Suggestion Box: How To Make Apple’s App Store Even Better

Apple’s iPhone store may have 15,000 applications on its shelves and it may already have distributed 500 million games and other applications to its avid user base, but not everything is perfect. So, the question is, if you were to make it even better, what would you do? The San Francisco Chronicle asked developers this question, and although most of them said they couldn’t complain because they were generally happy with the results, there were still a few small things that they would like to tweak. Here’s the list:

The problem of 99 cent apps: Developers said it is difficult to differentiate to customers between apps that can cost as low as 99 cents and applications on the other end of the spectrum that took a long time to develop and costs much more. The more affordable applications typically dominate the top of the most-downloaded list. Ideas to remedy this include making a list that ranked applications by revenue, not downloads. Another common complaint is that applications can only be sold for a one-time free, rather than a recurring subscription model.

Breaking the top 100: Developers are clear in saying that the number of downloads they garner increase if they make the top 100 for a particular category. Developers want other ways to get recognized. Ideas include being able to see what your friends have downloaded, much like word-of-mouth.

Apple’s secretive nature: Developers want a little more transparency. They find it difficult to understand when Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will approve their application. Sometimes it takes two weeks or two months, or it can be rejected. Communication problems can also extend to the device. Developers would like for applications to run in the background, so they don’t have to be opened to receive updates and alerts.

Photo Credit: june29

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