4 ms·

Don’t forget Tim Cook also brought you crummy gambling ads next to gambling addiction recovery apps on your $1500 phone.

jshzglr 4y ago
Although this is not ideal, it's also basically not an issue for me. I spend approximately 5 min a month in the App Store. However, I do a perceive a slight sheen on the slope.
pavlov 4y ago
Only if you open the App Store… Which I practically never do. The apps on my phone have been essentially the same for years. If I ever install something, it’s probably through a web link or QR code that goes straight to the right app. The App Store is clearly a big wasted opportunity. 12 years ago I was actually eager to find new apps there. Why did Apple let it become a slum?
- boringg 4y ago
  Wow I really never spent time thinking about it as a product but yeah it really was a wasted opportunity. Discovery is terrible and the quality of a lot of the apps are poor. It's obviously not an easy problem to solve but still I only go to the App Store to specifically get the app that I need.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    >It's obviously not an easy problem to solve It probably is at least relatively. The problem is that you (or at least a lot of people) wouldn't like the answer. Make it a very curated marketplace. Yes, that would take some labor but you can also take into account ratings etc. (Though not sure how to deal with the legit crappy online banking app that people give low-ratings too.) But cue the outrage over my app dropped below a 4.0 rating and Apple kicked me out of the App Store. Or Apple decided I wasn't popular enough. Or any of the other ways in which curation produces losers that will be at least somewhat arbitrary at the margins.
    - js2 4y ago
      You have two tabs: curated, and what's popular. Across all of the apps that I use to consume content, I only know one app that does this well: Criterion. Here, look: https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse First thing to note. You can browse w/o having to create an account! You know what else Criterion does? Rather, what it doesn't do? It doesn't cut off the end of movies at the credits to spam me with what it thinks I want to watch next. There's no "you may like this other thing" based on my watch history. Rather, content is grouped already based on attributes of the movies, not based on my watch history. Criterion cares about movies and about me as a movie watcher, and it shows. I will pay Criterion $99/year till the end of time. The only thing I'd like them to improve is their streaming quality a bit. The video stream is okay, but none of the soundtracks are anything but stereo at best, even for movies they also sell as Blu-ray that have multi-channel DTS soundtracks.
      - odysseus 4y ago
        Criterion's app is nice but their movie selection is ... not great. I've watched a good portion of their films and less than half have turned out to be worth watching. But this is no surprise. Per this quora answer by Larry Wright ( https://qr.ae/pvlbgP https://qr.ae/pvlbgP ) - > Note that Criterion is a video distribution company. One may still wonder exactly whom makes the selections and with what credentials. Co-founder Robert Stein's background is in electronic publishing. Co-founders Joe Medjuck and Roger Smith produced such Criterion-unworthy fair as "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" and "C.C. and Company" (respectively). One must assume that they employ a crack team of film historians, critics and assorted movie geeks to curate their titles.
        ghaff 4y ago
        Criterion has definitely been historically film classic/art house oriented. Which, even as a generally film buff, doesn't necessarily line up with what I want and definitely may not line up with a Saturday evening when I just want to relax.
        js2 4y ago
- throwaway1777 4y ago
  Basically the same reason Amazon let marketplace become a slum. It’s an open platform and becomes a race to the bottom and full of junk and spam and whoever wants to pay for ads for their junk and spam.
  - mikepurvis 4y ago
    Which is wild to say, because it really isn't a very open platform. It's just open enough to be a cesspool while being policed enough to piss off developers and regulators. So like... worst of both worlds. Nice.
- rl3 4y ago
  >Why did Apple let it become a slum? They gambled and lost.
  - Smoosh 4y ago
    It appears that they can't stop the gambling.
- numbsafari 4y ago
  > Only if you open the App Store… Which I practically never do. Which also says a lot about Tim Cook's tenure. They are facing major regulatory scrutiny due to the App Store, in addition to it being a major knock on their brand, instead of it being the asset it once was. It's a leadership problem, for sure.
- dilap 4y ago
  Yeah, it's pretty incredible wasted opportunity. I think maybe 5ish or so years ago they did a big revamp which shifted the focus to obviously coordinated promos of big company stuff, and a more, I don't know, fluff editorial format, and it just become completely uninteresting as a discovery vector. It's absolutely outrageous that they run confusing ads next to search results -- probably millions of people getting confused and having a bad outcome because of that. Just straight up selling out a good user-experience for $. Shameful.
- fasthands9 4y ago
  Other than maybe games I'm not really sure why/how the app store itself would be useful for discovery? I think when most people got a phone it was novel to have an app for different purposes - but nowadays people only really want apps they will use. They already have dozens they like so something has to be offering something unique. And when it comes to finding a new app (like how I recently picked a new app for cycling) just seems like youtube and reddit forums are always going to have more info than an official marketplace.
- leokennis 4y ago
  I also remember trying out different new apps on the daily in 2010. If only those had costed $15 instead of $1, apps might not have become a race to the bottom where the only way to make a buck was to offer shady IAP or to release an uninspired boilerplate app filled to the brim with ads.
- girvo 4y ago
  They let it become a slum because they make bank off it. See their services revenue: it’s huge. Sad, but expected.
Petersipoi 4y ago
For the record, they have now stopped serving gambling ads. As well as a few other categories.
kjreact 4y ago
> Don’t forget Tim Cook also brought you crummy gambling ads next to gambling addiction recovery apps on your $1500 phone. This was obviously an oversight and the ads were halted when this came to light. Apple has never been good at dealing with ads, which is probably good since we don’t need a single company to takeover all markets.

