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Apple TV App Store Gains Categories Section for Better App Discovery

This is still horrible.
There are no sub categories and when one goes into categories and from there gets to games or entertainment, then in return in those "categories" there is no search option displayed at all anymore on the top.
instead it is again only an own featured page.
Thanks to the no search option anymore on those pages, apps which are not featured are even less discoverable (so zero).
These are no proper categories where one can see all apps of that category, it is just another featured apps page where one sees very few apps, all others are still (and even more thanks to no search) hidden away.

This is the worst app store launch for developers in a very long time.
Apple acts very selfish and irresponsible here.
They invite developers to develop for their new platform, and then many push long and hard and what do they get in return?
zero discoverability (so close to zero sales) for anyone besides the less than 100 apps Apple features.
And yes, of course they add charts and categories (both so far also only in the US) later, and later sub categories etc.

But by choosing to roll those out later, step by step, they are robbing all the small guys who did not get featured of any chances to get noticed before the store is flooded. Which was the main point many of those small guys pushed so hard to get something nice ready for launch.

This is really a very bad showing for Apple and they are loosing a lot of developer trust, good will, hope and faith in this platform by the minute.
 
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tomsamson said:
These are no proper categories where one can see all apps of that category, it is just another featured apps page where one sees very few apps, all others are still (and even more thanks to no search) hidden away.
Click to expand...


There's never been an option to browse through all available apps in a category ever in an Apple AppStore. The most there ever was available to look through was 400 if I recall correctly.

But I get where you're coming from, discovery is poop just now. It will improve but by and large, content discovery on the Apple platforms has always been crap. It's always been my biggest gripe with the AppStore.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Just as I said, categories will come as soon as there are enough apps to fill them out and not make them look empty.

People need to learn to be a little patient and not cry like little girls at the drop of a hat.
Click to expand...
Patient in one of two ways: One, patient with the process if you just gotta have the latest Apple products now. Two, wait until the latest Apple products stabilize before purchasing. Pick the one that best fits you. Me I wait and find I have less headaches to deal with.
 
Ok. Everything is fine, my 2nd apple TV just got Delivered. Shouldn't have ordered 2nd one but didn't have patients been waiting so long for ATV4!!

Thanks Apple. I know you will do what ever you can to make this product change the world!!!! Love even the first few apps like periscope and airBNB to show that this product will change the way entertainment flows in a household.

Love from Minneapolis
-Chris

Gear:
75MHZ PERFORMA
2.8GHZ MBP
APPLE TV4
IPHONE 4s(UPGRADING SOON) <----you all must laugh at me
 
TrueBlou said:
There's never been an option to browse through all available apps in a category ever in an Apple AppStore. The most there ever was available to look through was 400 if I recall correctly.

But I get where you're coming from, discovery is poop just now. It will improve but by and large, content discovery on the Apple platforms has always been crap. It's always been my biggest gripe with the AppStore.
Click to expand...

Yes, as you said, at least on the iOS app store the top 400 are shown. And not just overall, but there is such a list for each category and sub category on top. In each category like games there are sub categories and for each of those there are top lists, too.

So it's not the end of the world for a developer (even if sad) when not being featured on the main front page.
The main front page feature increases visibility in exorbitant way but at least the other things being there leaves one *some* chance of being noticed at all.

Here, now on the Apple TV: pretty much zero chances for 99% of the games/apps.

Yes, with time, as Apple pleases, they will surely add more categories, sub categories and charts for them etc., but again, by choosing to do so once there are way more apps, they are robbing any small guy form any chance to get noticed before the store is flooded.
 
Kaibelf said:
Took all of 6 days. Now will people still complain about how it's "unacceptable" that Apple didn't set up a series of empty shelves and therefore made it a little harder for them to cash in with their fireplace app? Or maybe we can listen to more complaints about how devs were forced to take time away from their families for their noble cause, and how Apple should think of the children? Oh and AS PREDICTED, it's done on their side, so those same people should maybe apologize for LYING and claiming that Apple was "screwing them" by making them wait for a tvOS update.
Click to expand...

