Apple Launches New 'Food & Drink' Category on App Store

[SeaFox]

If I'm an English speaking user using the North American store, why do I constantly have to see apps in Asian languages? It's one of the many many annoying traits of Apple's vaunted App Store.

I know this may shock you, but some people can actually read more than one language. So even if they primarily speak English, they may also enjoy media in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, or French. Also, it has been found that many people who speak these additional languages live in the United States.

Sociologists are still trying to determine what would cause this large diversity of people to seemingly melt together within a certain geographic area, but they are certain the answer lies in a middle school civics or history textbook.

 

[chuboy]

Now if only instant food delivery were a thing...
I'd so download that app

That app is called Munchery.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/munchery/id517484130?mt=8

The *only* food app that actually can get you food every day from a curated menu from personal chefs. Just order now, and you get that night. SF Bay Area only.

The Competition:
Grubhub / Eat24 -- Gets you the same greasy food every day
Chipotle -- Gets you the same either a chicken or steak burrito ... every day
Dominos -- Pizza every day, really?
Foodspotting -- K, it'll let you look at good food every day.

 

[faroZ06]

Front page news? This is possibly less important than the bug fix to iPhoto.

I'm normally not someone who complains about stuff being front-page, but this is not newsworthy.

----------

I know this may shock you, but some people can actually read more than one language. So even if they primarily speak English, they may also enjoy media in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, or French. Also, it has been found that many people who speak these additional languages live in the United States.

Sociologists are still trying to determine what would cause this large diversity of people to seemingly melt together within a certain geographic area, but they are certain the answer lies in a middle school civics or history textbook.

Yeah, but all it takes is one "languages" setting to clear it up instead of just giving everyone every app.

 

[spacepower7]

Apple needs many more categories added, but they don't want to overwhelm the basic users. There are many apps that straggle the line between productivity and utilities. In video, there are recording apps, conversion apps, tagging apps, uploading apps etc. I think we need optional subcategories?

 

[Piggie]

Please Apple.

Create a third type of app category, separate from free and paid for.

One where it's free to download and then costs money to actually either play further than a little bit, or is designed to cost money to progress through the game realistically.

Some app devs have got out of control since the iPad app store started and are being really misleading about their apps.

Totally abusing either the concept of "Free" or extremely abusing the concept of "in app purchases" to progress in a game.

This is one of the worst creations/ideas in software I've seen since I started computing and Apple should stamp on it.

Like buying a Radio at a store, thinking it's perfect then when you get it home, find out you can't get a refund and you need to pay more money to tune into more stations, or the tuning if really slow but you can have faster tuning if you pay a bit more.

Either that, or allow us even just 1 hour to get a refund of apps that lie about their status on the app store and it's only after paying that you learn the truth.

If you could get refunds and the devs lost their money I'm sure they'd have to put themselves back in order. I've seen so very many reviews that agree with me on the app store about angry people saying they bought it and you need to spend more money

 

[dolph0291]

If I'm an English speaking user using the North American store, why do I constantly have to see apps in Asian languages? It's one of the many many annoying traits of Apple's vaunted App Store.

I dunno... maybe the one or two Asians who are unfortunate enough to live in the confines of your English-only-speaking White-only world don't speak English and know how to use a computer? The nerve of those people, seriously.

 

[basjhj]

What about...

a Science & Engineering category???

 

[kalsta]

Please Apple.

Create a third type of app category, separate from free and paid for.

One where it's free to download and then costs money to actually either play further than a little bit, or is designed to cost money to progress through the game realistically.

Some app devs have got out of control since the iPad app store started and are being really misleading about their apps.

Totally abusing either the concept of "Free" or extremely abusing the concept of "in app purchases" to progress in a game.

This is one of the worst creations/ideas in software I've seen since I started computing and Apple should stamp on it.

Like buying a Radio at a store, thinking it's perfect then when you get it home, find out you can't get a refund and you need to pay more money to tune into more stations, or the tuning if really slow but you can have faster tuning if you pay a bit more.

