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App Store Changes in Reviews and Listings
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Why is it so difficult for Apple to show us a comprehensive list of all new apps that appear in the App Store? It shouldn't be that difficult. Forcing people to seek out the new apps in all those various categories will probably reduce sales.
As a developer with apps on the appstore, I am very pissed off with the late appstore change in policy regarding the visibility of applications... Obviously indeed the place one application appears has a huge impact on sales, and as a side-effect it probably motivated the developers to submit updates more than what was reasonable.
But it certainly allowed clients to get much improved software than what they initially paid for... My first clients now own a software with something like thrice the features the initial software had, and will get a much improved application with a professional redesign very soon.
I added a lite version of my paid app recently to allow prospective buyers to get accustomed to my paid app and see if they could have a use for it, but the timing was terrible... It got approved and appeared saterday, but it took me a long time to realize it was indeed on line...
They used the submittal date to insert it into its category, and it means this free app began its life on the appstore on the third or fourth page of its category. I found about it by searching it by its name to see if it were somewhere to be seen... Needless to say, it got no visibility, and got very few downloads, so won't help much the sales of my paid app...
I wrote to Apple about this, and since then (probably not in response to the email I sent them though), they now moved my paid app too to take into account the first submittal date of it... It got moved almost to the very end of its category. (It is a staff favorite on iTunes though, but since it doesn't appear on the front page, it doesn't get that much visibility...)
They did the same for some other apps, but not all of them and I can't get the logic now with the order the apps show on the appstore.
We will soon have on the appstore many little apps, quickly coded, unfinished... It makes no sense making apps in the appstore better than they already are.
I think it is a bad move from Apple...
A better one might have been to queue small updates of applications just longer, giving priority to new apps and major updates and motivating developers to only update their apps when it is worth it for clients...
Now they probably won't update... at all...
phjo
But it certainly allowed clients to get much improved software than what they initially paid for... My first clients now own a software with something like thrice the features the initial software had, and will get a much improved application with a professional redesign very soon.
I added a lite version of my paid app recently to allow prospective buyers to get accustomed to my paid app and see if they could have a use for it, but the timing was terrible... It got approved and appeared saterday, but it took me a long time to realize it was indeed on line...
They used the submittal date to insert it into its category, and it means this free app began its life on the appstore on the third or fourth page of its category. I found about it by searching it by its name to see if it were somewhere to be seen... Needless to say, it got no visibility, and got very few downloads, so won't help much the sales of my paid app...
I wrote to Apple about this, and since then (probably not in response to the email I sent them though), they now moved my paid app too to take into account the first submittal date of it... It got moved almost to the very end of its category. (It is a staff favorite on iTunes though, but since it doesn't appear on the front page, it doesn't get that much visibility...)
They did the same for some other apps, but not all of them and I can't get the logic now with the order the apps show on the appstore.
We will soon have on the appstore many little apps, quickly coded, unfinished... It makes no sense making apps in the appstore better than they already are.
I think it is a bad move from Apple...
A better one might have been to queue small updates of applications just longer, giving priority to new apps and major updates and motivating developers to only update their apps when it is worth it for clients...
Now they probably won't update... at all...
phjo
I think Apple should just add a "Recently Updated" category to the app store. This would make it easy to see the new updates without having them bog down the 1.0 listings. Also, they need to bring back the All iPhone Apps category.
I couldn't agree more. The current method is a pain in the @$$. I personally won't go through every category to see what is new.
BTW PHJO, what is the name of your app? Maybe we can get you some well deserved publicity here! Thanks for writing the programs despite the advdersity that Apple places upon the developers.
My application is named TouchPlot (full-featured grapher) and its free counterpart TouchPlotLite. (You have to go almost to the bottom of the section to find touchplot... TouchPlotLite is a bit easier to find but still...)
That said, it looks like the rules are changing again, and according to what I saw the past 24 or 48 hours, I tend to think that they went back to updates showing on top of their categories...
My next release of touchplot really needs that, or the hiring of a graphic designer (not counting the numerous hours of code and thinking I put into that update) will have been a waste of money...
phjo
That said, it looks like the rules are changing again, and according to what I saw the past 24 or 48 hours, I tend to think that they went back to updates showing on top of their categories...
My next release of touchplot really needs that, or the hiring of a graphic designer (not counting the numerous hours of code and thinking I put into that update) will have been a waste of money...
phjo