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iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

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Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#41

Post by kolinko »

dangero wrote: post #16

The iOS 6 app store is less dynamic than other prior app store iterations. Example being I have an app listed as number 19 under a particular search. I've been checking that search every day and we are always 19 on the list. No change whatsoever even though our downloads have fluctuated in that time. Why are we 19? No idea. Before it meant we had less downloads than the people before us. Now I have no idea. It remind…

The previous system was easier to gamble. You put up a new app, pay for ads/bots/whatever, get a plenty of downloads and start showing up on the top for all the search queries (even if your app is crap), this in turn causes even more sales.

Also, in the previous system you could've positioned for a term completely unrelated to your app (e.g. you have a weight tracker, and you position for celebrity phrases because they're more popular). My guess is they try to stop that.

Oh, and even in the past it wasn't just popularity that guided the results. We did a detailed analysis of this ( techcrunch.com/2012/03/12/appcod-es-launches-app-store-prediction-tool-tells-developers-which-keywords-work/ )

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#42

Post by kolinko »

pedro-alejandro wrote: post #9

The layout also limits the space allocated to the app's title. When scrolling though the top paid apps, it seems it cuts off the title at 7 characters. Basically, almost every app ends with "..." due to space. This is terrible. The card view is slow, and my App Store crashed once I reached search result #100 (I was searching for my own app). I'm on a 4S, which should be albe to handle the load. They did introduce the…

Pedro, use our tool like AppCod.es (ours) for tracking your position. It costs, but it will save you time you'd spend on scrolling :)

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#43

Post by chmars »

The revised iOS 6 App Store app has disadvantages from a user perspective too. In-app purchases in particular are no longer prominently shown near the app name but somewhere below on the description page and it is therefore no longer possible to immediately see whether a 'free' app is actually free.

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#45

Post by Argorak »

kolinko wrote: post #39
Argorak wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heres the problem with marketing: Say, I am a really big software company and release an app for my biggest video hosting platform anyone knows: "youtube". Everyone knows the exact name of the application, goes to the store, enters "youtube". And guess whats first? Not "Youtube", but "Video Downloader Super Lite". What use is good marketing if it is so hard to find things by _exact name_ on the store where you market…

Putting words into description won't make an app show up. But aside from that - yeah, it sucks that some devs don't show for queries matching their exact names.

I stand corrected, "youtube" is not even in the description of Video Downloader, that was a lucky guess. Which makes the whole thing even more arcane, as it makes the search highly unintuitive.

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#46

Post by rimantas »

devcpp wrote: post #37
vvhn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so everybody now knows exactly what Steve Jobs would or would not have done ( i.e. whatever you don't agree with ) ?

I think we are all just surprised there are so many design decisions we can't agree with, precisely with the first major update for iOS comes since Jobs died. Up until the iPhone 4, I don't think I've had any criticism towards the design of Apple products... since Jobs came back to Apple. I don't think these are coincidences. Jobs may have been more than a good businessman. He was a source of inspiration.

  > I don't think these are coincidences
Those are not. Just selection bias.

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#47

Post by tayl0r »

My sales seems to have dropped but I really think we need more time to know for sure.

With only 3 days of sales data since the iOS 6 launch (according to iTunes Connect Mobile) how are any of you able to say for sure one way or the other that the discovery is actually worse?

Here are my sales: https://twitter.com/tsteil/status/251273647262691328/photo/1... The past 3 days I've only had 1 sale per day. The last time I had 1 sale per day for 3 days was back in May.

My other app: https://twitter.com/tsteil/status/251275489241624577/photo/1... Only 2 sales this week (Sep 17 - Sep 23). In the past 26 weeks there have only been 2 weeks where I had 2 or less sales.

So, both of my apps have seen their sales go down but that is with only 3 days worth of sales data.

(fwiw I made these 2 apps in my spare time over 3 years ago and haven't updated them since)

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#48

Post by bgarbiak »

kolinko wrote: post #38
walru wrote: post #7

One of my main problems with the store is that the single card view doesn't even work well. Perhaps it's because I'm on an iPhone 4, but the loading time that comes with this new configuration absolutely destroys the experience for anyone wanting to find anything. Perhaps when we all have gigabit connections on our phones this card view will reign supreme, but until that point it's a completely short sighted attempt…

I also use iPhone 4, but I'm glad the changes are here. First - it's been years since the "new releases" view benefitted the developers. Currently, with the amount of new apps for iPhone, the devs get quickly buried on that list, and the launch benefit is minimal. As for the single card view... It's not perfect, because you need to do more scrolling, but on the other hand - you no longer have to decide which app to p…

It's not perfect, because you need to do more scrolling,

The fixed interval animation used while scrolling trough apps is quite ridiculous. Scrolling back to the first app once you got to 4th or 5th takes more time than searching the same thing again.

Other than that I agree that things improved. I'm not an iOS developer though.

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#49

Post by EchoAbstract »

Argorak wrote: post #29
geuis wrote: post #19

How has anyone ever sold a product before? You market it. The App Store isn't the sole place you should be marketing your app. If you have ever counted on just releasing your app into the store and have it somehow gain traction with no other effort, you've always been doomed to failure. The App Store should be treated like a supermarket, after a fashion. You may get your product on the shelf, but simply relying on pe…

Heres the problem with marketing: Say, I am a really big software company and release an app for my biggest video hosting platform anyone knows: "youtube". Everyone knows the exact name of the application, goes to the store, enters "youtube". And guess whats first? Not "Youtube", but "Video Downloader Super Lite". What use is good marketing if it is so hard to find things by _exact name_ on the store where you market…

I'm not sure if they changed anything, but Youtube has been the first search result for me since I upgraded my iPhone. It's not in the search results for the iPad since Google hasn't released Youtube for the iPad yet (or at least last time I searched).

I wonder if there's saved state in the app store that's modifying the search results.

Re: iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers

#50

Post by robgough »

vvhn wrote: post #18
pedro-alejandro wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss him too. I bet he would have been pretty pissed at this design.

so everybody now knows exactly what Steve Jobs would or would not have done ( i.e. whatever you don't agree with ) ?

The suggestion is actually; Everybody, apart from those who worked closest to him.
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