Either that, or allow us even just 1 hour to get a refund of apps that lie about their status on the app store and it's only after paying that you learn the truth.

If you could get refunds and the devs lost their money I'm sure they'd have to put themselves back in order. I've seen so very many reviews that agree with me on the app store about angry people saying they bought it and you need to spend more money

Wait, you want a refund on the 'free' app you downloaded?

For those with an up-front purchase price AND in-app purchases, you can of course see the in-app purchases before you buy. I would take that into account before buying a game.

 

[ann713]

Please Apple.

Create a third type of app category, separate from free and paid for.

One where it's free to download and then costs money to actually either play further than a little bit, or is designed to cost money to progress through the game realistically.

Some app devs have got out of control since the iPad app store started and are being really misleading about their apps.

I understand where you are coming from. Might I say that some of the Free (but pay to win) apps are actually quite enjoyable, without spending the extra money. You are given the choice to, either play the game as-is, or progress through by purchasing extra coins and such. Also, in-game purchases always ask for a confirmation so it's not like they are stealing money or misleading you. This is how most developers make their money anyway and I hardly see anything wrong with that. Perhaps I have not downloaded such "extreme" apps, so let me know and I will definitely check them out for myself.

 

[iapplelove]

Yawn

 

[hickabob]

This category makes sense... I however hate that Newsstand is a category and not a separate section of the app store! Makes it hard to find specific items.

 

[Piggie]

Wait, you want a refund on the 'free' app you downloaded?

For those with an up-front purchase price AND in-app purchases, you can of course see the in-app purchases before you buy. I would take that into account before buying a game.

No a refund period on purchased apps, as the Android app store has I believe so you can download and try and find the best app for you as opposed to reading others reviews than can be VERY misleading (some has suggested dishonest at times) when a poor app get's many 5 stars.

And a separate area for what we used to call Shareware.

Free = Free
ShareWare = Limited functions unless you paid
Paid = You are buying the whole product

The problem is, it's not possible to see how realistic playing without paying more is, till you try it for yourself. Who sets the difficulty level, perhaps it's really hard to get through the game unless you buy extra armour/weapons etc?

Who is to judge what it just a nice optional add-on (like a different colour jumper and pants for your character) or something almost needed, like the telephoto scope for the sniper rifle as without that it's almost impossible to get an accurate shot.

 

[rdlink]

This is *not* news

I tried to think of a less offensive way to say this, but I couldn't: Would you please just shut up?

This is news to some people, and all that you have to do is pass it up if it doesn't interest you. Probably took you longer to post your inane comment than it would have to type in the address of another website.

Or perhaps you could have better spent your time working to improve your own free website that's read by hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people a day...

----------

I dunno... maybe the one or two Asians who are unfortunate enough to live in the confines of your English-only-speaking White-only world don't speak English and know how to use a computer? The nerve of those people, seriously.

Don't get me started. There are far more resources for non-English speaking immigrants, who refuse to embrace the traditional language of this country when they choose to relocate here than there are English resources in non-English speaking countries. Don't make it sound like we're intolerant here in the US, because we're very accommodating. In fact, too much so in some cases.

I'm a fairly tolerant person, but my tolerance was severely tested when I used an ATM in the Washington DC area, and because I didn't specifically choose English as the language it defaulted to Spanish. Not a fluke, either, because that particular bank's ATMs did it every time I used them. I stopped using them after the fourth time it did it, and that bank will never get my business.

OK, I'm done ranting off topic...

 

[ixodes]

Even the slightest change involving anything Apple becomes news.

It won't be long before an App appears that takes advantage of Apples notification system, alerting us to every fart, burp, or crap someone takes at Apple.

Damn I simply cannot wait... that will thrill the heck out of the 15 year old boys.

It's just one more compelling reason, to buy an iPhone. Anything to continue to drive sales.

 

[RMo]

my tolerance was severely tested when I used an ATM in the Washington DC area, and because I didn't specifically choose English as the language it defaulted to Spanish. ... I stopped using them....

