apple shut out the joe-weekend-developer-of-crapware and scream monopoly. I find it frustrating to search endlessly for that one gem sunk deep in that steaming pile of crap. I suppose one user's garbage is another user's treasure.

This free-for-all is what happens when the floodgates are open and individuals create the crap-for-.99cents and hope they sell a few thousand and then disappear.

If you think this is bad, wait till Android Market is open in full force and it will look like the red-light district in Thailand selling crapware up to the neck.

Honestly people, what did you expect would be out there? You complain when Apple tries doing something about it and you complain when Apple apparently lets anything through. By all means folks, offer some kind of lucid opinion of what should be done.

Perhaps Apple could implement some kind of rating system where if users rate an item as crap, then Apple could remove it providing enough people vote on it? Of course, that would be ripe for abuse from the competition too.

[branjosef]

It's funny listening to everyone complain ("whine") about the quality of the apps on the iPhone.

Yes most apps are garbage but what did you expect? Most of the complainers would whine if Apple shut out the joe-weekend-developer-of-crapware and scream monopoly. I find it frustrating to search endlessly for that one gem sunk deep in that steaming pile of crap. I suppose one user's garbage is another user's treasure.

This free-for-all is what happens when the floodgates are open and individuals create the crap-for-.99cents and hope they sell a few thousand and then disappear.

If you think this is bad, wait till Android Market is open in full force and it will look like the red-light district in Thailand selling crapware up to the neck.

Honestly people, what did you expect would be out there? You complain when Apple tries doing something about it and you complain when Apple apparently lets anything through. By all means folks, offer some kind of lucid opinion of what should be done.

Perhaps Apple could implement some kind of rating system where if users rate an item as crap, then Apple could remove it providing enough people vote on it? Of course, that would be ripe for abuse from the competition too.


It will all go away once we have our Chuck Norris app. I have faith!


"Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing."

"Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there"

[iParis]

It's funny listening to everyone complain ("whine") about the quality of the apps on the iPhone.

Yes most apps are garbage but what did you expect? Most of the complainers would whine if Apple shut out the joe-weekend-developer-of-crapware and scream monopoly. I find it frustrating to search endlessly for that one gem sunk deep in that steaming pile of crap. I suppose one user's garbage is another user's treasure.

This free-for-all is what happens when the floodgates are open and individuals create the crap-for-.99cents and hope they sell a few thousand and then disappear.

If you think this is bad, wait till Android Market is open in full force and it will look like the red-light district in Thailand selling crapware up to the neck.

Honestly people, what did you expect would be out there? You complain when Apple tries doing something about it and you complain when Apple apparently lets anything through. By all means folks, offer some kind of lucid opinion of what should be done.

Perhaps Apple could implement some kind of rating system where if users rate an item as crap, then Apple could remove it providing enough people vote on it? Of course, that would be ripe for abuse from the competition too.

The rating thing would work out.
Perhaps that's how they could get rid of a butt load of apps every three to six months.
Or at least lower the price if people are complaining about it.
Can you believe some of those apps that aren't free?

[Chicagomac08]

JEEZ.
That's a crap load of apps.
And by crap load I mean that the majority of them are crap.
About 20% of them do the same exact thing as another app.
Then another 10% are light versions.
I think that after Apple hits 20,000 they should go out and filter all the pointless ones.

Why is everyone crying about the "crap apps" Go to iTunes and look at all the crap movies and crap songs on there. Go to Barnes and Noble and look at all the crap books.

It's everywhere. Good stuff and bad stuff. what's the big deal?

[rockosmodurnlif]

JEEZ.
That's a crap load of apps.
And by crap load I mean that the majority of them are crap.
About 20% of them do the same exact thing as another app.
Then another 10% are light versions.
I think that after Apple hits 20,000 they should go out and filter all the pointless ones.
Praise! Keep speaking the truth.

Why is everyone crying about the "crap apps" Go to iTunes and look at all the crap movies and crap songs on there. Go to Barnes and Noble and look at all the crap books.

It's everywhere. Good stuff and bad stuff. what's the big deal?
Apple claims to be the gatekeeper.

In other words, flashlight apps, we've got room for all of you. Tethering apps, Tetris clones, GTFO!

[iParis]

Why is everyone crying about the "crap apps" Go to iTunes and look at all the crap movies and crap songs on there. Go to Barnes and Noble and look at all the crap books.

It's everywhere. Good stuff and bad stuff. what's the big deal?

Because those are songs and movies.
Not all of those are pointless and crap.
It's really your opinion.
Apps are a different story. They either suck or they don't.
And often they suck because they do nothing, there are over ten different versions of it, you have to pay for it, the idea of it is just stupid, and a price would be good but it's current price is too high.

Praise! Keep speaking the truth.


Apple claims to be the gatekeeper.

