maemo.org - Talk - Less is more: the 200′000 apps myth

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Re: Less is more: the 200′000 apps myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luz (Post 660153)

Thing is for me, a lot of i-phone apps I have seen, are just marketed to sound amazing. my mate has an app that lists real ale pubs on screen, based on gps position, you could do the same on N900 by checking your gps on ovi and then getting the info from the CAMRA website. other ones like work out who owes what on a resteraunt bill, I would use a calculator!!! Most of these apps are style over substance from what I have seen... thats why I went for N900 over i-phone. Just wish we had more made for platform games like angry birds... thats where n900 lacks, but we have emus etc...

Herein lies the main difference between the swath of users out there and most of the users of this forum.

They like having a gadget, they may splurge out for the latest and greatest in handheld technology, but they don't necessarily enjoy spending their whole day tinkering with it. For them, all this is just a means to an end; they value a quick-and-simple tool to quickly get a list of answers for their questions much more than a robust tool that can do so much more (but they may have to spend more time to tinker on).
They have other things to spend their time and effort on.

I'd imagine with an open and uncensored apps market, this kind of apps will only grow in quantity and there's little anyone can do about it.

Well ok, maybe not:

CAMRA usecase: this can be handled by html5's geolocation support in the future. Otherwise, I think it's a fair piece of app to shorten the 3-4 steps you need to do through your browser and Ovi to a 1 click app. Especially when you're real thirsty :D

Tips calculator: Yeah I gotta agree with you on this. This is just a reflection of our society, especially its poor academic standard.

Re: Less is more: the 200′000 apps myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sopwith (Post 660241)

IMO, very soon the large number of apps for Apple's devices will become a deterrent for developers. For example, imagine the following situation: Android phones gradually take over in popularity (signs of this are already here), however there are still fewer apps for Android. A developer can reach at least as many potential customers if coding for Android, however the new app will have to compete with many more pre-existing apps at the Apple store, and will be likely to be lost in the crowd. So it would make more sense to code for Android first (or exclusively).

What I expect will happen eventually is that, as soon as certain core functionalities are provided by a few hundred apps, any additional fluff will not matter. People will get tired of it, and app stores will lose their current appeal, remaining a useful necessity but without the fierce competition we witness today.

A few reasons that Apple's AppStore is the biggest one:

1. It's the first of its kind (headstart, most well known)
2. It still has the most paying customers (payment system on hand, credit check ok, willing to part with their monies)
3. It still has the highest 'prestige' among the appstores (whatever that means)
4. It's on Steve Jobs' marketing boat. Has a much higher chance of (free) publicity than other competing app stores.

As long as these are not trumped by other app stores, then anyone making a mobile app will still -have- to consider Apple's AppStore in their target list.

PS: Stop comparing or trying to make sense of these app stores with the logic of an oss repository. They work under a different logic.

Re: Less is more: the 200′000 apps myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ysss (Post 660256)

Yeah.. you can't compare those to the awesomeness of an oss repo. Thats what Nokia are doing right here. While Apple will continue to be a lesser and closed machine. Sure as a phone it will suffice and that might be enough for the casual user. But in the end people want freedom. I know a couple of co-workers who will change their mark next time they are buying after have showed what my N900 can do. So the greatness of a big app store is a myth.

Re: Less is more: the 200′000 apps myth

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlMehdi (Post 660297)

Heheh i'll try to ignore the biased tone there ;)

imho there's no better one. It is what it is. For those that want to make money, then obviously marketplace is better. Arguably, for those that are looking or innovation, marketplace is better too, because that's what the suppliers are forced to do when the market is saturated. Whether the direction of the innovation is good or bad.. Well that's a whole other can of worm too.