I hate the new system, but I'd hate it much less if they added inertia based scrolling so I could cycle through things faster. I somewhat like seeing the screenshot as it gives me a quick, albeit rough, idea of what I might be getting into, but the excessive swiping necessary to navigate through the cards is beyond infuriating at this point.
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Apple Implementing Changes to App Store Rankings to Promote Better App Discovery
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I hate the new system, but I'd hate it much less if they added inertia based scrolling so I could cycle through things faster. I somewhat like seeing the screenshot as it gives me a quick, albeit rough, idea of what I might be getting into, but the excessive swiping necessary to navigate through the cards is beyond infuriating at this point.
I have nearly the opposite problem. My high-price 2 star and 3 star apps are doing around 10X better than my low-priced 4 star and 5 star apps. And my highest ranked app has mostly 1 star ratings.
So I'm really wondering what's up with this App store.
It's almost as if my customers were telling me they prefer high-priced and less polished apps... (maybe as long as they seem a bit unique).
They will not get noticed. The shady paid download marketing tactics were the one of the only tools small developers had to get any kind of ranking.
Apple seems to be opposed to a "Customers also bought..." feature (Genius doesn't count because it's opt-in and no one does). That sort of thing is what keeps the smallest Amazon retailers in business, and it's needed to serve the "long tail" on the App Store as well.
Good to see it as an opportunity but there are times when you (not you literally!) have to also be a realist. It's not so much about adaptation but rather the brand behind it and ridiculous amounts of money for marketing.
Apple have clearly geared the App Store towards the big name developers, the little indie guy doesn't stand a chance and yet it was the little guys that made the App Store what it is today. The big guys didn't jump in until later on. Don't get me wrong I understand why they would want to promote the big players but please also offer the opportunity to the guy sitting in his back bedroom working his ass off and launching a fantastic app.
Bit like Google and Adwords. It was the little guys funding them initially and once they had the big guns advertising they screwed over the little chaps that made them what they are.
Sad state of affairs.
Hm. I observed a sudden change in my sales in the the Mac App Store starting this monday. For me it was overall positive. Hope to see the ratings change even more over the coming weeks.
Though, I interpreted the increase to be mostly due to the fact that summer holiday has just finished. And it will greadtly change again in approximately one month due to the fact that university semesters start, I presume.
Edit: Wait a second... I filed that app store bugreport about the relevance rating at that time... Nah, this can't possibly be the cause for that change.
Though, I interpreted the increase to be mostly due to the fact that summer holiday has just finished. And it will greadtly change again in approximately one month due to the fact that university semesters start, I presume.
Edit: Wait a second... I filed that app store bugreport about the relevance rating at that time... Nah, this can't possibly be the cause for that change.
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My dad recently got an S3, and I helped him install a bunch of free apps (Skype, Whatsapp, etc.) I was honestly very impressed with the Play store (my first time using Android.) Searching for the apps was nearly instant, and installing each one only took a couple seconds. It's a far cry from the chuggy, laggy mess that is the iOS App Store.
App Store is truly pitiful. Along with the horrible search features, the app review system seems to be broken or a bomb was set off on it. No a curate system ratings. I'm not sure if it was set up like that on purpose so developers can hide the dismay of consumers or WHAT!?! That's annoying.
The current app store needs much improvement. It is unfortunate that new apps created by developers that would give Apple customers a much better experience finding the type of apps they want are being rejected outright with no hope of approval.
I think one of the biggest mistakes apple made on the app store was removing the new apps tab. Why would a consumer care about a list of apps ranked by revenue over a list of new apps? It really makes no sense at all and ruins new app discovery. I really really wish they would change that but its not changed in ios7 so far so I wouldnt bet on it.
I would simply prefer 3 categories of apps.
1. Normal paid for apps, you pay and you have the full product.
2. Free apps, made by Devs who wish to share their work for free.
3. In game purchase apps where they tempt you to spend more to enhance the game.
Or how about simply ban category 3 altogether, a modern cancer in gaming.
1. Normal paid for apps, you pay and you have the full product.
2. Free apps, made by Devs who wish to share their work for free.
3. In game purchase apps where they tempt you to spend more to enhance the game.
Or how about simply ban category 3 altogether, a modern cancer in gaming.
Rank manipulation is a problem because when an app is newly-released and only has a few reviews/ratings, a single 1-star rating will easily drive down the average rating for that app. In some cases, a single angry customer is upset because he didn't read the caveats or System Requirements, such as "This app requires iPhone 4S or better for optimal performance" etc. And then that single 1-star rating is unfair to the app/developers, in these cases, because the low ratings will discourage more customers from buying the app or giving it a chance.
