
Want me to download your app? Please do this. - wheresitworking
http://www.wheresitworking.com/2012/02/12/want-me-to-download-your-app-please-do-this/
======
camtarn
I love the Android / Amazon model - hit the store on a desktop browser, select
a device to send the content to, hit buy, and relax knowing that the app or
content will be downloaded to said device within seconds. I'm genuinely
surprised Apple haven't done this.

~~~
cmelbye
Apple has done this. "iTunes in the Cloud" causes purchases made on any device
(Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad) to be downloaded automatically on all devices which
automatic downloads have been enabled on. Purchases that are automatically
downloaded include music, apps, and books.
<http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/>

~~~
camtarn
iCloud definitely seems like the Right Way, going even further than the
Android model. Doesn't this make the method the article talks about redundant
- or is the author not using iCloud?

[edit] Oh wait, does that mean iCloud works from any _device_ but not from a
browser? That seems like an odd omission.

~~~
cmelbye
iTunes purchases can currently only be made from inside of iTunes.app, not in
the browser. Apple does offer the ability to link to apps or music in the
browser, and a track list, description, screenshots, etc will be displayed
inside of your browser. iTunes can be launched to make the purchase.

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i386
There is something a lot more clever about this than you realise. By offering
you the convenience of sending it to you via email they are collecting your
address. Great way to gather conversion information and market to people who
have never downloaded their app.

~~~
18pfsmt
> _By offering you the convenience of sending it to you via email they are
> collecting your address. "_

That's a great point, and the more I think about it while also considering
about the noted sponsor for the post, SwellPath, whose stated purpose is to,
"[...] merge measurement and performance-led marketing to make digital
campaigns actionable and accountable," the more I wonder at how careless
people are with their email addresses and other personal information.

Convenience is quite seductive, and even utilizing Occam's Razor I can't
fathom a respectable position for one to espouse the ideas same as this post.

Disclaimer: I could easily be accused of tinfoil-hat-syndrome, so I apologize
if I offend(ed) you.

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mcritz
This seems like much ado about nothing. Download in iTunes and it
automatically shows up in iOS.

Don't use iTunes? Use your browser’s “mail page” command.

~~~
acangiano
Most people wouldn't know how to email a page from their browser if their life
depended on it.

~~~
mcritz
I'm trying to think of someone I know who owns an iOS device, is literate
enough to uninstall iTunes, but not literate enough to find the “mail” feature
of their browser.

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wfendler
I usually use <https://gethopper.com/you> for things like this since Apple's
"solution" isn't the most ideal. I prefer opening it on my iPhone via Hopper
and downloading the app there instead of opening iTunes which I rarely have
open.

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aarondf
I'm loving the drop-in effect used for the download form on FullContact.
Anyone know if there's a jquery plugin for this?

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nvk
We did it a bit different, you can take a picture of the screen with your
phone and open it on the AppStore!

Check it out, ripeapps.com

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rhizome
Simply placing a QR code to the URL onscreen will cut this process down
drastically.

~~~
baddox
If you have a decent URL, I find that it's usually more of a hassle to open my
code-scanning app and taking a picture than it is to just type the URL into my
phone's browser.

~~~
rhizome
The QR should be a link to the app in whatever store. One click to the app's
install page is quicker than every other app store interface out there.

If there is a QR everywhere where someone is going "hey, i tried this and it
was pretty good for X and Y," there could be a lot more synergy between
magazines and billboards and the internet than it is now where everybody
thinks it's just some weird Korean thing. Even Microsoft detects this and
creates their own home-grown remake in case having an American, IP-encumbered
icon was the barrier to adoption, which it apparently wasn't. It's a bummer,
man.

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frankdenbow
App.net does this on its app pages, email or sms link

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iamgilesbowkett
Just keep this in mind the next time you see some article about how it's
impossible to make money making apps. What this post is asking developers to
do for their apps is the utter minimum of basic marketing. It's not even
Marketing 101; it's stuff you could figure out way before that. And many app
developers don't even do it.

