Comments on: 100,000 iPhone Apps: Let's Clap to That. What's Next?

By: How T-Mobile Tries to Improve App Discoverability – GigaOM

How T-Mobile Tries to Improve App Discoverability – GigaOM — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:51:27 +0000

[...] Colin Gibbs Jan. 25, 2010, 2:49pm No Comments 0 0 0 0 The number of mobile apps on the market grows larger by the day, but the number of ways to sort through them all remains quite limited. T-Mobile USA looks to give [...]

By: Mobile Apps: The Ultimate Threat to Search Engines? – GigaOM

Mobile Apps: The Ultimate Threat to Search Engines? – GigaOM — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:56:02 +0000

[...] “Amazon” or “eBay,” according to the Broadpoint AmTech note. Add to the mix rapid growth in usage of mobile apps and that they’re treating search engines as the middle man to be removed, and search engines [...]

By: More Mobile Ad M&A on the Way – GigaOM

More Mobile Ad M&A on the Way – GigaOM — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:42:40 +0000

[...] advertising is hot, thanks to surging smartphone sales, increased traffic on the mobile web and the explosion of mobile apps. So Google’s recent $750 million acquisition of AdMob is likely to spark another round of [...]

By: Cupertino, You Have a Problem

Cupertino, You Have a Problem — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:50:50 +0000

[...] toward turning the iPhone into a major platform. He was carrying Apple’s water long before the rest of the 100,000 apps showed up, which is just one of the reasons why he was nominated to GigaOM’s Top 15 Mobile Influencers [...]

By: Apple Shoots Past Nokia As World’s Most Profitable Handset Vendor « Anil's Blog

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:34:48 +0000

[...] know if Apple can accurately be described as a “PC vendor,” but I do know that it’s seen unprecedented success with its App Store, that Nokia’s share of the smartphone marketcontinues to slide, and that, [...]

By: Apple Shoots Past Nokia As World’s Most Profitable Handset Vendor

Apple Shoots Past Nokia As World’s Most Profitable Handset Vendor — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:04:14 +0000

[...] Apple can accurately be described as a “PC vendor,” but I do know that it’s seen unprecedented success with its App Store, that Nokia’s share of the smartphone market continues to slide, and [...]

By: Tom(Car Rental)Cruse

Tom(Car Rental)Cruse — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:31:05 +0000

The rumors that the next app will be a back scratcher / tea maker combination have been denied by a spokesman for Mr S. Jobs.

You’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way.

By: Is it Too Early to Start Designing the Verizon Droid II? | Technologizer

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:05:35 +0000

[...] which is enough to be valuable, but not enough to induce the giddy feeling you can get from iPhone’s 100,000 title App Store. I don’t know how many Android apps will be around by the time the Droid II ships, but [...]

By: Alan Warms

Alan Warms — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:15:16 +0000

Om -
Absolutely. The other point here is now that Apps have become the key value-add of these smart phones — Android, if successful, will eventually have exact same discoverability problem as will any other winning platforms (Pre, Rim?).

What’s missing right now is the ability to see what apps your friends are using and liking — that’s what has driven the mass success of app adoption on Facebook. And that is exactly what we’re trying to provide at http://www.appolicious.com — the ability to see what people you follow are doing, and quickly download or ask questions about apps.

It’s interesting – I don’t see how that can be provided given the current iPhone interface (compare it to Facebook home page) – but the question is will they move that way? Can Android?

–Al

By: KyleG

KyleG — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:59:44 +0000

The apps store is not sustainable. It’s a bubble that will burst soon when app developers figure out that they are not making money and many never will make money. I have about 40 apps on my phone but there are only a few like NeuroMobile and a few others that I have paid for and use regularly. If most apps are free and many only are used a few times after installation, developers are not making money and will not be able to continue to offer their apps. Do the math. How many downloads would it take to support all the companies with iPhone apps.

By: ronald

ronald — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:54:51 +0000

What is the biggest problem with today’s software.
Bloat.
Why is there bloat?
Software development is costly, so companies try to cram the most features into any given App to attract even the last possible user of that Software. More features lead to higher development cost and on it goes. In the process they annoy all users.

