Hmm well sometimes there is a free application and a pro application. The pro costs money and has some advanced features. The free serves as a demo. Sometimes the free is crippled in functionality.

I believe what matters is that the tool is needed and that it exists. If you market it outside the App Store well that is wise, and mouth to mouth works too.

The search does suck though. It goes further than keywords. If you look at the categories that is all there is. There is no further sorting while when I go to Freshmeat.net I can easily browse the big database on several aspects. Operating system, license -- you name it. But also the purpose of the software is more fine-grained.

For example, consider this: remote administration. You could have this under networking and include telnet, ssh, rdp, nx, citrix clients and servers in this section. As it grows you tag the software based on: 1a) client 1b) server 1c) proxy/other. 2a) OSI 2b) non-OSI 3a) protocol encrypted 3b) protocol non-encrypted 4a) proprietary protocol 4b) free protocol 5a) platform independent/cross platform 5b) windows 5c) *nix 5d) macosx 6a) ssh protocol 6b) telnet protocol 6c) rdp protocol 6d) vnc protocol 6e) other. The misc/other can be further expanded if demand is there. Right now the demand is there to allow users to find a useful tool for a specific purpose. I did this of the top of my head. I'm pretty sure Freshmeat.net and Debian are a good reference for this.

If its only there for compulsive buyers then I don't think the platform has a long-term sustainable purpose, nor will it ever increase in quality.