In other words, flashlight apps, we've got room for all of you. Tethering apps, GTFO!

Thanks for the compliment.

But... even though I may agree without, don't tell people on here GTFO.
He may not have been here as long as you or be as active as you, but you can still get a time out just for something like that.
No matter how much you disagree with the other person I would watch what you say on here, you have no authority over him.

[Ademius]

The app store clearly needs to have a better structure as well as some sort of sortingsystem based on ratings, much like the one at YouTube comments where you can choose what comments to display based on ratings. It would also be useful to have an option to require acertain amounts of ratings (e.g. 10 ratings)
for it to be displayed.

If this would be implemented and people would start reviewing more this would actually lessen the clutter in the app store and shed more light on the apps that are actually useful.

But the way the app store is now it's almost impossible to find something. I almost never browse the app store, it's just a waste of time. Instead I turn to recommendations on forums, read arn's appshopper site's RSS feeds, podcasts, blogs and other media.

[irun5k]

So do you guys think Apple intended to release an SDK all along? Because if we go back in time, at one point Apple was adamant that all we would ever need were the apps they gave us, and web applications.

It is really hard for me to believe they didn't plan to do this all along. But like I say, step in the time machine a second and look back at all the outrage when it was discovered that the iPhone wouldn't support 3rd party development. Why would Apple keep it a secret instead of just saying "we're working on it now"? Yeah I know. They're probably secretive about the place they buy the hand lotion from for their bathrooms at HQ.

[dwsolberg]

So true.
Any developers out there wanna go for it?
I wonder if there's just a website with 5415129729259+ Chuck Norris jokes.

Not surprisingly, there are already two Chuck jokes applications.
Here's one:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=290568286&mt=8

[Michael CM1]

Cool!

This can go along with the 100,000 useless, redundant, all but forgotten Widgets that Apple has choking it's servers.

iPhone Apps! The new Widget!



Some let me know when there's an app that lets me create MS Office documents and save them to the iPhone's flash drive, then bluetooth them to a BT enabled printer or another real smartphone.

How else would I know when Christmas is without 15 countdown apps to tell me? Calendars are REALLY hard to read sometimes.

[kajitox]

I am not impressed until Apple can go through the ones that are literally not worth having. If you let things get too out of control, you turn into YouTube.

[iParis]

Not surprisingly, there are already two Chuck jokes applications.
Here's one:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=290568286&mt=8

Thanks for the link.

Although, it backs up one of my points even more.
I don't want to have to pay for 350 Chuck Norris jokes when those can probably be googled.

How else would I know when Christmas is without 15 countdown apps to tell me? Calendars are REALLY hard to read sometimes.

Hahaha. To true.
Same thing with those to-do-list that are over $.99.
Why the hell would you not just use the given default notes app and calendar app.
OH ya, there are also tons of notes apps.

[queshy]

How many of those are flashlights?

http://appshopper.com/search/?search=flashlight

29ish? (0.27%)

arn

Haha, Surely, you got owned! Bet you didn't expect a precise answer. Thanks for the link, arn.

[sushi]

We may, but I think the biggest reason that iPhone apps are so successful isn't because of the interface, but because everyone figures it's incredibly convenient to have a nice app on their phone, since they always have their phone with them anyway.
True.

The iPhone is plenty big as it is. Wouldn't want to see a larger one.

I was thinking more in terms of a slightly larger touch device.

[Pooshka]

knock on wood is still my fav
Knock on Wood (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=286570924&mt=8) is one hell of an innovation indeed. Hey, I agree with all the 5-star reviewers!

Everyone, go get it right now (while it's still free).

[MacFly123]

Well at least soon the iPhone will have support for multi-tasking with all of these apps and spaces built in. It is pretty sweet if I do say so myself!

[iParis]

Well at least soon the iPhone will have support for multi-tasking with all of these apps and spaces built in. It is pretty sweet if I do say so myself!

Give it time...

[.Andy]

If you think this is bad, wait till Android Market is open in full force and it will look like the red-light district in Thailand selling crapware up to the neck.
You're mistaken. This sounds awesome.

[iParis]

Knock on Wood (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=286570924&mt=8) is one hell of an innovation indeed. Hey, I agree with all the 5-star reviewers!

Everyone, go get it right now (while it's still free).

I just downloaded it...
It seems like one of those crap apps.
It does nothing but make a sound that seems like you're knocking on wood.

[BornAgainMac]

Widgets, Web 2.0 Apps, and iPhone Apps. It is all good.

Windows users have a wider selection of apps but the strange thing is only a small percentage actually are in retail stores now. I remember the selection of Windows games and applications took much more shelf space (more than DVDs).

Since Widgets, Web 2.0 Apps, and iPhone Apps take no shelf space, it makes me wonder if future PC/Mac software will have an App store too. DVD sized titles excluded.

