I just want to explain myself here. My most basic complaint is not that there are a lot of junk apps, nor am I suggesting that Apple remove them from the App Store. I'm merely pointing out that it's a problem, and causes problems for legitimate developers in the same way that newsletter clutter makes it hard to read emails from human beings when your inbox has 10,000 emails.
I think this would not be an issue if the App Store's search functionality was not piss-poor, and if Apple had better discovery mechanisms in place for people to find the gems, which often are not present on the top charts. Hopefully the Chomp acquisition will help with that.
The other thing I want to point out is that I'm not posting the list as a current list of complaints, more as a way to point out how sad it is that 3 years later, only two of these complaints have been addressed: rate-on-delete, and outrageous review times.
Sorry, you invalidated your entire article with the last paragraph, which this has nothing to do with how the app store is managed and everything to do with the axe you have to grind with the very concept of a successful corporate enterprise.
"The App Store’s biggest flaw, at the end of the day, is that it is not a free market. It is not a meritocracy, and app success is slave to the whim of a corporate overlord that changes it mind without explanation more often than a 5 year old."
If I were Apple, after reading that I wouldn't give you the time of day.
>I just want to explain myself here. My most basic complaint is not that there are a lot of junk apps, nor am I suggesting that Apple remove them from the App Store. I'm merely pointing out that it's a problem, and causes problems for legitimate developers in the same way that newsletter clutter makes it hard to read emails from human beings when your inbox has 10,000 emails.
I agree that it's a problem too, but I consider it to be a problem akin to democracy, i.e it doesn't always lead to the best result, but the alternative is even worse.
I think this would not be an issue if the App Store's search functionality was not piss-poor, and if Apple had better discovery mechanisms in place for people to find the gems, which often are not present on the top charts.
I think a lot of people make those decisions based on third party reviews and app review sites, though.
With 500,000 apps it would be very difficult to do something about it, considering that great masses of people might even like shitty apps over some gems (like great masses of people prefer the latest bullshit blockbuster over Inception, or NCIS over FireFly).
A solution would be for apple to allow 3rd party apps and crowdsource ratings well, then have an app store tied to the warranty that contained things that apple was happy with.
I just want to explain myself here. My most basic complaint is not that there are a lot of junk apps, nor am I suggesting that Apple remove them from the App Store. I'm merely pointing out that it's a problem, and causes problems for legitimate developers in the same way that newsletter clutter makes it hard to read emails from human beings when your inbox has 10,000 emails.
I think this would not be an issue if the App Store's search functionality was not piss-poor, and if Apple had better discovery mechanisms in place for people to find the gems, which often are not present on the top charts. Hopefully the Chomp acquisition will help with that.
The other thing I want to point out is that I'm not posting the list as a current list of complaints, more as a way to point out how sad it is that 3 years later, only two of these complaints have been addressed: rate-on-delete, and outrageous review times.