

Facebook’s Camera app gets a new name: Camera•. Yes, “•” - nextstep
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2012/06/12/facebooks-camera-app-gets-a-new-name-camera-yes/

======
kolinko
I bet this is because of the App Store SEO. The way search works is that if a
user types in "Camera" in the search field, the first apps that come up on top
are the ones that are called simply "Camera[+non-letter-chars]". Even if
Facebook's Camera had a gazillion downloads, it would end up below apps called
"Camera+++", just because of the name.

By changing the name from "Facebook Camera" to "Camera•" the company is
guaranteed to position on top of the search for the phrase "Camera", and get
even more downloads. And once they changed it to "Camera•" in the App Store it
only made sense to change the name to "Camera•" on the device, to maintain
consistency in the naming.

(disclaimer: I'm the founder of AppCod.es, and we've analysed the details of
Apple's search engine in detail :) )

~~~
Geee
That's quite interesting. Are there particular sorting rules for those non-
letter characters? Why is + before •?

~~~
esrauch
Each character has a numerical value that is fairly standardized as ASCII or
Unicode. Typically + maps to 43, a to 97 (b to 98, c to 99, ...) and • to 149
and will be sorted in that order.

That's a bit of a simplification; often times more sophisticated orderings are
used, especially with consideration to internationalization.

~~~
wahnfrieden
Yes but apple doesn't use that. See kolinko's comment.

------
k-mcgrady
It is not an App Store SEO trick. They only changed the name the app shows on
the device. On the App Store it's still called Facebook Camera.

My guess is that Apple has asked them to change it as 'Camera' is what they
call their camera app.

------
ceol
It certainly doesn't make any sense from a consistency standpoint, but then
again, Facebook is one of the least consistent web apps I've used. Everything
from their developer SDKs/APIs to their end user mobile apps are ever-changing
and often times filled with bugs or "What were they thinking?!" behavior.

In terms of splitting functionality into separate iOS apps, I don't trust
they'll be able to keep the UX consistent, either.

------
jaredsohn
Here's what I get when doing a search for "camera" from the iPhone AppStore:

Camera+, Camera ∞, Socialcam Video Camera, Camera!!, Camera, Camera ®,
"Camera,", Camera.., CamWow: Free photo ..., Camera-, Instagram, CamWow Retro,
8mm Vintage Camera, Facebook Camera, ...

Notice how far down Facebook Camera is currently on this list.

Edit: I realize that the screenshot on the website shows the search order
among installed apps, but I think this may be relevant, too.

------
glimcat
If you're going to allow dozens of Camera* names, why the heck don't you just
allow them all to be called Camera and let people sort them out by publisher?
It's not like you should be using the name as the GUID anyway, or like Camera
is a reasonably defensible trademark for a camera program.

------
alexkcd
My guess is that Apple asked Facebook not to use the same name as the built in
camera, and Facebook complied to avoid damaging their renewed relationship.

------
Karunamon
So what's the right way to pronounce this app? Camera dot? Camera period? Does
that symbol have a funny name?

~~~
jen_h
This has been driving me crazy a little. Is it Camera Dot? Camera Interpunct?
Camera Bullet? Camera Middle Dot? Camera Diacritical Character?

But I think, maybe, just "Facebook Camera" is the name they'd choose.

Glad they changed the name, though...am assuming Apple made them change it
(which makes "interpunct" kind of hilarious); was totally surprised that it
made it through to begin with--an identical icon with a different background
color & the same name, many users wouldn't know the difference...and "Camera
Interpunct? Dot?" is way better than "Camera - I don't know what happened, but
my camera is broken and it always goes to Facebook!"

~~~
acheron
I don't think the bullet is a diacritical mark for anything, though I could be
wrong.

------
vibrunazo
A few years ago, MySpace decided to get creative and re-branded to "My_". [1]
And we all know what happened to My_.

[1] <http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/08/new-myspace-logo/>

~~~
dutchbrit
MySpace was already dead by then however.

~~~
idleloops
I doubt you can call MySpace dead.

------
stock_toaster
I bet camera+ just /loves/ this.

note: sarcasm applied.

~~~
dutchbrit
Indeed, swapping + with • is a tad dirty, even if "camera" is the best way to
describe it.

~~~
idleloops
Yes, dirty is the appropriate word here. It has a rather unsavoury feeling
about it.

------
uvTwitch
Absurd. Why not "Camera!", or something that can actually be pronounced, and
that, you know, makes -sense-?

~~~
andyking
That's even worse! How are you meant to say that without sounding fake-
excited? There's a radio station around here called "PULSE!" that I have the
same issue with. It's not even an exciting radio station.

~~~
sjwright
Yahoo!

------
AznHisoka
It's for app store optimization. They want to rank high for camera