[BRLawyer]

It will all go away once we have our Chuck Norris app. I have faith!


"Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing."

"Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there"

Well, the best one is a REAL one, during Huckabee's campaign for president of the U.S., when he was talking about security and presenting Norris as a supporter:

"Security? I've got two words for ya: Chuck * Norris!!!" :D

[fimac]

Whilst the frustration with duplicate applications is somewhat justified, I think that the App Store reflects human nature; the wheel may have been invented once, but it has been refined for millennia :)

As an aside, it is fascinating to watch App Store "memes" (e.g. via AppShopper) where recently there have been a flurry of "Call <Relation>" applications and Date-Countdown applications.

Many people acknowledge that, despite the noise, there are plenty of gems. The key issue is discovery. (Discovery of applications has been an issue since Java was first ported to mobile phones.)

Currently developers are under-pricing their applications in order to stay in the "Top 25/50/100" list, and thus to stay visible to consumers. With improved discovery, then developers will be able to invest more in application development and charge realistic* prices.

This will result in a win for everyone: polished and innovative applications, with good support, at a reasonable price.

* No matter how much anyone whines, software developers have to pay for hardware, training, rent, tax, and some of us even eat too. ;)

[mrwalker]

As long as Opera Mini is not available I could not care less about how many apps are in the store... My previously beloved Apple is turning more and more fascist. :mad:

[Digital Skunk]

Whilst the frustration with duplicate applications is somewhat justified, I think that the App Store reflects human nature; the wheel may have been invented once, but it has been refined for millennia :)

SO not the same thing.

Each refinement came with improvements, and there weren't 100 slightly different wheels offering some slightly different approach at a simple task.

They were all round, and served the same exact purpose. Now don't go splitting hairs with me... :D

As long as Opera Mini is not available I could not care less about how many apps are in the store... My previously beloved Apple is turning more and more fascist. :mad:

True about the fascism of Apple. It's gotten to the point where not thinking like them, and/or not loving all the toys that come out of Cupertino means something it wrong with you.

[blimeyoriley]

10,000 apps, yet we can only have about 1% of these (129) at a time

Bring on folders babyyyy

or something haha

[zedsdead]

No video recording yet though, right?

[carth]

It's funny listening to everyone complain ("whine") about the quality of the apps on the iPhone.

Yes most apps are garbage but what did you expect? Most of the complainers would whine if Apple shut out the joe-weekend-developer-of-crapware and scream monopoly. I find it frustrating to search endlessly for that one gem sunk deep in that steaming pile of crap. I suppose one user's garbage is another user's treasure.

This free-for-all is what happens when the floodgates are open and individuals create the crap-for-.99cents and hope they sell a few thousand and then disappear.

If you think this is bad, wait till Android Market is open in full force and it will look like the red-light district in Thailand selling crapware up to the neck.

Honestly people, what did you expect would be out there? You complain when Apple tries doing something about it and you complain when Apple apparently lets anything through. By all means folks, offer some kind of lucid opinion of what should be done.

Perhaps Apple could implement some kind of rating system where if users rate an item as crap, then Apple could remove it providing enough people vote on it? Of course, that would be ripe for abuse from the competition too.

Seems like a solution could be to create a "premium appstore" within the current one. Leave the current app store as it is but allow best selling and well known developers to be listed in their own section. This would eliminate a lot of crap you don't want to see while allowing the hobbiest to continue developing and if they are good enough work their way into the premium listing.

[fimac]

They were all round, and served the same exact purpose. Now don't go splitting hairs with me... :D

Would you care to roll your own metaphor? ;)

I see many of these trivial apps as essentially the "Hello, world"s of iPhone programming; developers are learning... and things can only get better :D

[charlituna]

The only problem is finding the good ones worth using and consuming our time.


as big problem is that some of the most useful apps are being made by folks that refuse to play by the rules and program the apps to work with the apple installer and thus encourage folks to jailbreak their phones. Folks that don't really know exactly what they are doing and screw it up cause they want that app and then they end up with a phone that is hosed and a voided warranty. all cause some programmer just has to flip the bird to apple and play by his/her own rules

and yes i've contact some of these 'non apple store' apps people and been told that they aren't in the store 'cause we don't feel like it' and a couple of folks that claimed it was a political statement against the 'evils of corporate america' (huh? okay whatever)

[charlituna]

But I can't help thinking that things would be so much better if Apple would impose less restrictions and allow the apps to have more control over the iPhone/touch.

less restrictions means more power to hose a phone if you screw up the programming.

and apple definitely doesn't want that.

[charlituna]

I think that after Apple hits 20,000 they should go out and filter all the pointless ones.

that's censorship, how dare they.

