The good people over at AppCraver read my blog post about pricing and asked to do a short interview. They asked some great questions that further illuminate the challenges iPhone developers face. If you’d like to take a look you can find the whole article here.
iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Rate It If You Hate It!
The AppStore “Rate It If You Hate It” system is such a spectacularly bad idea that I really need to talk about it for a second. I certainly appreciate what Apple is trying to do. Like I’ve said time and again – I’m VERY VERY happy with Apple’s clearly demonstrated policy of working to improve things. I’ve seen other companies allow their flawed systems/devices/OS’s to sit around for YEARS with no effort to improve them. So, please don’t take this frustration with one aspect of the system as an overall indictment.
But seriously – a system that specifically encourages people who are removing an application to review it, with no reciprocating system to encourage people who LIKE their applications to review them, is a terrible plan.
Read on after the jump for the whole story… [Read more…] about Rate It If You Hate It!
AppStore Prices – Is Cheaper Really Better?
Over at the Apple iPhone Group at Yahoo, a discussion has cropped up about application prices in the AppStore. We think (and hear) about this a lot, so I want to take a minute to talk about application pricing (on any mobile platform). It is a topic that is important to developers, retailers, and customers alike.
So, if you’re curious to hear a developer perspective on pricing, read on after the jump! [Read more…] about AppStore Prices – Is Cheaper Really Better?
We Changed Apple! New AppStore Rating System
OK, I’m just guessing but it is pretty cool that on the heels of our survey Apple has implemented a change in the AppStore rating system. I don’t honestly believe they did it just for us, but it is nice to know that Apple is trying. Unfortunately, it doesn’t solve all the problems of the AppStore rating system but it’s a start.
If you’d like to learn more about this change, read on after the jump!
[Read more…] about We Changed Apple! New AppStore Rating System
Final App Store Survey Results
What One Change You’d Like
Here’s the result of the final question in our survey (check the archives if you want the rest), as well as the winners of the gift cards.
To the question: “What one change would you like most to see in the iTunes App Store?”, over 60% of you picked free trials. I guess given that so many of you indicated that you bought apps regardless of price (or at least didn’t just buy the $1 and $2 ones), trials makes a lot of sense. 18% opted for better categorization, with just under 10% wanting better find. Specifically:
Of the “other” replies, you asked for:
- All of the above!
- All of these, app store is almost unusable
- General change to the style how people use (browse) the app store
- More serious apps like eWallet and less junk
- “Best of breed” featured apps, regardless of popularity (# of downloads)
- Better search and iTunes like search playlists (to exclude junk devs)
- Less crap!
- Moderated reviews
- Review moderation. Many reviews cite problems that are due to apple
- Dated reviews with version reviewed
- Sort by rating
- Rankings based on revenue
- Amazon.com-like functionality: wish-lists, similar-apps-bought, order-by-ratings
- A wish list to keep track of apps, music, etc. until I can decide on them
- Wish List capacity to store for later purchase
- A way to save a list of apps I am interested in.
- Robust wish list (as at Amazon)
- More game options
- Would be nice to have a VIDEO review on apps (esp games) rather than on YouTube
- Demo capability
- The original ability to see all aps by post date
- Canadian redeem codes, for the love of Bob!
I grouped those for better readability, but otherwise didn’t edit them at all.
I’m happy to see that Apple took down reviews from non-buyers late last week. I hope – and believe – we’ll keep seeing improvements to the App Store. Find and trials would be great ones!
OK, and now for the 12 gift card winners. Congratulations to: Ken M., David B., Robin C., Addison H., Gina G., Dennis B., Drew C., Terry W., Louie L., Susan L., Nicole T., and Paul T. You’ve each won a US$10 gift card. People in the U.S. will get iTunes gift cards; people outside the U.S. will get gift cards from your local Amazon site. I’ve sent out emails about these already; if you think you’re one of the winners and didn’t see one, please be sure to whitelist emails from iliumsoft.com. I’ll re-send them to anyone I didn’t hear back from.
Once again, thanks to everyone for participating!
Still More App Store Survey Results
Results #3: Everything Else
Here are the results of most of the rest of the questions on our App Store Survey. Earlier results are here (how you find apps) and here (how you evaulate apps
[Read more…] about Still More App Store Survey Results