19 Replies Last post: Nov 7, 2009 1:15 PM by channelview   1 2 Previous Next
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Fourthrail Diamond 708 posts since
Mar 30, 2007

Nov 5, 2009 11:35 AM

3 Reasons Apple's App Store Will Hit 200,000 Apps In 2010

In only 16 months, the App Store has far surpassed any and all competitors for the number, breadth and depth of consumer and professional based applications for its iPhone. Read the full article at Channelweb via http://www.crn.com/mobile/221600433.

Cloud Newbie 2 posts since
Oct 22, 2009

You forgot one important fact.  In order for the app store to grow to 200K the developers must be able to make money.  I don't think this is happening now.  I know that I have installed lots apps but only use NeuroMobile and few others regularly.  Most of the other apps are either free or don't stand the test of time.  You should calculate how many paid downloads it would take to support a development community that produces 200K apps.  It seems unlikely that there is even enough paid downloads to support current 100K apps. 

Brian Kraemer Gold 65 posts since
Jun 3, 2008

It'd also be interesting to take a look at how many apps are being developed by companies that are, essentially, just part of the marketing outreach. The Starbucks app? Gap app? Even an app like Bank of America is free to download and is really just about extending the reach of the company.

Gr8LakeCruiser Newbie 1 posts since
Jun 28, 2007

Impressive by raw numbers, content is what really counts which I would argue is a very small subset of the 100K.

stefn Newbie 2 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

The App Store is not a moneymaker? Really?

 

I own about 400 apps at the cost of about $200US. I load maybe 100 at a time. I buy maybe 2 a week; let's say I will buy $50 a year. I keep all 400 in iTunes 'cuz I like to see what the revisions look like. Think of it as shopping behavior. If my Touch gets a camera, I will buy maybe $100 of apps next year. Excluding Kindle titles, which I also buy. If iTunes sells books, add another $50. If the Touch gets GPS, I will buy another $100. And I might get a Touch for my granddaughter this year, like I did for my wife last year.

 

And the game just goes on and on and on. Get used to it.

RobWright Gold 42 posts since
Oct 19, 2009

@ Gr8LakeCruiser

 

Agreed. It's largely a bunch of frivolous crapware that folks download because they're free. The only app I use on a regular basis is Fieldrunners. Best game ever.

RattyUK Newbie 3 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

Funny that. I have a friend who has cleared quarter of a million dollars so far. So he's not very inclined to keep developing for the platform. So Cloud, sit in the basement and troll forums all you like. Other people are making money.

channelview Newbie 5 posts since
Nov 2, 2009

Out of 100,000 apps only less than 3,000 apps are actually downloaded and installed by iPhone consumers as pointed out by recent studies.  The rest of the 97,000 apps are for the most part useless and ignored by consumers. 

 

The longer they sit idle and unused, the less support to no support consumers should expect from independent Developers who created the app to begin with.  That's because independent Developers prefer to focus on apps that are succesful and shove support for other apps at the very bottom of the queue to manage time and limited resources effectively.

 

There are probably less than 5,000 real apps developed in it's native programming code and later compiled.  The remaining apps really aren't apps but web pages that are built using HTML/Javascript/CSS (no code compiling required).  If you accept webpages as apps, then consider the Internet already having billions of apps available.

 

As some comments suggest, iPhone should be awarded for having the "Most Ignored Apps" in the smartphone market!  All 97,000 apps that have become just a waste fo time for developers. 

 

And if Apple wants to continue to approve another 97,000 ignored apps by 2010, that would be awesome! They'll beat their own record of 97,000 ignored apps to 194,000!    LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

samiup Newbie 1 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

3 reasons why i don't care :

 

1- app store is limited to whatever some business man at Apple decides is good for me. i wanna decide for myself !

 

2-most of the Apps are useless if not pathetic yet expensive, so there is no point in bragging by numbers.

 

3-DROID is here and is no doubt a superior more open product

RattyUK Newbie 3 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

@Channelview

 

"The remaining apps really aren't apps but web pages that are built using HTML/Javascript/CSS (no code compiling required).  If you accept webpages as apps, then consider the Internet already having billions of apps available."

 

Nah, this is rubbish. Even the crap apps that read RSS feed are actual apps. An app that is for sale on the App store is an actual app. If you produced an app using html/javascript/css it wouldn't use the iPhone SDK and therefore wouldn't be accepted.