[williedigital]

I was expecting more apps from real companies. I wanted a bank of america type app for my bank (wamu). I wanted an official app from the nba so i could check scores. I wanted an app from each of the newspapers/magazines I read that was similar to the NY Times one. So far there is no Washington Post, Salon.com, Economist, New Yorker, Harpers, etc. No official app from wikipedia. Hell, no app from macrumors. I just expected more first-party's to put out some software instead of relying on crappy 3rd party stuff.

[charlituna]

I am not impressed until Apple can go through the ones that are literally not worth having. If you let things get too out of control, you turn into YouTube.

that is a matter of opinion.

for example. you might think that an app that gives you a chuck norris cartoon telling you some cool 'fact' about chuck and then you give it a little shake and he tells you another one is awesome.

I think it ain't worth the sweat off a dead monkey's balls.

so whose opinion decides if the app stays or goes

I will agree that it would be nice if they could moderate reviews all over the itunes store (I'm so sick of 500 reviews that are 'he's so hot, say yes if you agree'), require that you own before you can review and let you sort by rating.

but there's too much potential legal trouble if you start judging worth etc. judging by technical requirement, following the SDK rules and removing things that have known issues with causing trouble to phones is about all Apple can do and not get sued.

[Mr. lax]

If apple makes it, they will follow

[kdarling]

In other words, flashlight apps, we've got room for all of you. Tethering apps, GTFO!
But... even though I may agree without, don't tell people on here GTFO...

He didn't. You misread his post.

He was talking about how Apple accepts duplicates of simple apps, but often rejects the ones that people want most, or that compete with Apple.

[terryzx]

Someone needs to compile a good list of these with a description and rating of each one and categorize it ;)

[SteveLV702]

now maybe if Apple would Approve our Developer Application that we submitted the day the put up the Application maybe we could put some of our Apps on the Store too...

[twoodcc]

i must say, apple has done a great job with the app store. granted, a lot of the apps aren't all that good, but better and better apps keep coming, along with not so great ones as well. either way, i love the app store

[ivladster]

I hope Apple takes this as a clear signal to develop iTablet already.

[slackpacker]

7000 of them are GARBAGE

[Thomas Harte]

To disclose my bias before I begin, I am one of the iPhone application developers currently rushing to market. I released my first application (a game) a couple of days ago, and so far it is getting a critical mauling.

I agree with those above who say that the problem isn't the number of applications, it's the difficulty in discerning which ones have value. The star ratings are a hot topic in the development community right now because of Apple's new rate on delete feature, which almost seems to be asking people "Given that you don't want to keep this application, how good do you think it is?". Average scores for cheap or free titles are likely to drop dramatically soon; whether this is fair or not depends on where you stand. In any case, it may lead to a much greater range of scores in the near future.

Re: my own application, I can't help feeling that the unified ratings system could be a bit of a problem as the market diverges. I'm sure I'm just trying to protect my own self esteem, but I feel that part of my application's problem is that it's not likely to appeal to a very wide audience and low ratings may prevent me from making that connection. However, I'm not sure that it is fair to say that this is Apple's problem. The neat way that the iTunes store is integrated into the synchronisation tool probably makes their role seem more benevolent than it is; I think it's entirely correct that they offer a listing for everyone and reserve high billings to applications that have universal popularity. It's really for the third-party sites to highlight further diversity.

[thecritix]

why not start selling other apple applications, Logic, Final Cut etc through it, and open it up as a software sales. Might help to curb piracy in the same way the itunes store has.

[Bonte]

Since Widgets, Web 2.0 Apps, and iPhone Apps take no shelf space, it makes me wonder if future PC/Mac software will have an App store too. DVD sized titles excluded.

That seems to be the logical next step, not only the store itself is tempting but also the centrally controlled DRM that is Mac/PC/iPhone/iPod compatible. Imagine Apple taking a 30% cut on the desktop apps, i definitely need to find some extra money to buy Apple stock. :eek:

Don't need to exclude the DVD titles, the DVD's itself can be free or low cost with the actual sale going via the app-store.

[Bonte]

But I can't help thinking that things would be so much better if Apple would impose less restrictions and allow the apps to have more control over the iPhone/touch.

Strange, don't take this personally but first people bitch about the cazillion crappy apps out there but on the other hand don't mind to give the same programers more ways to screw up there iPhone.

The iphone still has many years to go, the software will mature over time.

[ilfn143]

0 video recording app, except in cydia

[HowEver]

Like Mr. Springsteen said, "57 channels and nothing on."

Soon to be 57,000.

[zoetropeuk]

Thanks for the compliment.

But... even though I may agree without, don't tell people on here GTFO.
He may not have been here as long as you or be as active as you, but you can still get a time out just for something like that.
No matter how much you disagree with the other person I would watch what you say on here, you have no authority over him.

