iOS 6 Breaks the App Store • Hacker News Board

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#31

Post by jayfuerstenberg » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:17 AM UTC

bpatrianakos wrote: post #18

Nothing is broken and no one is "doing it wrong". It's not broken, it's just inconvenient for you . This sucks for app developers with bad app store SEO and lackluster icons, app designs, and screenshots of said designs. Many apps at the bottom of the stack will be neglected. This is a good thing. I'm about to release an app into the app store for the first time and I'm happy about it. This will raise the bar for dev…

If you're about to release your first app on the app store you're not qualified to understand its dynamics. Sorry.

I believe this redesign is a small step backward, and some sort of step forward. Showing a screenshot is a good idea but users are notoriously lazy and won't venture past even a few results so it creates a feedback loop where only the best performers get rewarded, further fueling that performance.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#32

Post by ouriel » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:17 AM UTC

the very first assumption of this post is fragile "Although Apple doesn’t make these numbers public, I bet most people search instead of browse through the App Store categories to find the apps they’re looking for" 1. This is really far from certain. actually the reality is that most apps who get massive downloads from the app store got featured or from the top charts when they reach the top 1. I never heard a developer who had massive growth because he was "searched" 2. The App store has been redesigned mostly for visual discovery and not search. Explaining the streams, big stickers, card browsing

If you want to be discovered in massive volume in the app store the only way is to get promoted or top ranked

The other cases are edge cases and frankly do not justify complaining about how such results are displayed.

Ouriel appsfire.com

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#33

Post by flatline3 » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:23 AM UTC

bpatrianakos wrote: post #29

tzs wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a buyer, I don't see how it is great for me. When I search on the App Store there are usually several hits in the results that are not at all interesting to me, and ahead of the hits that better match what I'm looking for. I want to see several results at once so I can pick which ones I want to look into more deeply. If I have to step through them one at a time with a noticeable delay at each step, I'm not going t…

You want this. You have certain tastes and preferences and expectations but you (and me and everyone else who reads HN) are not representative of the typical user. For a community all about entrepreneurship and building things for others you'd think we'd figure out by now that we are not the customer (unless you run some business directed directly at tech savvy people but you get my point). Also, I am astounded at th…

I largely agree with your point, but I have to respond to this:

> I'll never understand why people think these huge multi-bazillion dollar companies are being run by total morons. And make no mistake, if you write a blog post about how billion dollar product X is broken because they changed its color or something then you're taking the position that the company has as its decision makers a bunch of morons taking shots in the dark.

Many, many large companies do have morons taking shots in the dark, based requirements and data that have little-to-no basis in reality, coupled with broken bureaucracy and individual incentives that are not even remotely aligned with what actually matters to their customers.

Apple isn't one of those companies.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#34

Post by acknickulous » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:25 AM UTC

It's basically as bad as Nintendo's eShop on the 3DS now.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#35

Post by slipperyp » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:25 AM UTC

bradsmithinc wrote: post #14

Hacker News broke your blog.

I think they put the 18 point font in their all on their own.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#36

Post by Zaheer » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:27 AM UTC

bpatrianakos wrote: post #18

Nothing is broken and no one is "doing it wrong". It's not broken, it's just inconvenient for you . This sucks for app developers with bad app store SEO and lackluster icons, app designs, and screenshots of said designs. Many apps at the bottom of the stack will be neglected. This is a good thing. I'm about to release an app into the app store for the first time and I'm happy about it. This will raise the bar for dev…

Any resources you suggest for learning App Store SEO?

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#37

Post by biftek » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:28 AM UTC

Just searched for "picasa" on my (iOS 6) iPad. First two hits were apps that actually had picasa in the name, (the ones he mentions) followed by his apps.

What exactly his he whining about?

Search for a competing app and his doesn't come up first? Does he also complain to google (irony) about his page ranking? Why is this on the front page, let alone #1?

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#38

Post by JumpCrisscross » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:32 AM UTC

>"No offense to the makers of “Picasa HD Lite”, which ranks #1 in a search for “picasa,” but Web Albums’ 5-star average from 483 ratings should be ranked higher than a 2.5-star average from 30 ratings."

No, if I search for X I want to get X, not a better rated app in the same category as X. If I search for "photo album" or something to that tune this argument would be valid.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#39

Post by danboarder » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:32 AM UTC

bpatrianakos wrote: post #29

tzs wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a buyer, I don't see how it is great for me. When I search on the App Store there are usually several hits in the results that are not at all interesting to me, and ahead of the hits that better match what I'm looking for. I want to see several results at once so I can pick which ones I want to look into more deeply. If I have to step through them one at a time with a noticeable delay at each step, I'm not going t…

You want this. You have certain tastes and preferences and expectations but you (and me and everyone else who reads HN) are not representative of the typical user. For a community all about entrepreneurship and building things for others you'd think we'd figure out by now that we are not the customer (unless you run some business directed directly at tech savvy people but you get my point). Also, I am astounded at th…

"I'll never understand why people think these huge multi-bazillion dollar companies are being run by total morons."

History is filled with stories of huge companies that have failed and no longer exist today. I wouldn't use your language 'total morons', but of course the people running them made poor decisions.

Re: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

#40

Post by danboarder » Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 2:34 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #38

>" No offense to the makers of “Picasa HD Lite”, which ranks #1 in a search for “picasa,” but Web Albums’ 5-star average from 483 ratings should be ranked higher than a 2.5-star average from 30 ratings. " No, if I search for X I want to get X, not a better rated app in the same category as X. If I search for "photo album" or something to that tune this argument would be valid.

@JumpCrisscross what you missed here is that "Web Albums" is the official google Picasa app for iOS. Picasa HD Lite is a low-rated knockoff optimized for appstore SEO. The author's point stands, the official Picasa app (Web Albums) should rank first.