
iOS 6 App Store is a disaster for developers - novaleaf
http://www.develop-online.net/news/42065/The-iOS-6-App-Store-is-a-disaster-for-developers
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walru
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 at improvement.

Btw, I also speak as a developer who has had their sales slashed enormously
due the concert of changes that started in late July. My main title has sold
at least a handful of copies @ 2.99 a day for the past two years; that was
until the store started to limit the amount of queries a user would get from
their search. We have a very sexy icon, and very unique concept for the game.
I actually thought the high rate of piracy at the beginning of the app's life
was the reason for the continued sales, but after the changes started to take
place; sales are now limited to about 1-2 a week, I know it was because of the
app icon and screen shots.

Anyway, I mostly speak here as a user, and this new App Store has not been
welcomed. I miss Steve.

~~~
kolinko
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
pick based solely on the icon & name. Say you're looking for a weight tracker
app. You can now quickly preview a couple of apps, and pick the one you like
the most. In the past you'd have to tap every single one of them - nobody did
that.

The new App Store, if anything, gives more opportunities to the small guy.
There are now new ways to get discovered, and there is more emphasis on
search. That's great.

Rules changed, and people complain. Some people just don't like changes imho.

~~~
dpcan
"In the past you'd have to tap every single one of them - nobody did that."

Sure they did. On their first search for a topic at least. And it wasn't
painful. It was nice and quick.

The thing about search is, we go back and search for the same thing many
times, usually to find apps related to our areas of interest, and Apple seems
to have completely neglected this notion.

They seem to think that our search is ALWAYS to find something "new".

I would search for "platformers" and "platform games" about once every week or
two. I KNEW the ones I had checked out previously. I wouldn't click them
again, but it was 2 quick swipes to see what's new. Job done. This is now
dead. When I search, I have to look at the same stuff, and have to flip slowly
through each and every app I've already decided I don't want to download,
again, and again, and again. And THIS is something I won't do. Hence,
"discovery" is dead.

Now, from a smaller developer's perspective, as I have apps in this store...

Discovery was critical. Search and the "New" section were important to me.

The release-date section under each category was CRITICAL to getting those
first downloads.

On day 1, with nothing more than a tweet to a handful of followers, my app
would see a significant number of first-time downloads from being in this
section. It got the ball rolling.

Here's my idea/wish:

App stores should have an "Introductions" category, and when we submit our
apps, we should be able to write a description of our app just for this
purpose. We get 1 day in the "Introductions" category, and after that, we're
gone. People can feel free to go to this category at any time to see
everything that has been released, so they get to see new stuff, and
developers get an opportunity to get some initial users.

------
geuis
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 people walking by and
seeing it is a terrible way to get people to try it. It always takes outside
marketing to get people to look for your product or learn about it.

So you already have put a lot of work into making your application. Now go do
some more legwork and get people talking about it.

~~~
Argorak
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 it for? That basically means that any competitor
can beat you by just including terms for your product in his description. The
card interface makes this even worse, because with the old interface,
"Youtube" would at least be on the front page, but now it is not.

~~~
EchoAbstract
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.

~~~
Argorak
It could also depend on which app store you are in, I am not from the US.

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robomartin
I think the problem goes far deeper than this. Apple has never had good search
and discovery technology across it's products. Searching using iTunes on the
desktop isn't any better. I won't get into the details. I'm sure a lot of you
share my sentiments.

In many ways it is a parallel with Maps. Google has great search and great
maps. Apple has bad search and now less-than-stellar maps. Trend?

~~~
megablast
itunes searching for apps works so much better than google play searching for
apps. Google play search is an embarrassing joke.

Searching for USA travel guides brings in french travel guides, spanish travel
guides, and london maps.

~~~
click170
Honestly I find it easier to go to Google.com and search for whatever your
looking for appended with "android app". I'm surprised there's such a large
difference in the quality of search between Google Play search and Google
Search.

~~~
fpgeek
Absolutely.