FFS you need to chill out, it's just the internet. This forum has really gone to the dogs now it's full of PC switchers :(

Matt

[rhpixelfreak]

:D Trying to beat Apple at their own game has become the new alchemy (iPod, iTunes, iPhone, App Store... you'd think they would have learned by now)

This is gonna be funny!

[funnyent]

half of the apps are flashlights! ;)

[GRuizMD]

Its funny, for me as physician, how the health care and fitness category has so much crap! and it comes in waves:

in the beginning there was nothing... and the app store was a quiet and calm place... then the calorie counters appeared!
Tons of applications with virtually the same database promising to cut your belly fat by counting how many thousand calories your Supper Sized burger has, all neatly translated to points....

For us chubby crowd, there were the weight calculators, BMI calculators, Hip to waist ratio calculators, probably pant size calculators, you name it... .For us heavy eaters!, Hundreds of them! in all flavors (no pun intended)

Then the Fitness applications boom came: First with the Heart rate monitors: "Hold your iPhone on one hand, and your other hand check your pulse, at the same time tap the screen every time you feel a beat (probably using your toes) and count to 60 and presto! your heart rate will be calculated!"

Then the Sports applications were a natural evolution from this precarious predecessor; being an amateur swimmer I was interested in... guess what? iSwim (Obviously!), but getting into the water with my phone did not seem to be a good Idea.

But there was a sudden change in the evolution.... Female only applications... The first one that I remember, was probably LadyBiz, with a hot chick cartoon as icon... wait a second... "this application will let you record your mood, menstruation, and dates of intercourse" (probably a tab on quality of intercourse would be a reasonable expected update)... and maybe if the SDK would permit it, this application could integrate with the contacts application so you can automatically add a special contact group for your "mates"

I have to give it to them, very creative... but then a exponential growth on this applications came about... Which is Ok, I guess; but the names... Silly names, iMensies (guess it could be iMenses, maybe?), Petals (?), iSpot, i-have-nothing-to-put-on-my-intercourse-tab etc...

For those reckless women that did not care to buy one of the menstrual calendar apps, there was the next level: Pregnancy applications!
iFeelNauseated, I'm Pregnant! iKicks etc....

We have come a great way! there is a current trend now that have the iPump (iPump Office stretch) applications head to head with the "relaxing Applications": "This application will help you Sleep with this soothing recordings of the beach during hurricane Katrina" and that stuff.... There are some that are pretty sophisticated: Brainhack anyone? sounds dangerous!, Custom Hypnosis:{...} now you can use hypnosis as a powerful tool in waging the war of mind over matter wow Im sold!

Dozens of binaural sound applications with allegedly therapeutic applications, most of which lack completely of scientific foundation etc...

Now Seriously...Well anyway... for me, in the Health care department, there are probably 3 maybe 4 that are worth: epocrates eponyms and Mediequations and those are still in my phone.

[howie78]

Yet still...a horrible camera...come on apple how hard is it to throw in a basic 5mp camera with dual LED flash? Its becoming a standard on high end nokia. Just want it on a iphone. It would be complete if it had that IMO.

[thecritix]

Its funny, for me as physician, how the health care and fitness category has so much crap! and it comes in waves:

in the beginning there was nothing... and the app store was a quiet and calm place... then the calorie counters appeared!
Tons of applications with virtually the same database promising to cut your belly fat by counting how many thousand calories your Supper Sized burger has, all neatly translated to points....

For us chubby crowd, there were the weight calculators, BMI calculators, Hip to waist ratio calculators, probably pant size calculators, you name it... .For us heavy eaters!, Hundreds of them! in all flavors (no pun intended)

Then the Fitness applications boom came: First with the Heart rate monitors: "Hold your iPhone on one hand, and your other hand check your pulse, at the same time tap the screen every time you feel a beat (probably using your toes) and count to 60 and presto! your heart rate will be calculated!"

Then the Sports applications were a natural evolution from this precarious predecessor; being an amateur swimmer I was interested in... guess what? iSwim (Obviously!), but getting into the water with my phone did not seem to be a good Idea.

But there was a sudden change in the evolution.... Female only applications... The first one that I remember, was probably LadyBiz, with a hot chick cartoon as icon... wait a second... "this application will let you record your mood, menstruation, and dates of intercourse" (probably a tab on quality of intercourse would be a reasonable expected update)... and maybe if the SDK would permit it, this application could integrate with the contacts application so you can automatically add a special contact group for your "mates"

I have to give it to them, very creative... but then a exponential growth on this applications came about... Which is Ok, I guess; but the names... Silly names, iMensies (guess it could be iMenses, maybe?), Petals (?), iSpot, i-have-nothing-to-put-on-my-intercourse-tab etc...

For those reckless women that did not care to buy one of the menstrual calendar apps, there was the next level: Pregnancy applications!
iFeelNauseated, I'm Pregnant! iKicks etc....

