Its Going To Be Very Hard For Others To Catch App Store : Jobs
The largest application store in the world, Apple’s App Store(more info) has recorded more than 1.5 billion downloads in just one year. According to the company there are now more than 65,000 applications available in 77 countries and an army of 100,000 iPhone (more info) developers. In order to mark this occasion Apple CEO Steve Jobs(more info) had a simple and blunt message to give to its rivals . Its goes like this.
The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality. With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.
This message is indirectly for RIM, Nokia, Android and Palm all trying to replicate the App store. The App Store surpassed one billion downloads less than three months ago and its download rate is accelerating continuosly. Apple also said it has shipped more than 40 million devices –iPod Touches and iPhones including new iPhone 3GS that runs apps from App Store. Today Verizon also jumps on App Store Bandwagon, announcing the launch of its own application store for smart-phones. But getting a large number of developers and creating a software is not a easy task. Catch the App Store if you can!
Follow-Up
VentureBeat : How soon will the AppStore hit 2 billion downloads? by Dean Takahashi
Mashable! : 1.5 million iPhone Have Been Downloaded by Adam Ostrow
ReadWriteWeb : How Did it Get so Popular? Apple’s App Store Hits 1.5 Billion Downloads by Frederic Lardinois
Silicon Alley Insider : iPhone App Store Download Cross 1.5 Billion In First Year (AAPL) by Preethi Dumpala
MacRumors : Apple Announces First-Year App Store Success: 1.5 Billion Downloads, 65,000 Apps by Eric Slivka
However there are problems with the iTunes App store that could result in a swing to other phones such as the Palm Pre, Blackberry or Android. Specifically, apps are all rated by the same ranking criteria regardless of price – number of downloads. This results in pressure for developers to lower their prices to boost their ranking. For example, Hero of Sparta was a $10 app, but the developer lowered the price to 99 cents and went to the top of the charts. They are doing fine, but small developers then get pushed off the bottom of 100 app chart and others never make it on. Basically it is similar to forcing all items for sale to be priced for the 99 cent Store. The problem is that many developers are not able to earn enough money to recoup their expenses, let alone make a profit. And so they will head for greener pastures and there will be a collapse in the iTunes store like the Real Estate Market collapse unless something is done. It is a fact that the average price of an app is dropping.
Basically, what we have in the iTunes app store is a pricing landslide as developers attempt to get public attention by getting onto the top 100 list. The average price of apps is dropping–for charts and statistics, see http://Yappler.com/Apple-iPhone-App-Store-Stats/
A partial answer is a multi-tiered system where $10 apps are compared to other $10 apps, $5 apps to $5 apps, etc. If a developers app is at #20 on the $10 list, then he won’t have to reduce the price to $1. And that will provide more breathing room at the bottom for small developers.
Currently the app store values the BMW level apps and the Fiat level apps by exactly the same measure: how many were sold, and there is no Road and Track magazine or local BMW dealer to explain the difference.
An additional solution is to beef up the search capability on iTune, and give it some of the power of Amazon.com. We don’t see all products listed in one heap on Amazon because they have many categories. Perhaps Apple needs to do away with the top 100 overall list completely and have many sub lists like Amazon.
The iTunes App store is a big success now, but developers will start to leave soon unless changes are made. I am far from the first to bring up the situation. For more posts on the subject, search Google for app store broken.
I think right now the others are just slugging it out for 2nd place. It might be a while, but with the way the tech winds change, some day some other device will be the “big thing.” It will be something that is a big step ahead from the iPhone, just like the iPhone was a big advancement of devices like the Palm Treo. I think then and only then will we see something pass the App Store.
@evan: agreed!!its tough to surpass App store market…but its not IMMPOSSIBLE:)
(Twitter: @ ksantani )
says:
@Doug Hogg Thank you for giving in-depth analysis of the app world. Its eye-opener for all of us. But removing the Top 100 list from App store will hurt users the most. Apple has to devise some other plans for providing space to small developers.
@Evan @urvashi In tech world you have to keep evolving yourself in order to stay ahead. Apple is not going to stay quiet and it will not easily allow anybody to pass it.
The AppStore isn’t perfect, but really, did you expect that? It is the first, and everyone thinks they know how to do it better. It’s hard for developers in some sense but very liberating in others, there is no perfect solution.
The AppStore is the delivery vehicle, without it those ’small’ developers wouldn’t have a chance.
Marketing and advertising is another service all together.
It will take time for all things to settle and the real pattern of what is best will appear, right now far too many things are changing dynamically to determine what is or is not working for ‘developers’.
Just remember what the world was like before Apple introduced the AppStore…..