Apple has shown that simplification sells, iTunes apps store even highlights this more. One can actually have 2000 apps in the same category which are ever so slightly different. And make money from it.
In the good old days one company would have looked at these 2000 apps in one category boiled it down to the most popular 100 features and incorporated those into it’s own product. Result see above.

What has changed. The distribution cost, and the small inside that one can make money from distribution. Which totally eluded the company which likes to incorporate, which makes money from keeping the cost to entry high by complexity, i.e. bloat.

What will change next. Developing cost. With less abstract complexity one can start automating. Users liked Spreadsheets since they could perform predefined actions on numbers without going to the guys with the white coats and pocket protectors. Like a spreadsheet has less inherited complexity than a time shared mainframe so will the user generated phone apps.

So yes more personalized apps.

By: sfmitch

sfmitch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:06:45 +0000

2nd sentence should read

…..and left out some pretty big things….

By: sfmitch

sfmitch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:05:47 +0000

2 Points:

1. The notion that Apple didn’t plan on having Apps all along is completely ridiculous. There was only so much Apple could include in iPhone 1.0 and they spent time and resources polishing the heck out of what was shipped and left out some pretty things (3rd party apps, cut and paste, etc.). Just because it wasn’t in 1.0 and Apple offered Web Apps as the way to get 3rd party content on the phone does not mean that Apple wasn’t planning on the SDK all along. There is NO way that Apple could have completed the SDK and App store if they hadn’t been planning on it all along.

“Apple’s reluctant foray — don’t forget that for the longest time it said every service should be delivered via the web browser — into apps”

2. It is not reasonable to expect the only way to find out about Apps to be the App store or iTunes store. There are plenty of blog posts, articles, recommendation from friends, etc. that aid in discovery. Almost every App that I have installed (way over 100) has come from a recommendation buy a friend, blog post / article.

Finding out about iPhone Apps is now similar to finding out about movies, books, computer software, etc.

By: Ouriel OHAYON

Ouriel OHAYON — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:58:07 +0000

Om. you can imagine how i agree with your final word. This is why i do what i do :)

Ouriel Ohayon
AppsFire.com

By: T-Mobile’s CEO Talks Up Android — Going Forward, Apps Are Key

T-Mobile’s CEO Talks Up Android — Going Forward, Apps Are Key — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:28:19 +0000

[...] right now, it doesn’t yet have the iPhone’s overflowing ecosystem of applications. As Om reported today, Apple says that there are now 100,000 applications for the iPhone in its App Store. Brodman [...]

By: Lava

Lava — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:18:23 +0000

Apple is already working on discoverability – the latest iTunes offer Genius recommendations for apps, and I’m sure that’ll only get better with time (btw, Genius recommendations is also available on the iPhone’s App Store).

But I think the aspect you are missing here is that the App Store succeeds the same reason why Google succeeds. 10 years ago, no one would have believed you could make a profitable business out of selling billions of slightly relevant text ads embedded in search results, emails, and mobile ads. Yet Google is a money press because the you only need 0.01% of the tens of billions of users it has to respond to make it profitable for both Google and the advertiser.

The App Store is the same way. Yes, finding the gems will get harder as the number of apps increase, but I don’t need to look at every Google Ad to make Google’s system profitable. I only need to keep on buying apps on a regular basis.

Apple already has 50+ million iPhone and iPod touch users. Pretty soon, it’ll have 100 million. Then 200 million. It won’t matter that there might be 500,000 apps at that point as long as those 200 million users continue to buy more and more apps.

Today, a developer might have to attract the attention of 10% of those 50 million iPhone and touch users to hit it big time. Next year, a developer will have to attract maybe 5% of the user base. A few years from now, a developer will have to vie for the attention of just 1% of the user base to have a successful app and eventually, all a developer will have to do is reach just 0.1% of the installed base to be profitable.

It doesn’t matter WHERE those customers are coming from because the app discovery will work for the developers as well as Google ad targeting does today for advertisers.

No other platform will be able to achieve this “Google effect” in terms of app prosperity. It’s simple mathematics, and why Apple has already won.