We have come a great way! there is a current trend now that have the iPump (iPump Office stretch) applications head to head with the "relaxing Applications": "This application will help you Sleep with this soothing recordings of the beach during hurricane Katrina" and that stuff.... There are some that are pretty sophisticated: Brainhack anyone? sounds dangerous!, Custom Hypnosis: wow Im sold!

Dozens of binaural sound applications with allegedly therapeutic applications, most of which lack completely of scientific foundation etc...

Now Seriously...Well anyway... for me, in the Health care department, there are probably 3 maybe 4 that are worth: epocrates eponyms and Mediequations and those are still in my phone.

I found your post quite entertaining. Bravo.

[swoday]

French Apple Store is closed. I'm wondering why ?
The front page is there, but I can't buy anything lol.

[Lara F]

Now Seriously...Well anyway... for me, in the Health care department, there are probably 3 maybe 4 that are worth: epocrates eponyms and Mediequations and those are still in my phone.

Don't forget Lexi and Skyscape - not cheap, but serious apps for the health care professional and pretty much bring the iPhone up to par with what was available for PDA's.

[manu chao]

Each refinement came with improvements, and there weren't 100 slightly different wheels offering some slightly different approach at a simple task.
Yes there were 100 slightly different wheels offering some slightly different approach. There were and are probably millions of different wheels.

Why should applications be treated differently than songs or books? What is the difference between a do-it-yourself book (which is supposed to have some utility) and an application. Or between a low-brow novel and a game?

How many applications exist for the Mac that are crap?

The only difference between applications for the Mac and the iPhone is that Apple shuts out a handful of categories. For me the AppStore is just part of the internet, whether I buy an app an the internet (or via VersionTracker) or on the AppStore makes no difference to me.

Apple prevents you from running certain apps on the iPhone. It does this by not allowing iTunes to sync them. Otherwise you could put apps for jailbroken phones into iTunes and it would sync them. It is not the AppStore, it is the syncing that really stops certain apps (plus that their developers would have to break a contract they signed when downloading the SDK from Apple).

I don't buy apps because they are available in the AppStore, I buy them because they were recommended by somebody (going into the AppStore and searching is more cumbersome than search the Web with Google). The AppStore is irrelevant, except that it standardizes the updating, signing, and payment of apps. But applications like AppFresh and the Dashboard widget Application update plus Paypal do exactly the same of Mac applications.

[Bonte]

French Apple Store is closed. I'm wondering why ?
The front page is there, but I can't buy anything lol.

Belgian and holland store also, seems to be in all EU country's. Probably a service timeout as it is middle of the night in europe.

[mikes63737]

No video recording yet though, right?

Yeah, I wonder why there hasn't been one yet... I'd even pay for one!

Maybe there's something in the SDK against it? I don't think so, but I sure hope not!

[firewood]

Yeah, I wonder why there hasn't been one yet...

The officially allowed SDK API doesn't support access to video recording.

.

[firewood]

How many of those are flashlights?

Even if a couple dozen apps are flashlights, if every type of app had nearly that many duplicates, there would still be 500 completely different types of apps available.


.

[GRuizMD]

Belgian and holland store also, seems to be in all EU country's. Probably a service timeout as it is middle of the night in europe.

They are probably updating the App Store with an all new flashlight App...

[SFC Archer]

Arn...I checked here http://appshopper.com/ and found nothing in regards to discontinued apps. Do you have a list or does someone else have a list of all of the apps that were in the store and discontinued???

A list of permanent and temporary removed apps would be nice to review my purchases against. It would let users know that some of these have been pulled by the devs because they just didn't sell or the excitement wore off and they couldn't keep up with it. This would help me and others remove dead apps from iTunes, other then those that still work but were pulled by Apple, like the tethering app.

A link or list would be greatly appreciated!

[Saladinos]

Cool!

This can go along with the 100,000 useless, redundant, all but forgotten Widgets that Apple has choking it's servers.

iPhone Apps! The new Widget!



Some let me know when there's an app that lets me create MS Office documents and save them to the iPhone's flash drive, then bluetooth them to a BT enabled printer or another real smartphone.

There is an app that lets you do all of that and more. It's called "I am Rich". Definitely worth buying.

[kas23]

why not start selling other apple applications, Logic, Final Cut etc through it, and open it up as a software sales. Might help to curb piracy in the same way the itunes store has.

I think this is an excellent idea and I don't know why Apple hasn't done this yet. Is Apple allowed to sell their own apps in their own store? If so, why don't they develop and sell iWork for the iPhone. I think the iPhone would be able to handle this well.