I have no idea why they haven't replaced whatever they're doing with: <search>
site:play.google.com

Then they would just need to resolve apps the way the Play Store already does
when presented with a URL and tack on any appropriate filtering (country-
level, carrier-level. etc.). This has been a problem for a long time (my
standard suggestion used to include "site:market.android.com"). And Google has
done a lot with the Play Store app in the interim, so there must be some
constraint I'm missing. I just can't see what it is.

------
jyap
Apple is a company that doesn't make very many acquisitions. I think that the
team at Chomp pretty much took over the App Store or at least have a very big
say.

All the changes are worse for indie developers.

The changes also favor raw app download count. This means that free or
freemium apps rank higher. This isn't good for quality apps which are paid
purchases but have fewer downloads compared to a mediocre quality but free
app.

I want things back the way they were or at the very least, give apps with high
star ratings with x amount of ratings a bigger influence in search results.

Hopefully Apple will see the app download statistics and see that that they
are top heavy. The long tail is gone which hurts the ecosystem. Then they will
question what went wrong and make some positive adjustments. That's what I'm
hoping.

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dangero
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 reminds me a lot of the Chomp search
results. Not really sure what Chomp said to convince Apple that their search
algorithm was better than what Apple was using.

~~~
kolinko
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/ )

~~~
dangero
As a developer, I had a path to improve my ranking which was to find a way to
increase my downloads. I agree, the keywords model is somewhat of a fail in
general because people can pick unrelated words, but this new version is
actually worse than that.

------
pedro-alejandro
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 "Related" tab within an apps page, but I'm curious to
see how that affects sales after a few weeks.

~~~
kolinko
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 :)

------
king_magic
It certainly feels like a disaster for users. I hate the single card view. It
drives me crazy.

~~~
taligent
Weird. I prefer it. I much prefer to see a screenshot of the app than just an
icon and title.

~~~
mitchty
I don't mind the single card bit, its the search that is horrid. Example from
today, I searched for "Jasmine", which is a youtube client app. It is #5 on
the list, the first "match" is "My Princess Diary". However they are ranking
apps is making things as painful for users as developers. Almost doubly so for
the latter.

------
sandstrom
So discovery is hampered, more focus on the screenshot and title is limited to
7 characters. Sounds like Apple want users to find fewer, but higher quality
apps:

\- browsing fewer apps, with users looking closer at each of them;

\- screenshot of the app, you buy the app, not the icon and title;

\- shorter title, less stuffed with keywords [good apps often have short
names: Skype, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter].

I think this is a good thing, the app store has been too much about churning
out low-quality apps.

~~~
alanctgardner2
> good apps often have short names: Skype, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter

I think you mean 'well-recognized brands have short names'. If you're trying
to discover a new Twitter client, it might help for them to have their name,
and 'Twitter', in the title. The goal with search isn't to deliver the user to
exactly the app they already know they want, but to display apps they might
want. Discovery is really hard given one screenshot and 7 characters.

------
ianstormtaylor
Sorry to go off topic, but did anyone else close the article right when they
got to the ad with the "Article continues below" link above it? They've got
stats showing that users don't realize their articles continue because they
throw ads right in the middle of them, and they fixed the problem with an
anchor link? Good god.

------
josephlord
My App Store experiment is still ticking along with no big reduction in its
modest number of daily downloads although maybe it has just enough reviews not
to disappear (4.5 stars UK and US stores). The update going into store did
help, I think that there might be a penalty for not having issued an update
recently. I issued an update for the iPhone 5 and the numbers picked up (got
my record daily download yesterday).

<http://itunes.com/apps/fastlists>

It's a lists app but I want it to be the best damn lists app. It is
particularly designed for repeated use lists like packing and shopping. All
free at the moment but some in-app purchases will be coming soon although
existing users won't lose any features.

------
program
The 3 and 1/4 icons displayed on a single row is a bad idea. Not because it's
bad UX but because it seems that the application doesn't cache any hidden
icons. Every time I scroll the list that's a (very) small loading time that
block the natural scroll.