 

WebOS however, might be confusing you.

 

The only concept of the sort of thing you speak of was pre OS2 iPhone. Things have moved on - I suggest you do your homework before spouting nonsense such as this.

RattyUK Newbie 3 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

@samiup

 

"1- app store is limited to whatever some business man at Apple decides is good for me. i wanna decide for myself !"

I am pretty sure the business men at Apple are doing, er, business. Pretty sure that most of the approval process is by young people following orders.

 

"2-most of the Apps are useless if not pathetic yet expensive, so there is no point in bragging by numbers."

Cherry picking the worst case scenario in all cases. IF Apple, for example can build a point of sale processing machine around the ipod Touch which will read credit cards and take signatures then it will pretty much do anything. Please rave about what it can't do - but before you do look into it because you are spouting rubbish.

 

"3-DROID is here and is no doubt a superior more open product "

Yes according to most reviews people have described it as the best phone on Verizon. Note they did not say the best phone, they said it was a pretty good second to the iPhone. Which must be pretty damn galling if you are trying to get people to buy your phone - not that Verizon didn't bring it upon itself as their advertising pretty much set the campaign. BTW how is the camera on the Droid? Apparently 5 mega pixels - but it takes like 8-10 seconds to take a shot. Way to go.

NormM Newbie 3 posts since
Nov 5, 2009
11. Nov 5, 2009 4:32 PM in response to: channelview
Re: get a clue

A lot of ignorant comments here, written by people who clearly don't have an iPhone or iPod touch.

 

You need to think of the app store as being like a bookstore.  THE bookstore: most of the "books" being written in the world appear only here.  While it's true that there's a lot of crap, can you really argue that the world only needs a few thousand books?  Or that we already have enough books?  The app store currently includes about 20,000 natively-written games -- these are the hottest sellers.  I've never been a casual gamer, but I have a couple of dozen on my phone and enjoy using them.

 

The store includes apps specifically tailored to the research I do and lets me keep my papers and research references with me at all times: not something that would appear in the first few thousand apps on another store.  It includes image processing apps that do more than you'd think the iPhone camera can do, such as capture and process images that are too close for my older iPhone's fixed focus camera (e.g., to do comparison shopping using barcodes, or just capture a sudoku puzzle from a book or screen and help you solve it if you like, etc.)   It has musical instruments, apps that let you sing like t-pain, apps to test your hearing.

 

It has wonderful ereader apps, including Kindle and B&N (that let you buy and read almost any new book instantly) and great free-book readers like Stanza: I have 300 of my favorite scifi books with me at all times in Stanza (I didn't have to scan them from my bookshelf either -- most I just downloaded as text files or torrents, since I already own them).   It has apps to help me tune my guitar, listen to internet radio, find a place to eat, call a cab, learn about astronomy, control my computer at home from anywhere, remote control my TiVo, exchange ecards, play tricks on my friends, etc. etc.

 

The app store is an attractive software marketplace for both users and developers -- they both get a good deal and have an enjoyable experience.  There's never been anything like this before, and those who refuse to see this can (as someone eloquently said in another forum), ride a donkey back to the 10th century.

RobWright Gold 42 posts since
Oct 19, 2009

@NormM

 

You make some good points. There are certainly valuable apps. I've never argued there weren't. But I have a hard time picturing myself riding the subway to work and reading the "Dune" chronicles on a two-inch screen and rapping to "I'm Sprung" in between studying the nature of elliptical orbits for celestial bodies. But hey, that's just me.

jabberwolf Newbie 9 posts since
Nov 2, 2009

Really?

 

So while most make absolutely no money on their apps... it will grow?

Sorry to burse your bubble but iphone sales have peaked along with their fanboyism and propaganda.

 

Next in line flash apps in the 100,000s that work on many phones, not just the iphone.

NormM Newbie 3 posts since
Nov 5, 2009

@RobWright says, "I have a hard time picturing myself riding the subway to work and reading the "Dune" chronicles on a two-inch screen".

 

In landscape orientation, the screen is about as wide as the text in a pocket book.  In some apps, such as Instapaper, the text scrolls at a speed that depends on how much you tilt from a position you set, so you don't even have to turn pages.

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