As for the number of apps, yeah, it's misleading; 30 flashlight apps, 500 notes apps (when one already comes with the phone), 60 find-crap-around-you apps, 70 binaural beats apps, 70 count-down-till Christmas apps, 50 dictionary apps, 30 translators, 800 social networking apps that all do the same thing, 40 fake caller apps (yeah, we really need those), 20 clock apps (I really don't know what these do, when the time is right on the home screen), a whole "weather" category (when an app already comes natively), 45 calculators, 20 "drink safely" apps (is it ever totally "safe" to drink? - "weDrink" how did this ever make it onto the app store??), 20 unit converters, and the rest, games.

This calls for an update: here come all the Obama inauguration countdown apps!

[johnqh]

So, I want to know, how much are you willing to pay for those good quality apps?

What? Free? 99 cents?

No wonder most of those apps are crap.

Sarcasm, that's the reality of the App Store at this moment and well discussed in iPhone development forums. Customers don't want to spend money on apps, so it doesn't make sense for a developer to develop spend 3 months on something really cool. Common practice is 1-to-3-day app, 1 week max.

So, think what kind of stuff a developer (even a good one) can do in 3 days.

Until we see more of the top 100 paid apps are $5 or even $10 (right now, most are 99 cents), we won't see serious apps there. There are still some very cool simple and good apps, but most of the time, the developers would sell a single feature (for example, those "Call BF", "Call GF", "Call Mom"...) instead of a complete solution.

Whoever hold the money decide the market. When you don't want to pay, don't blame the lack of good products.

[TJunkers]

10,000 apps
16 flashlight apps
23 tip calculator apps
37 news apps
43 to do lists
826 "social networking" apps

Still, an impressive number for Apple.

the sad part is more than half those "Social networking" apps are the same and / or useless!

[rockosmodurnlif]

Thanks for the compliment.

But... even though I may agree without, don't tell people on here GTFO.
He may not have been here as long as you or be as active as you, but you can still get a time out just for something like that.
No matter how much you disagree with the other person I would watch what you say on here, you have no authority over him.
I meant Apple telling the apps to GTFO, I wasn't speaking to the poster.

[Chicagomac08]

Because those are songs and movies.
Not all of those are pointless and crap.
It's really your opinion.
Apps are a different story. They either suck or they don't.
And often they suck because they do nothing, there are over ten different versions of it, you have to pay for it, the idea of it is just stupid, and a price would be good but it's current price is too high.

THANKS FOR PROVING MY POINT!

IT'S REALLY YOUR OPINION...you said it yourself.

there are many remakes of the same song but different people will download different versions.

buy what you want to buy and take whatever is free. It's your choice so why do you care if there are many options. Freedom...welcome to America!:)

[iParis]

I meant Apple telling the apps to GTFO, I wasn't speaking to the poster.

Hahaha. I understand. Lol.
No worries.:)

THANKS FOR PROVING MY POINT!

IT'S REALLY YOUR OPINION...you said it yourself.

there are many remakes of the same song but different people will download different versions.

buy what you want to buy and take whatever is free. It's your choice so why do you care if there are many options. Freedom...welcome to America!:)

I also said there are a lot of doubles.
And it's FACT that some apps are useless.
And FACT that there are many apps that do the same thig as others
It is opinion that certain songs and movies suck.

[kas23]

So, I want to know, how much are you willing to pay for those good quality apps?

What? Free? 99 cents?

No wonder most of those apps are crap....


The reason the top apps are 99 cents or free is because there are really few expensive fantastic, knock-your-socks-off, apps available. Has a developer ever tried to put out an app like this, only to see it fail? I think the developers are actually afraid to give their time and effort to a killer app like this, not because they fear people won't buy it, but because Apple will reject it.

The reason there is so much fluff in the app store is because this is all Apple will allow. Put an MMS app out right now and I would pay up to $50 for it. Where are all the uber-expensive GPS turn-by-turn apps? In no-man's land or purgatory, I guess.

I really wonder if the app store has hit a creative ceiling. I haven't seen anything truly innovative in months (except for Google Mobile App - which isn't even innovative!). Is this what we are going to come to expect over the next few months, different combinations of the same-old, same-old?:

http://appshopper.com/weather/worldnow

[irun5k]

Until we see more of the top 100 paid apps are $5 or even $10 (right now, most are 99 cents), we won't see serious apps there.

Right, no matter what the economies of scale, I don't think we'll ever see greatness for free-99 cents.

I've only been developing with the SDK for a few months, but I'm a senior software guy. I can say that it takes time to write a good iPhone app. Longer than a desktop app in many cases. Take an app that collects a few dozen data attributes, some that repeat, some that don't, some that are optional, etc. This could be one form in a desktop app. On the iPhone it is a large number of view controllers that need to be organized in a very meaningful way. You don't just crap something like that out in one day. And that is a relatively simple, data entry example.

Just because the screen is small doesn't make it easier to develop apps. If anything, it makes it harder. Plus, coding for situations like network connections that drop in and out and so forth are unique to mobile devices.