Apple should eliminate or nullify a few of the extreme ratings, the angry 1-star ratings or the zealous fanboy 5-star ratings. It should be done perhaps when the app has only a few ratings (e.g. less than 20).
The "Freemium" apps is also a new issue. I could, in theory, download TONS of "Free" apps, and then decide that 98% of them are pure garbage and then given them 1-star low ratings, hence making the app rate like a piece of garbage. The total cost to me? Zero dollars. I purchased nothing. I paid nothing. And yet I was able to 1-star a bunch of apps and give them low marks. How is this fair to the Devs if anyone can do this?
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I give your post 1 star.
I'll upgrade you to 5 stars once you come out with an update.
Apple should eliminate or nullify a few of the extreme ratings, the angry 1-star ratings or the zealous fanboy 5-star ratings. It should be done perhaps when the app has only a few ratings (e.g. less than 20).
The "Freemium" apps is also a new issue. I could, in theory, download TONS of "Free" apps, and then decide that 98% of them are pure garbage and then given them 1-star low ratings, hence making the app rate like a piece of garbage. The total cost to me? Zero dollars. I purchased nothing. I paid nothing. And yet I was able to 1-star a bunch of apps and give them low marks. How is this fair to the Devs if anyone can do this?
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I give your post 1 star.
I'll upgrade you to 5 stars once you come out with an update.
that's what i like about apple, they know that apps is a MAJOR point of their OS and they should never stop improving their app store and their apps. waiting to see the improvements.
MacRumors pulls this Journalistic nonsense more and more. Keep pressuring them to stay honest. It is our only hope.
Mostly I find that after about 5 or so references back to a previous rumour, MacRumors just gets lazy and starts dropping modifiers, like 'almost' or 'maybe' or 'considering'. Rumors just harden into fact after time.
Again, Freemium apps SHOULD NOT be in the FREE section.
You read the reviews of the new Plants vs Zombies
Basically it's one bit "PayFest"
Apple should separate these apps into their own category, and away from tru free apps, that are either free totally or have a little advertising in them, but still free.
Having to effectively pay to get thru a game in any reasonable way should not be called free.
You read the reviews of the new Plants vs Zombies
Basically it's one bit "PayFest"
Apple should separate these apps into their own category, and away from tru free apps, that are either free totally or have a little advertising in them, but still free.
Having to effectively pay to get thru a game in any reasonable way should not be called free.
I agree this should have been done years ago; it's nice to see the change, finally. As the demographic shift in the iOS user base to be more diverse and less tech savvy, Apple probably has finally realized that it needs to help different groups of users and make sure they don't get lost in the jungle of the App Store.
I have a specific suggestion for a feature request.
When you shop for used cars one can select body style, make, model, year range, even fuel or drive train options and it comes up with a list which you can then sort by a criterion such as price or geographic.
I would like to see a similar thing as an option for searching apps since there are so many of them. If I am looking for a particular utility by function I do not know its name or its publisher.
If I am looking for a game I would like to be able to search by style (first shooter), age appropriateness (under 18 only), or other features like if I am searching on an iPad to emphasize the ones tailored for iPad, bit not eliminate the ones for iPhone.
There you go. Run with that a bit.
Rocketman
I would like to see a running list of apps tailored to remedial education by subject and age, so whenever it's needed the list is up to date.
When you shop for used cars one can select body style, make, model, year range, even fuel or drive train options and it comes up with a list which you can then sort by a criterion such as price or geographic.
I would like to see a similar thing as an option for searching apps since there are so many of them. If I am looking for a particular utility by function I do not know its name or its publisher.
If I am looking for a game I would like to be able to search by style (first shooter), age appropriateness (under 18 only), or other features like if I am searching on an iPad to emphasize the ones tailored for iPad, bit not eliminate the ones for iPhone.
There you go. Run with that a bit.
Rocketman
I would like to see a running list of apps tailored to remedial education by subject and age, so whenever it's needed the list is up to date.
Apps with IAP make more money for developers, and thus for Apple. If anything that encourages developers to do more of them and Apple to promote more of them. IAP is the modern form of try-before-buying.
If you don't like them, read the description before downloading, and don't download them.
Or write your own free/paid apps and games and see how that goes.
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A huge percentage of apps deserve to be zombies. A lot of developers don't put enough quality work into an app for it to deserve discovery. But leave them in the store because everybody's junk might be one person's perfect flea market find. The long tail.