Dear Apple, Congrats On Your App Store Success. Now Change It. (An Open Letter)

by Jason Wilk on July 14, 2009

apple-rotten

  • In an official press release, Apple (AAPL) today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its App Store. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program. “The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”. These press releases need to stop until the app store/ developer environment has changed. Here is my open letter. Feel free to add to it.

Dear Apple,

Congratulations on your success Apple. You deserve it. Now, can we please see some stats on what percentage of those 65,000 apps have been downloaded, and what percentage the top 50 apps make up of those 1.5 billion downloads? I think the results would be rather skewed due to the way the store is setup. Unless an app has made it into a commercial, cracks the top 25 (paid or free, which most of the time is a result of a commercial), is featured (which no one really knows how to go about), or catches on via word of mouth, it is a lost cause. A daily trip through the app store generally results in the download of the latest top 25 app, which will be fun for a few days and then it’s deleted. If I ever try to peruse further through the store by clicking on ‘categories’, I am thrown into the Bermuda triangle, that is the rest of the app store. I say Bermuda triangle, because once I am in there, my mind spins like a compass. I don’t know which direction to new land (apps), I am overloaded with unfamiliar territory (unreviewed), and trying to navigate through it could take a lifetime. Let’s face it, the only comfort zone of the whole app store is the Featured and Top 25 section, which I consider to be the homeland. There needs to be a way for Apple to give other developers a chance to display their creations, besides the guys who are beginning to look a little too familiar in the ‘top’ sections. For example, Apple this week released their “App Store Turns 1, Our Favorite Games/Apps” section. If you look at Apple’s favorite games, ngmoco Inc., has 3 games of the top 30 personally picked by Apple. Hmmm, out of the 65,000 games and more than 100,000 developers, it just so happens that ngmoco has 3? Out of those 3 games, only one of them is even a 4 star game? I thought the whole idea of a standardized platform was to give the carriers and manufacturers less control over the deck, and put it into the hands of consumers and third parties? I guess I was wrong. It is turning into a political game here Apple, and people are catching on. You can’t keep bragging about how well your store is doing and how many developers are signed up for your program, when there are only about 50 cases of rock star developer cases and about 95,000 cases of those starving for just a damn review or even acceptance of their app. It needs to change Apple, it needs to change. So do it.

Warm Regards,

Jason Wilk

Founder | TinyComb.com | DonationAir.com

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Tagged as: app store, Apple, open letter, Politics, Scam

  • Come on guys !
    Why do you think the developers changed the app store ? The idea is to make it work easier with the clients. You are bad because its uncomfortable , but thats its just because you havent got used to it.
    After a bit of time , youd change your opinion.

    Apple.. what more can we say
  • just looked at the app store, and the 1# app of the top 10 chart is called "the moron test"... you really have to be a moron to pay for that
  • It is my understanding that about 95% of those apps are crap.
    That still leaves several hundred pretty cool apps though.
  • If only 1% of those apps are any good, that will still leave a lot of god ones.

    Remember the baby shaking app?
  • Jason Wilkj
    Yes, and I remember the good old MG Siegler video for it.
  • I completely disagree with you!

    The app store is NOT the only place for people to market their app, there are websites, reviews, banner links, google adwords, even radio and tv advertising if they want (and some have) - Apple provides everything anyone need to be able to advertise an app wherever they want.

    As for finding apps as a consumer, browsing 65,000 of anything isn't easy, which is why there is a search. Google has already proven that search is the way to go for what you want in the modern day, and Apple's search on the app store is pretty good in my opinion.

    Your rant is like saying "I hate my ISP, google gets all the attention and they aren't promoting X's little blog". Find it yourself, nobody is stopping you, indeed all the tools are in front of you. If you want a spoonfed list of stuff to read on the web, go to BBC, CNN or whichever floats your boat. However, if you want something particular, go find it yourself. It is a simple fact that some people are more popular and successful than others, and the app store is no exception in that respect.

    You also have to remember that it is in Apple's financial favour to advertise successful apps - it means they are good enough for them to sell more, and make more money selling iPhones and iPods.
  • Jason Wilkj
    Not sure if you read the article correctly Adam. I am fed up with the navigation of the app store. You could hardly compare this with Google nor hating my ISP. It is unfair and Apple is giving themselves a pat on the back for something that needs to be fixed. I am not even close to alone in this argument.
  • > I am fed up with the navigation of the app store

    Good summary of your original post, my summary of my reply then is this: 'If you don't like the app store, rely on other means to find good apps'
  • digihead
    try use ovi store by nokia and then complain about appstore!
  • yikesboy
    Essentially true but you do miss one point: for specialty producers - like us with our Steinberg Cubase iC remote control app - we use the store as a handy way for our customers to get our app. In that way it's very convenient for us and rather like youtube - they take care of the bandwidth, processing etc.
    I suspect that other "long end of the tail" specialty developers value the store regardless of how unlikely it would be for one of our users, ignorant of the app, to stumble across it in a general search via the store.
  • sean4123
    Ya because there aren't more troubling things going on in this world besides makings sure all iPhone App Creators make $$$ off their creations huh.
  • iphoneappdeveloper
    I cant say I disagree with most of what you are saying here. It's all fair. However, IMO, you have look at the bigger picture. Yet again, Apple has set the ground work for another proven product, just like they did with the iPod.

    The fact is that the App Store has grown too fast for its own good. There is always going to be things they can do better with the usability of the store, it will evolve just like anything else, hopefully for the better.
  • bamarose
    About your Graphic: What type of larvae are those supposed to be?
  • Sniper9189
    I couldn't disagree more. If you can come up with a system to handle 65,000 apps then my hats off to you. The truth is with that many apps there is no good way to sift through them. The good news is that it doesn't matter because the best apps will always make their way to the top. I've looked through hundreds of apps and the vast majority of them are not very good. I haven't really found any gems that didn't make it into one of the featured or list of top apps sections.
  • I think everyone needs to change their attitudes.

    I think the developers need to change the way they think about marketing. When the App store first began just being there was enough to sell. Now as it grows this is not the case. Developers are realizing that they have to do marketing on their own through external means. They get out and buy ad space all across the net. This is a way that I have found many Apps. I also notice that after a few days they start to climb the charts and end up in the top 25 anyway.

    If you think about it like a department store it makes more sense. Instead of Tide always begging target to feature their products on the front of the aisle they go out and buy TV commercials and print ads in newspapers and magazines. They do not sit down and complain about how they are not getting featured they go out and feature themselves. Granted, I know that when you start up you dont have the budget to buy tons of ad space but being a start up myself I know that sometimes you have to start slow.

    I think the days of making an app, posting it, and watching revenue stream in while you play WoW in your basement is over. It is becoming like any marketplace, you work for your money.
  • grammarman
    I completely agree. Don't hate me but I'm going to point out your typos/unclear text because this should get read by many people.

    I don’t know which direction to new land (apps) - what does this mean? Should it be something like "I don't know which directly leads to new land"?

    to give the carriers and manfacuters less control - manufacturers (spelling)

    when there are about 50 cases of rockstar developer cases - redundant use of "cases", lose the one after 'developer'

    95,000 cases of those straving for just a damn review - starving (spelling)

    Excellent sentiment though, mate! I hope you get a ton of traffic.

    It needs to change Apple, it needs to change
  • Jared Kline
    I completely fu***** agree. So sick of the app store.
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