It is ultimately true- you get what you pay for.

[mrklaw]

That seems to be the logical next step, not only the store itself is tempting but also the centrally controlled DRM that is Mac/PC/iPhone/iPod compatible. Imagine Apple taking a 30% cut on the desktop apps, i definitely need to find some extra money to buy Apple stock. :eek:

Don't need to exclude the DVD titles, the DVD's itself can be free or low cost with the actual sale going via the app-store.

good grief.

PC/Macs already have an app store, its called shareware, or just downloading an app and paying for it via paypay or credit card. PC/MAC don't have a middle man owning the platform so anyone can *already* release anything for it.

All apple are doing is letting people into their closed platform. The fact they are rejecting apps shows they still want to have control while maintaining an illusion of openness.

And I'm sick of all this 'apple create, others will copy'. Most PDA/smartphone companies have ways of downloading thousands of shareware apps. And most of them are crap just like on iphone.

[zolly]

The problem is that Apple doesn’t permit to create free new accounts anymore. “Payment Method: None” doesn’t work because it still wants valid credit cards. The problem has been for 1 week. More details on: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8526331

So, my question is how to try free applications if you can’t make a free account ? Last rumor is that you can't create accounts even if you have valid credit card.
:(

[Bonte]

good grief.

PC/Macs already have an app store, its called shareware, or just downloading an app and paying for it via paypay or credit card. PC/MAC don't have a middle man owning the platform so anyone can *already* release anything for it.

Having the apps in one place, payment and a DRM controlled by Apple is interesting for developers and users.

[iOrlando]

i think the app is called i.TV ... I really like it. You can scroll through current tv and movie listings..just about as fast as if you had the digital listings on the tv itself... apps like that i find useful..not tip calculators or flashlights...i think as time goes on..you will see these apps move to the top and developers will only unveil better and more productive apps. if it saves me time ...im all for it...

[iOrlando]

The problem is that Apple doesn’t permit to create free new accounts anymore. “Payment Method: None” doesn’t work because it still wants valid credit cards. The problem has been for 1 week. More details on: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8526331

So, my question is how to try free applications if you can’t make a free account ? Last rumor is that you can't create accounts even if you have valid credit card.
:(

Thats not true... you can make accounts with valid credit card...

Reason you need it, even if you plan on buying just fee apps, is you are still "billed" for the purchases. Your bill will say $0 though. But apple cant just give them out free without proper accounting purchases. Just ask your parents/sibilings/uncle/aunt for credit card info and reassure them you wont buy other items.

[johnqh]

The reason the top apps are 99 cents or free is because there are really few expensive fantastic, knock-your-socks-off, apps available. Has a developer ever tried to put out an app like this, only to see it fail? I think the developers are actually afraid to give their time and effort to a killer app like this, not because they fear people won't buy it, but because Apple will reject it.
http://appshopper.com/weather/worldnow

Not true.

Apple may reject some apps, but if you write games, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

Other than some games from the major titles (Spore, for example), almost all the games are 99 cents or 2.99, and those are polished games.

And I can bet some iPhone games were played more than those $40 PSP games.

Yet, people complain about $2.99 price tag, when they have no problem picking up $40 console games. If you don't want to compare to PSP/Wii/XBox, compare to DS then.

Simply put, unless you are EA, nobody would buy you game if it is over $5. So, make a guess what developers will do.

[iOrlando]

Not true.

Apple may reject some apps, but if you write games, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

Other than some games from the major titles (Spore, for example), almost all the games are 99 cents or 2.99, and those are polished games.

And I can bet some iPhone games were played more than those $40 PSP games.

Yet, people complain about $2.99 price tag, when they have no problem picking up $40 console games. If you don't want to compare to PSP/Wii/XBox, compare to DS then.

Simply put, unless you are EA, nobody would buy you game if it is over $5. So, make a guess what developers will do.


and i think the problem here is perception. People going out buying a PSP game for $40 feel they will get an experience worthy of $40 bucks...wheter that be time needed to beat the game, graphics, gameplay, whatever. But someone looking at an iphone game....chances are they will say..well its a "phone" game how intense can it be....etc.. time will fix the perception problem. Also..i might be wrong..but i would assume the costs of selling on app store is so minimal compared to shipping and selling at walmart etc.

[Rot'nApple]

Thats the best app in the world. Unfortunately I downloaded the lite version of that app so all I have is "knock on plywood"


I guess the free version is cardboard. :D

[Digital Skunk]

There is an app that lets you do all of that and more. It's called "I am Rich". Definitely worth buying.

Good one! Had me on the floor and tears in my eyes. :D

[kas23]

Not true.

Apple may reject some apps, but if you write games, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

You're right about games, but I wasn't talking about games. I was talking about everything else.