jshzglr 4y ago

Although this is not ideal, it's also basically not an issue for me. I spend approximately 5 min a month in the App Store. However, I do a perceive a slight sheen on the slope.

pavlov 4y ago

Only if you open the App Store… Which I practically never do. The apps on my phone have been essentially the same for years. If I ever install something, it’s probably through a web link or QR code that goes straight to the right app. The App Store is clearly a big wasted opportunity. 12 years ago I was actually eager to find new apps there. Why did Apple let it become a slum?

boringg 4y ago
Wow I really never spent time thinking about it as a product but yeah it really was a wasted opportunity. Discovery is terrible and the quality of a lot of the apps are poor. It's obviously not an easy problem to solve but still I only go to the App Store to specifically get the app that I need.
- ghaff 4y ago
  >It's obviously not an easy problem to solve It probably is at least relatively. The problem is that you (or at least a lot of people) wouldn't like the answer. Make it a very curated marketplace. Yes, that would take some labor but you can also take into account ratings etc. (Though not sure how to deal with the legit crappy online banking app that people give low-ratings too.) But cue the outrage over my app dropped below a 4.0 rating and Apple kicked me out of the App Store. Or Apple decided I wasn't popular enough. Or any of the other ways in which curation produces losers that will be at least somewhat arbitrary at the margins.
  - js2 4y ago
    You have two tabs: curated, and what's popular. Across all of the apps that I use to consume content, I only know one app that does this well: Criterion. Here, look: https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse https://www.criterionchannel.com/browse First thing to note. You can browse w/o having to create an account! You know what else Criterion does? Rather, what it doesn't do? It doesn't cut off the end of movies at the credits to spam me with what it thinks I want to watch next. There's no "you may like this other thing" based on my watch history. Rather, content is grouped already based on attributes of the movies, not based on my watch history. Criterion cares about movies and about me as a movie watcher, and it shows. I will pay Criterion $99/year till the end of time. The only thing I'd like them to improve is their streaming quality a bit. The video stream is okay, but none of the soundtracks are anything but stereo at best, even for movies they also sell as Blu-ray that have multi-channel DTS soundtracks.
    - odysseus 4y ago
      Criterion's app is nice but their movie selection is ... not great. I've watched a good portion of their films and less than half have turned out to be worth watching. But this is no surprise. Per this quora answer by Larry Wright ( https://qr.ae/pvlbgP https://qr.ae/pvlbgP ) - > Note that Criterion is a video distribution company. One may still wonder exactly whom makes the selections and with what credentials. Co-founder Robert Stein's background is in electronic publishing. Co-founders Joe Medjuck and Roger Smith produced such Criterion-unworthy fair as "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" and "C.C. and Company" (respectively). One must assume that they employ a crack team of film historians, critics and assorted movie geeks to curate their titles.
      - ghaff 4y ago
        Criterion has definitely been historically film classic/art house oriented. Which, even as a generally film buff, doesn't necessarily line up with what I want and definitely may not line up with a Saturday evening when I just want to relax.
      - js2 4y ago
throwaway1777 4y ago
Basically the same reason Amazon let marketplace become a slum. It’s an open platform and becomes a race to the bottom and full of junk and spam and whoever wants to pay for ads for their junk and spam.
- mikepurvis 4y ago
  Which is wild to say, because it really isn't a very open platform. It's just open enough to be a cesspool while being policed enough to piss off developers and regulators. So like... worst of both worlds. Nice.
rl3 4y ago
>Why did Apple let it become a slum? They gambled and lost.
- Smoosh 4y ago
  It appears that they can't stop the gambling.
numbsafari 4y ago
> Only if you open the App Store… Which I practically never do. Which also says a lot about Tim Cook's tenure. They are facing major regulatory scrutiny due to the App Store, in addition to it being a major knock on their brand, instead of it being the asset it once was. It's a leadership problem, for sure.
dilap 4y ago
Yeah, it's pretty incredible wasted opportunity. I think maybe 5ish or so years ago they did a big revamp which shifted the focus to obviously coordinated promos of big company stuff, and a more, I don't know, fluff editorial format, and it just become completely uninteresting as a discovery vector. It's absolutely outrageous that they run confusing ads next to search results -- probably millions of people getting confused and having a bad outcome because of that. Just straight up selling out a good user-experience for $. Shameful.
fasthands9 4y ago
Other than maybe games I'm not really sure why/how the app store itself would be useful for discovery? I think when most people got a phone it was novel to have an app for different purposes - but nowadays people only really want apps they will use. They already have dozens they like so something has to be offering something unique. And when it comes to finding a new app (like how I recently picked a new app for cycling) just seems like youtube and reddit forums are always going to have more info than an official marketplace.
leokennis 4y ago
I also remember trying out different new apps on the daily in 2010. If only those had costed $15 instead of $1, apps might not have become a race to the bottom where the only way to make a buck was to offer shady IAP or to release an uninspired boilerplate app filled to the brim with ads.
girvo 4y ago
They let it become a slum because they make bank off it. See their services revenue: it’s huge. Sad, but expected.

Petersipoi 4y ago

For the record, they have now stopped serving gambling ads. As well as a few other categories.

kjreact 4y ago

> Don’t forget Tim Cook also brought you crummy gambling ads next to gambling addiction recovery apps on your $1500 phone. This was obviously an oversight and the ads were halted when this came to light. Apple has never been good at dealing with ads, which is probably good since we don’t need a single company to takeover all markets.