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>> Guess how much money those apps make? Not enough to pay for development. It's a power law distribution. At the top of the search you can make a decent living

>> Guess how much money those apps make? Not enough to pay for development. It's a power law distribution. At the top of the search you can make a decent living. It's unlikely and rare for an app developed exclusively for native iOS, with no existing user base built on desktop or physical business presence in the real world, to ever have a chance of succeeding. The fault for misguided expectations lies entirely with the developers, not Apple or its users. The real purpose of the App Store - that is, what a majority of users find valuable - is having mobile apps for brand names and services they are already acquainted with. Your primary install base should be from users explicitly searching for your app by name because they already interact with you elsewhere. If you're depending on people to "discover" your app without having ever heard of you, then you are choosing to gamble and attempting to game a system that every other gambler is trying to game right alongside you. The only real problem here is developers trying to use mobile apps as either a) a get-rich-quick scheme, or b) feeling entitled to earn full-time income solely from their dream job of working as their own boss from home. The App Store is a cesspool of every developer who figured out how to install XCode acting like they automatically deserve to win the windfall lottery. If you choose to develop apps that have no business plan behind them other than "hope I get popular through a closed-garden algorithm", the resulting fallout has nothing to do with Apple or device owners.

SomeCallMeTim 10y ago
> If you're depending on people to "discover" your app without having ever heard of you, then you are choosing to gamble and attempting to game a system that every other gambler is trying to game right alongside you. Bingo! All the popular indie apps that don't use every possible strategy to get to the top of the heap will fail. By choosing the top rated apps in the top 20, you are playing the same game. If you don't like indie apps, don't download them. "The only way to win is not to play." You don't like that game, play a different game. Don't hurt the many, many developers who are in fact making a living making apps. And don't spite them just because they're living the dream of earning a full time income working as their own boss from home and it's what you'd like to be doing. >The App Store is a cesspool of every developer who figured out how to install XCode acting like they automatically deserve to win the windfall lottery. I don't disagree, but it also has some very nice apps. If you think an app really sucks, by all means slam it in the reviews. It's a service to other people who may download it. But I'm complaining about people rating apps they otherwise consider to be 4- or 5-star apps, and that they then vote down to 1-star because they're pissed about being asked to review. That's lying out of spite, is hurting a developer who otherwise did a good job on their app, and is uncool.

SomeCallMeTim 10y ago

> If you're depending on people to "discover" your app without having ever heard of you, then you are choosing to gamble and attempting to game a system that every other gambler is trying to game right alongside you. Bingo! All the popular indie apps that don't use every possible strategy to get to the top of the heap will fail. By choosing the top rated apps in the top 20, you are playing the same game. If you don't like indie apps, don't download them. "The only way to win is not to play." You don't like that game, play a different game. Don't hurt the many, many developers who are in fact making a living making apps. And don't spite them just because they're living the dream of earning a full time income working as their own boss from home and it's what you'd like to be doing. >The App Store is a cesspool of every developer who figured out how to install XCode acting like they automatically deserve to win the windfall lottery. I don't disagree, but it also has some very nice apps. If you think an app really sucks, by all means slam it in the reviews. It's a service to other people who may download it. But I'm complaining about people rating apps they otherwise consider to be 4- or 5-star apps, and that they then vote down to 1-star because they're pissed about being asked to review. That's lying out of spite, is hurting a developer who otherwise did a good job on their app, and is uncool.