Pinboard (guardiantech)

The App Store problem is not price >> Elia Insider

guardiantech — 2013-07-31T20:07:53+00:00

This is a vicious cycle. The lack of differentiation means the price drops, which means the money available to market an app drops, which means it is harder to differentiate.
What could help? Trials would help. That would allow someone to download an app and see the difference first hand, not just trust a screenshot. Apple has been clear, though. They prefer freemium. Getting out of the App Store itself can help. Building enough value to charge a subscription could help.
Productivity apps can’t survive and bring the long-term value customers demand at $2.99 or $4.99. At the end of the day, though, the app stores, whether Apple, Google or the like, are not going to solve our problem [2]. The only thing that will is rethinking the products so we can get out of the app stores and differentiate.

Loren Brichter (author of Tweetie, which became the official Twitter app) then responds in the comments with data showing that trials can hurt sales of games. So what is the answer?

Apple, Amazon end 'app store' lawsuit >> Reuters

guardiantech — 2013-07-09T21:15:08+00:00

Martin Glick, a lawyer for Amazon, said in an interview, "This was a decision by Apple to unilaterally abandon the case, and leave Amazon free to use 'appstore.'"
"We're gratified that the court has conclusively dismissed this case," Amazon spokeswoman Mary Osako said. "We look forward to continuing our focus on delivering the best possible appstore experience to customers and developers."
"We no longer see a need to pursue our case," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said. "With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps."

Free trials and tire kickers >> Marco.org

guardiantech — 2013-05-12T19:52:51+00:00

Marco Arment, following on from Dave Addey's piece about app pricing last week:

It’s not hard to imagine a world where we have free trials, because we already have such worlds: the Mac and Windows. What most mobile-app developers want is the ability to charge PC-class pricing — $30, $50, $100 instead of 99 cents, $2.99, $4.99.
But PC-class pricing would fundamentally change iOS buying habits, and we may not like the results.
Browsing the App Store and getting new apps, often spending a few bucks along the way, is a form of casual entertainment for a lot of people. This role used to be filled by movies and music. Today, it’s filled by browsing the internet and playing with mobile apps. Usually, they’re games, but not always — modern mainstream culture, especially among younger people, seems to be more interested in media and social apps than games.
This apps-as-entertainment market falls apart if app pricing rises above casual-disposable levels for most people.

Nearly 60K low-quality apps booted from Google Play store In February, points to increased spam-fighting >> TechCrunch

guardiantech — 2013-04-10T21:25:07+00:00

Sarah Perez:

To be clear, not all of these apps were deleted by Google. Some, such as a handful of Sprint bundles and apps, as well as the product from startup cautionary tale Color and several others, were likely pulled by the publishers themselves. But with a number as high as 60,000, it’s clear that many of these were pulled by Google directly.

We're shocked, shocked that an open store where anyone can add content might harbour tens of thousands of spammy apps. (Thanks @pedgington for the link.)

Concluding the Saga #12 saga >> ComiXology Blog

guardiantech — 2013-04-10T21:16:53+00:00

In the last 24 hours there has been a lot of chatter about Apple banning Saga #12 from our Comics App on the Apple App Store due to depictions of gay sex. This is simply not true, and we’d like to clarify.

iOS Dropbox app kerfuffle ends, but highlights confusion about guidelines >> Ars Technica

guardiantech — 2012-05-04T21:18:11+00:00

Is Apple blanket-rejecting iOS apps that make use of Dropbox because of an evil plan to push developers toward iCloud? If you asked this question five days ago, the answer from the Internet at large might have been a resounding "yes!" But days later, as is often the case, details have come out that reveal the answer is probably "no."
As it turns out, Dropbox inadvertently put other developers using its SDK in violation of one of Apple's app guidelines, resulting in a string of rejections that looked as if apps using Dropbox were being banned. The Web flew into a fury over what is essentially an annoying but long-standing clause in Apple's guidelines. The problem has now been remedied and the fury has died down.

The problem was that Dropbox wasn't letting apps where people could click through to buy Dropbox storage externally the option of buying the same storage inside the app. Guidelines, eh.

Apple's App Store shame >> Adi Kingsley-Hughes

guardiantech — 2011-11-01T22:16:55+00:00

"Take a trip over to the iTunes App Store and take a look at the top grossing games. Notice something odd?" Not immediately until the point is made that they're free to download. So how are they high-grossing? Because of the in-app purchases. So what's the problem? It's that many are aimed at children - who will buy a 99c or a £9.99 or a £99 (really) extra without worrying. You can disable this in the device settings, but it's one to watch for.

Patent-holding firm Lodsys goes after Android developer for use of in-app payments >> ReadWriteWeb

guardiantech — 2011-05-29T20:38:41+00:00

Links to a Google group discussion of Android developers: one who has implemented in-app payment (which Lodsys claims a patent on) says he's been served.

Why it's harder to make money on Android than on Apple's iOS >> Fortune Tech

guardiantech — 2011-05-29T20:32:22+00:00

"Apple's App Store is generating billions for developers, while hardly anybody is getting rich in the Android Market.In a new report issued Friday, Distimo looks at why that might be. One obvious factor -- not highlighted in April -- is that there are nearly three times as many paid apps on Apple's App Store (211,369, by Distimo's count) as on Google's (71,801).
"What Distimo discovered this time is that, for a variety of reasons, Android generates far fewer runaway hits. The most successful app in the Android Market, with more than 50 million downloads, is a Google freebie: Google Maps. Nothing else comes close."

Android To Surpass Apple’s App Store In Size By August 2011 >> Techcrunch

guardiantech — 2011-05-05T21:37:06+00:00

"In a recent report, app store analytics company Distimo forecasted that Android would surpass the App Store in size before the end of July 2011.
"Another research firm, Germany-based research2guidance, corroborates Distimo’s findings; the firm forecasts Android to blow past Apple’s App Store by August 2011."

The Battle For The Most Content And The Emerging Tablet Market >> Distimo

guardiantech — 2011-04-28T05:31:31+00:00

"The major findings are:
" • The Google Android Market eclipsed the Apple App Store for iPhone in terms of free applications and now has 134,342 free applications, while the Apple App Store iPhone has 121,845 free applications.

"• If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store. The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace being available for even a full year."

There are other findings too - that many top publishers are already cross-platform. The question is whether the expectation that the future will continue like the past is reasonable.