Apple has always updated the Appstore on their side.
 
tomsamson said:
This is still horrible.
There are no sub categories and when one goes into categories and from there gets to games or entertainment, then in return in those "categories" there is no search option displayed at all anymore on the top.
instead it is again only an own featured page.
Thanks to the no search option anymore on those pages, apps which are not featured are even less discoverable (so zero).
These are no proper categories where one can see all apps of that category, it is just another featured apps page where one sees very few apps, all others are still (and even more thanks to no search) hidden away.

This is the worst app store launch for developers in a very long time.
Apple acts very selfish and irresponsible here.
They invite developers to develop for their new platform, and then many push long and hard and what do they get in return?
zero discoverability (so close to zero sales) for anyone besides the less than 100 apps Apple features.
And yes, of course they add charts and categories (both so far also only in the US) later, and later sub categories etc.

But by choosing to roll those out later, step by step, they are robbing all the small guys who did not get featured of any chances to get noticed before the store is flooded. Which was the main point many of those small guys pushed so hard to get something nice ready for launch.

This is really a very bad showing for Apple and they are loosing a lot of developer trust, good will, hope and faith in this platform by the minute.
Click to expand...


Wow - rather lengthy assumption. I stopped in a Apple Store last night -- tested it out and walked away wanting one for sure. I'm able to accept its brand new -- like the watch -- and offers huge huge potential. My feeling is that the apps are slow to roll out purposefully -- the remote app is not even out... No need to write a new thread about that -- I get it that they are waiting on that too -- ..
 
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And yet here we are, people still complain. They should rename this site "MacTeenageGirls Rumors".

tomsamson said:
This is still horrible.
There are no sub categories and when one goes into categories and from there gets to games or entertainment, then in return in those "categories" there is no search option displayed at all anymore on the top.
instead it is again only an own featured page.
Thanks to the no search option anymore on those pages, apps which are not featured are even less discoverable (so zero).
These are no proper categories where one can see all apps of that category, it is just another featured apps page where one sees very few apps, all others are still (and even more thanks to no search) hidden away.

This is the worst app store launch for developers in a very long time.
Apple acts very selfish and irresponsible here.
They invite developers to develop for their new platform, and then many push long and hard and what do they get in return?
zero discoverability (so close to zero sales) for anyone besides the less than 100 apps Apple features.
And yes, of course they add charts and categories (both so far also only in the US) later, and later sub categories etc.

But by choosing to roll those out later, step by step, they are robbing all the small guys who did not get featured of any chances to get noticed before the store is flooded. Which was the main point many of those small guys pushed so hard to get something nice ready for launch.

This is really a very bad showing for Apple and they are loosing a lot of developer trust, good will, hope and faith in this platform by the minute.
Click to expand...

Most of those "smaller" apps were utter garbage. Give me an example of a good one that was hard to find...
 
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JimmyHook said:
Most of those "smaller" apps were utter garbage. Give me an example of a good one that was hard to find...
Click to expand...

Why o why would there b a need to judge this device when it's utterly been on the market a few days. Do YOU really think that this is it as far as apps? C'mon. Really? If you've tried the device like I have you'd realize that this has all the markings of being the next big thing from Apple. Given that the other ATV was not updated I see those being our new "TV" in every room. I don't buy the storage deal -- they have much bigger plans for Apple TV. Why do I say that? For the simple reason it's release is so quiet and they haven't updated the app.

Surprised that Apple released the product before hand from the app -- planned. Clearly planned. Wondering what new features it itself will bring.

I for one want ALL our Apple devices to be able to use and access the new ATV (and old) at any time. I hate having to have it connected to a monitor. It should work with our Macs etc via a network.
 
Kaibelf said:
Took all of 6 days. Now will people still complain about how it's "unacceptable" that Apple didn't set up a series of empty shelves and therefore made it a little harder for them to cash in with their fireplace app? Or maybe we can listen to more complaints about how devs were forced to take time away from their families for their noble cause, and how Apple should think of the children? Oh and AS PREDICTED, it's done on their side, so those same people should maybe apologize for LYING and claiming that Apple was "screwing them" by making them wait for a tvOS update.
Click to expand...

Given that no one knew when this would happen, your post is ridiculous, no one lied, no one needs to apologise and no ones crystal ball is better !!

Further more you still ignore the fact this was day one functionality back when the original AppStore launched. It's 2015 and not 2007.

