

Gartner Predicts App Monetization Will Only get More Difficult as Time Goes On - ericcumbee
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/01/gartner-predicts-app-monetization-will-get-difficult-time-goes.html

======
nhance
The real problem is with the app stores. They are terribly organized for
discovery of any apps, the iTunes store specifically. How are you supposed to
find new apps if they're not in the "top XX" portal?

1: If search is how you access the huge variety of apps, why is the search bar
hidden all the way in the top corner? When you open the app store on an iPad,
you have a beautiful, but ultimately very limited view of apps.

There really needs to be, and I believe there is room in the market for, a
service that helps discover new and upcoming apps. Both Apple and Google do a
poor job helping users find apps they might like.

2: "Genius" is useless if you have to find apps you like first. It may help
provide limited exposure to apps similar to ones you've tried, but it provides
poor results if you don't know what you want in the first place.

3: Each of the categories provides only the "top XX" or "newest XX" apps. This
incentivizes a cutthroat market and disincentives large investment into apps.
Sure, there is a ton of VC money to chase many different app ideas, but
ultimately, successful apps will need to make a return on investment. Both
Apple and Google do no favors to developers by fueling the "turnover" game.
You get one shot on the "new releases" board, then you're on your own for
marketing outside of the app stores. In the long term, this will decrease the
quality of apps on both platforms. Amazon has a shot at getting it right, and
I believe this strategy may favor them in the long-term.

If you really want to win, find a way to improve discovery or "browsing" of
apps. The market will follow the incentives to their logical ends, and right
now, both of the big players are missing the opportunity to incentivize
discovery of quality.

Nick

P.S. I don't know the solution to these problems either, but look for yourself
and tell me they don't exist.

~~~
oakwhiz
A listing of "apps that your friends are using" would be a start.

~~~
warmfuzzykitten
I'm really happy the App Store doesn't know who my friends are.

------
Daishiman
The real story is that building apps for the sake of building apps is
irrelevant if they're not backing a truly useful product. That's natural; the
barrier to entry becomes higher and the business starts to look like any other
software market.

I don't necessarily see this as such a terrible thing, it just looks like
we're not going to see the massive swings of luck that used to benefit a small
minority of app developers.

------
fidotron
This has been the trend for a long time. The reality of the app business is
getting to critical mass is hard. Once there you get the attention of the
portal owners and show up in the charts and you're off.

The interesting thing is even among big brands the difference between top and
lower level incomes from in app purchases is enormous. The top handful really
are taking the overwhelming proportion of the money home.