Anyway I like the "See all" view (but I haven't used it from day one, I don't
know way but it didn't catch my attention). Finally Apple has implemented
infinite scroll. I found myself more inclined to continue to scroll the list
part application #20.

On the old App Store you had to tap the "show 20 more" cell. For me It's a
sort of psychological barrier. It's like saying "there are more apps, I don't
show them to you cause they are not very good". I don't know if I explained it
well.

~~~
adjwilli
Yes, the whole App Store seems laggy now. When you're on the 25th card, it
takes a while for card #26 to show its edge, leading the user to think there
aren't more apps and if there are no one wants to download them anyways.

------
bbbbbbbbb
The new search layout shows very little information,is heavy and crashes now
and then(true on 4S but not so on the new iPad where the search result
displays more information at once with no crashes so far). The Genius tab is a
real loss for me as I don't use it at all. I like to browse by category but
now I have to tap twice where once was ok... The result in itself are also
plainly wrong most of the time. I've stopped using it and I've switched to
AppShopper, way better(I am absolutely not affiliated with this app^^)

------
moocow01
Its most likely not a disaster for Apple in that Im sure it was purposeful. Id
assume their thinking is that for every "unproven" app that gets surfaced to
the user could be lost revenue in place of giving more focus to an established
app with a higher likelihood of a buy. To me it seems like one of those short
sighted how do we grow our revenue in the app store by 12% business maneuvers.

The long term and bigger picture impact of those decisions on Apple I guess we
will have to wait and see.

~~~
31reasons
iOS devices are successful because of the developers, just ask Microsoft. Now
they are killing the hen that laid golden apps. I am surprised how quickly
Apple lost its way after Steve.

~~~
Ygg2
What makes you think Steve Jobs, wouldn't approve of it? I mean maps probably
wouldn't get out of the door, but this seems fine albeit different.

I kinda feel sad about all the "What would Steve do. He'd do exactly as I
want" I constantly see. If memory doesn't fool me, Final Cut Pro X was panned
by users, while Steve Jobs was at the helm. The only difference now it seems
there is no RDF deployed.

------
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...](https://twitter.com/tsteil/status/251273647262691328/photo/1/large)
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...](https://twitter.com/tsteil/status/251275489241624577/photo/1/large)
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)

~~~
tayl0r
Actually it looks like the web view of iTunes Connect sales reports has data
up to yesterday and my sales went back up. So, I'm not really seeing any
change and I'm as "indie" as they come.

------
speg
Their main complaint was there is no new releases section, but there's still a
new & noteworthy section.. and each category has its own 'new' section. Isn't
that the same thing?

~~~
walru
From experience, I can tell you each layer you ask the user to travel down
eliminates 75-90% of the audience.

------
lnanek2
Same exact thing happened with Google Play. Google removed the recently
updated view almost everywhere, while at the same time claiming they were
optimizing the store for visibility for everyone's apps. But they took away
the one thing that was actually doing that.

Throw in how they added responding to comments, but only by an elite few with
special marks by their names that aren't earned by numbers, and there you go,
it's a pretty harsh world for the small guys.

------
tayl0r
No one in this thread is offering up any data showing that their sales have
gone down since the iOS 6 App Store has rolled out.

My app sales seem to be unchanged. In fact, my free version downloads have
actually gone _up_ since the iOS 6 release.

Another person is reporting their downloads also unchanged, "My App Store
experiment is still ticking along with no big reduction in its modest number
of daily downloads".

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niggler
For all this talk about App Store discovery, why hasn't anyone set up an
alternative means of discovery? After all, all you need is a link to the item
on itunes. It should be theoretically easy to set up a mobile webpage with a
list of indie apps, and with improved searching it'd be very easy to bootstrap
such a site with at most a week's worth of effort.

~~~
natrius
That's what App.net was going to build (hence the name) until Facebook
threatened to revoke API access if they didn't agree to an aquihire. Spreading
via Facebook is pretty much required for something like that to take off, but
Facebook has decided that they want to be in that business
(<https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/>).

~~~
0x0
Wow, I had no idea.

I guess that explains why they picked such an odd name for a twitter clone!

------
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.

