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The app store and it's decline

maclaptop said:
...
Where Apple was once known as the company that build great computers that one could use for work or play, they have morphed into more of a toy company where entertainment and ease of use trump serious computing...
Click to expand...

Because 'serious' computing requires an impenetrable, unstable, user-vindictive system? :rolleyes: And we think we've come so far....

I do agree there's lots of dross in the App store, but you need only a few gems to make the iPhone a great phone. It's like a Swiss army knife - you only need so many blades to make it an indispensable tool.

In my case, the apps I have purchased have:

  • saved me hundreds of £'s (attaching scientific probes to an iPod or iPhone and using the phone's excellent UI as a portable screen replicates the functions of dedicated hardware costing hundreds and indeed thousands of £'s)
  • allowed me to seize career opportunities (I wrote a successful large research grant using my iPhone when I was under sever time pressure an unable to access a computer)
  • entertained me and my kids (GOF II, Boost 2)
  • made my hobby of hill-walking much more safe (GPS maps with waypoints, basic guides to first aid, etc.)
  • allowed me to navigate in foreign cities with greater confidence
  • helped me keep track of my family (Facebook, Skype) from across the pond

Not bad for a collection of software that has cost me less than £100.

The App store isn't dead. It's one of the best examples of entrepreneurship I have ever seen.
 
iPhone4UK said:
Looking at the app store does it seem to have abit boring and useless?
Just look at the top 25 some lock screen thing, some sex thing and then some crap game? Anyone agree
Click to expand...

Either ignorance or trolling.
OP, I wonder if all your news comes from the headlines on the front page of ther newspaper.
 
i think you are missing the point of the OP - and he kinda missed the point too :)

While the app store is amazing and growing everyday, apps are amazing etc etc blah blah - Yes this is true...

but if you were to base your views on the top 25 listed, you would think that only ***** is available :)

A good way to look at this is consider an app as a song. We all know (.. right?) that the top 20 music charts are usually filled with crap. The best music is stuff that doesn't chart. But you need to find it. Use less-than-mainstream sites to find it etc.

What I miss is a good website for reviewing actual apps. TouchArcade is BRILLIANT for games - where's the equivlant for apps please?
 
Decline isn't the right word. But there are two issues.

1) Navigation in the App Store sucks. It's not kept pace with the store's size and scale since it's launch. Finding interesting things sucks. Trying to buy stuff on a computer is inexplicably even worse. It needs lots of work, and better navigation and categories would actually make a lot more interesting stuff more financially plausible for devs to make. It would also mean there could be some intelligent grading of content suitability beyond "child safe" & "waagh, internet! Must be full of porn!" which has always been insultingly blunt and daft.

2) The reality is the platform isn't new anymore, so there's less interesting stuff coming through. That's inevitable. And it's hard to see how that's going to change unless Apple do something unexpected about the restrictions it puts on applications (content censorship or the current API selection).

Phazer
 
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Top 25 is just based on the number of downloads, etc. I've even heard that they tweak the Top 25 on some apps that don't sell very well to spark sales. Not sure if that's true, nor do I have hard facts; its something I read...

Anywho...I agree with the others; check out the categories and see what's available. There are MILLIONS of apps on the store. Some that I didn't even know existed, until I saw an online review, and searched for it. It was never shown on the Top 25 either...
 
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