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This is a major app store problem that a lot of developers, particularly indie developers, have complained about, but Apple has seemingly ignored so far. It'd b

by swombat 12y ago

This is a major app store problem that a lot of developers, particularly indie developers, have complained about, but Apple has seemingly ignored so far. It'd be quite amusing if the answer turned out to be "just plug Pinterest's engine into the app store"... if it was that simple. Then again, it's hardly a hard problem - it's just one that Apple has done almost nothing significant about over the years. Practically any solution is better for developers (and users) than the current status quo.

michaelt 12y ago
Then again, it's hardly a hard problem Eh, I'd expect app discovery to be reasonably hard when you have a few hundred thousand developers and marketers incentivised to do anything they can to game the system.
- wozniacki 12y ago
  Funny you should say that ! I came across these images less than a day ago. Here is an image of what looks like a worker in China manipulating App store rankings using an array of some hundred 5Cs. http://i.imgur.com/EWyVh0X.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EWyVh0X.jpg And here is an image purportedly showing the prices for a Top 10 spot in Apple's App Store, achieved through ranking manipulation. http://i.imgur.com/TZuf1iP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/TZuf1iP.jpg [1] This disturbing image of a Chinese worker with close to 100 iPhones reveals how App Store rankings can be manipulated http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-shows-how-fake-app-store-rankings-are-made-2015-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-shows-how-fake-app-stor...
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Couldn't that be automated with jailbroken devices?
    - TeMPOraL 12y ago
      My totally uninformed guess is - it probably was, and then Apple/Google decided to implement human-detecting measures like monitoring tapping patterns, and the market switched to employing real humans.
  - TorKlingberg 12y ago
    They probably only affect the Chinese App Store. The stores are separate, and the Chinese one is censored.
    - c1sc0 12y ago
      I very much doubt those iOS devices are hooked up to Chinese credit cards. In fact, I bet that they are set up to cycle through a series of credit cards.
    - coralreef 12y ago
      They can just proxy through to the US and use US app store accounts.
pjmlp 12y ago
It is no different from any other market. In any shop I go to, there are endless equivalent products to choose from. The one I end up buying depends on price, marketing, visibility in media, word of mouth and so on. Selling stuff is hard.
fidotron 12y ago
It is brutally hard, because competition is intense, but I'd struggle to say it's in any way unfair. When complaining about the discovery problem generally the developer believes they deserve special attention, but so does everyone else. Back when we used to sell stuff via operator (carriers) portals people would still use tricks like starting game names with the letter A to appear at the top of the lists, so attempts to game any system are not a new phenomenon. Ultimately you have to play the game you find yourself in.
- bad_user 12y ago
  Besides an Android, I also own an iPad and an older iPhone. As a user, compared to Google Play, the iTunes App Store really sucks. Besides the discoverability issue, the Apple's store isn't even showing me reviews because Apple is limiting those reviews to reviews of locals only and in my country there aren't that many iPhone users that would be interested in the apps that I am interested in or that care to contribute reviews. And basically I end up installing junk in the hope that it's any good, or do searches on Google for recommendations - oh, the irony.

by swombat 12y ago

michaelt 12y ago

Then again, it's hardly a hard problem Eh, I'd expect app discovery to be reasonably hard when you have a few hundred thousand developers and marketers incentivised to do anything they can to game the system.

wozniacki 12y ago
Funny you should say that ! I came across these images less than a day ago. Here is an image of what looks like a worker in China manipulating App store rankings using an array of some hundred 5Cs. http://i.imgur.com/EWyVh0X.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EWyVh0X.jpg And here is an image purportedly showing the prices for a Top 10 spot in Apple's App Store, achieved through ranking manipulation. http://i.imgur.com/TZuf1iP.jpg http://i.imgur.com/TZuf1iP.jpg [1] This disturbing image of a Chinese worker with close to 100 iPhones reveals how App Store rankings can be manipulated http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-shows-how-fake-app-store-rankings-are-made-2015-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-shows-how-fake-app-stor...
- walterbell 12y ago
  Couldn't that be automated with jailbroken devices?
  - TeMPOraL 12y ago
    My totally uninformed guess is - it probably was, and then Apple/Google decided to implement human-detecting measures like monitoring tapping patterns, and the market switched to employing real humans.
- TorKlingberg 12y ago
  They probably only affect the Chinese App Store. The stores are separate, and the Chinese one is censored.
  - c1sc0 12y ago
    I very much doubt those iOS devices are hooked up to Chinese credit cards. In fact, I bet that they are set up to cycle through a series of credit cards.
  - coralreef 12y ago
    They can just proxy through to the US and use US app store accounts.

pjmlp 12y ago

It is no different from any other market. In any shop I go to, there are endless equivalent products to choose from. The one I end up buying depends on price, marketing, visibility in media, word of mouth and so on. Selling stuff is hard.

fidotron 12y ago

It is brutally hard, because competition is intense, but I'd struggle to say it's in any way unfair. When complaining about the discovery problem generally the developer believes they deserve special attention, but so does everyone else. Back when we used to sell stuff via operator (carriers) portals people would still use tricks like starting game names with the letter A to appear at the top of the lists, so attempts to game any system are not a new phenomenon. Ultimately you have to play the game you find yourself in.

bad_user 12y ago
Besides an Android, I also own an iPad and an older iPhone. As a user, compared to Google Play, the iTunes App Store really sucks. Besides the discoverability issue, the Apple's store isn't even showing me reviews because Apple is limiting those reviews to reviews of locals only and in my country there aren't that many iPhone users that would be interested in the apps that I am interested in or that care to contribute reviews. And basically I end up installing junk in the hope that it's any good, or do searches on Google for recommendations - oh, the irony.