Your tolerance was tested because you didn't read what the ATM said? Sounds like your fault. Also, Spanish is spoken by over 1 out of 10 people in the United States, more if you count those who learn it as a second language--not exactly obscure. Perhaps you should try it.

In the mean time, I'm perfectly capable of seeing when, for example, an app in the App Store is Japanese and I wouldn't get any use out of it. Mind you, I do appreciate my Chinese dictionary application. So while offering the user the possibility to filter by languages might be nice, I see no reason for Apple to implement a language policy themselves.

 

[mono1980]

It's breaking news everyone!!!

 

[bocomo]

Now we just need sub categories (especially for Games, Productivity, and Utilities)

 

[vladi]

Hold on! Apple didn't patent App Store schematics and branching? I was expecting to read "Apple was just granted Food&Drink category in app store"

P.S. I hope I didn't give them any ideas ... This was just a joke Apple!

 

[Sackvillenb]

a Science & Engineering category???

That would be AWESOME.

Meanwhile, the food and drink is a handy category for me. But man, I do like my science apps...

 

[Rufuss Sewell]

As a musician who LOVES all the weird and not so popular iOS instruments and synths, I really wish the music category would have sub-categories.

Radio Stations
Instruments
Band Apps/Promotion
Learning/Music Theory
Tools (tuners, metronomes etc)

These are all in the music category but otherwise completely unrelated. It makes searching for instruments tedious when it's 95% radio and band promotion apps.

 

[rdlink]

Your tolerance was tested because you didn't read what the ATM said? Sounds like your fault. Also, Spanish is spoken by over 1 out of 10 people in the United States, more if you count those who learn it as a second language--not exactly obscure. Perhaps you should try it.

In the mean time, I'm perfectly capable of seeing when, for example, an app in the App Store is Japanese and I wouldn't get any use out of it. Mind you, I do appreciate my Chinese dictionary application. So while offering the user the possibility to filter by languages might be nice, I see no reason for Apple to implement a language policy themselves.

My tolerance was tested because I specifically chose not to waste my time pressing Spanish, and it should have defaulted to English, like every other ATM in the ENGLISH SPEAKING UNITED STATES does. You know English, don't you? The global language of commerce? Not exactly obscure...

 

[kalsta]

No a refund period on purchased apps, as the Android app store has I believe so you can download and try and find the best app for you as opposed to reading others reviews than can be VERY misleading (some has suggested dishonest at times) when a poor app get's many 5 stars.

And a separate area for what we used to call Shareware.

Free = Free
ShareWare = Limited functions unless you paid
Paid = You are buying the whole product

The problem is, it's not possible to see how realistic playing without paying more is, till you try it for yourself. Who sets the difficulty level, perhaps it's really hard to get through the game unless you buy extra armour/weapons etc?

Who is to judge what it just a nice optional add-on (like a different colour jumper and pants for your character) or something almost needed, like the telephoto scope for the sniper rifle as without that it's almost impossible to get an accurate shot.

Okay, fair enough, you want a brief trial period. Are you willing to pay more for each app because developers have to now factor in a drop in overall sales? Keep this in mind… Apple created an environment which lead to many thousands of quality apps at incredibly low prices. I'd challenge anyone to say they're paying too much for games on the App Store. So once in a while you purchase a 99 cent app and you don't like it. Meh. So that adds a small price to the cost of all the other apps you bought and kept. In many cases you're not paying any more than you would if you put coins into an arcade game machine—but with the App Store you get to keep the game if you like it!

The Android app store may have a trial period… I have no idea. But how many developers is that store attracting compared to Apple's? Is it a sustainable model given the price consumers are now expecting to pay for apps?

I also don't see Apple calling anything with an in-app purchase 'shareware'. All incentive for developers to add those 'nice optional add-ons' you speak of will disappear if it means their app gets shunted into a separate shareware category, and they lose a source of potential income. Again, you may end up paying a higher price for each app now that all those in-app purchasers are no longer subsidizing your download.