Given it took only 6 days, why be smug about it ? No one predicted how long this would take, just guesses and opinions.
 
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Hopefully this will give some comfort and relief to those who are getting their girly underpants all tied up in a bunch. Newsflash - The interface improves in time! :eek:

Tough to comprehend I know, but it's true! :eek::eek:
 
I think I'll just stick to my gen 3 apple TV until Apple gets it together.
 
tomsamson said:
Yes, as you said, at least on the iOS app store the top 400 are shown. And not just overall, but there is such a list for each category and sub category on top. In each category like games there are sub categories and for each of those there are top lists, too.

So it's not the end of the world for a developer (even if sad) when not being featured on the main front page.
The main front page feature increases visibility in exorbitant way but at least the other things being there leaves one *some* chance of being noticed at all.

Here, now on the Apple TV: pretty much zero chances for 99% of the games/apps.

Yes, with time, as Apple pleases, they will surely add more categories, sub categories and charts for them etc., but again, by choosing to do so once there are way more apps, they are robbing any small guy form any chance to get noticed before the store is flooded.
Click to expand...



I think it's been 150 apps on iOS devices for a while now. Even then, as a consumer I've mostly given up browsing those lists as they are just swamped with crap every day. I tend to find that the majority of the apps I download these days are ones I've read reviews of on various websites. Or the occasional free game that I decide to download out of curiosity. Of course I could be in the minority there.

All it is, is proof positive that the rush to get an app out for the launch window in order to try and cash in on the fact that there is a lack of apps, doesn't work with Apple and hasn't for quite some time. The only time that worked was with the launch of the very first AppStore.

The same thing happened with Apple Watch, if you weren't featured you had little chance of being discovered on the AppStore itself. That's still true to a large degree. Browse the Apple Watch App Store today and it's a very different to the full iOS AppStore.

I'm glad I decided to wait it out and finish polishing my game to the best it can be before I launch it. I'm not saying that there aren't good apps available just now, of course there are, the sdk has been available for a few months and some of us have had the hardware to test on for a while now. And of course some developers got early access to the sdk and hardware in order to prepare for the launch.

But there's also apps out there that certainly feel as if they've never so much as seen an Apple Tv. They just don't seem refined for the Apple TV experience. Particularly with games, there are some that just don't feel as if the developer has ever held a Siri remote or the ones that look like they've been cobbled together in a few hours.

It is really easy to port apps, especially games, to the Apple TV and it can be done in a relatively short space of time if you have an existing game on iOS. But getting it to feel right, to respond perfectly to the Siri remote as a controller and to refine gamepad controls takes more time. I've spent months just on refining the controls in my game for the Apple TV, scrapping them and starting over so many times I've lost count. Just to get them to feel like when you are using the Siri remote, you're using an actual game controller. I found that simply using the default option available isn't good enough. You have to customise it to quite some degree to get it to feel good, but I digress.

The days of the gold rush on the AppStore(s) have long since gone. It's far better to take the time, refine your app and get media coverage before launching. That way you don't need to rely on the hope of being on a what's new list for a day or two.

I don't know what app you have launched and as a small developer myself I sympathise with you if you have put out a quality product only for it to be buried in the belly of the AppStore. I know how that feels.

To try and compensate you can make a post about it on these forums. The Apple TV apps forum will be getting a lot of attention in these early days. If it's a game, you can get across to the TouchArcade forums and post in their Apple TV section as well. Of course that's nothing you won't already know.

*Sorry that turned out to be very lengthy, I really shouldn't post first thing in the morning :D
 
Good news.
I'd also like to be able to browse for apps on an iOS device, buy them and have them automatically downloaded on my Apple TV but for now I'm happy they at least added categories.
 
Now we just need an Apple TV section in iTunes and working links. So I could find an Apple TV app somewhere on the internet, click on the link which opens up the iTunes Store, i click on the App and it automatically downloads on the Apple TV.
 
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rdlink said:
I can. I can also say Land of Oz and Unicorns. They all have something in common...
Click to expand...

Yeah l
rdlink said:
I can. I can also say Land of Oz and Unicorns. They all have something in common...
Click to expand...

Yeah when you dance with the fairies you can just make anything disappear, but to people in the real world, all these Apple missteps are actually real.
 
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