State of the Apps: Approaching 10,000 Apps and Avoiding Rejection Traps
While many sites are reporting that the iPhone App Store has hit 10,000, MacRumors says it's not quite there yet, but will be soon:
While several sites have reported that 10,000 iPhone Apps have been released into the App Store, the actual number of active iPhone apps that can be downloaded is about 9,676 as of today's count. The discrepancy comes from the fact that many apps have been removed from the App Store for various reasons (trademark infringement, discontinued apps, pulled and released).
With approximately a quarter of those being games, and a tenth each for entertainment and utilities.
Want to get your App up as part of the next 10,000? Erica Sadun has some tips for you. What are they in brief?
Keep your icon consistent throughout the various sizes, don't link to web sites you haven't deployed yet, don't ever include any mention of "beta", and do not reference forbidden accessories (like a mic for the iPod Touch).
Check out the full article on App Store Lessons for much more by way of explanation and example.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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I think there needs to be WAY more rules and requirements in order for apps to be approved. It's Thunderdome!
There needs to be way more explicit rules for entrance into the App Store. While many devs I know would prefer some background ability, most of them are ok with the rule, because it is spelled out clearly as a restriction before they start. When they know what they are getting into, they can plan.
The arbitrary nature of rejections, on the other hand - competing with as-yet-unannounced Apple features, the same app being rejected once and then accepted unchanged on resubmission, and so on, make many developers reluctant to commit. In a store where one single button dialer app counts as 4 listed apps, how many of those 10k apps are trivial or duplicative functions, insyead of apps where the developer had to take a significant upfront risk - the kind that can truly advance or be selling points for the platform themselves? The point is not to trash the apps or the App store - Apple deserves kudos for smashing the carrier model, and there are some outstanding programs there - but to note the danger amidst the celebration. Even as the iPhone is riding high, some apps of note will not be developed, or developed for other platfroms, because those developers will not commit the time or money when it could be for naught, after those costs have been sunk, for at best ill-defined reasons. So kudos to Apple for reaching this milestone, but please, as a mostly happy iPhone user, I am begging you, work with your developers; do not repeat the Macintosh mistake of pushing developers away until an otherwise inferior platform overtakes and swamps you.
(Posted from my iPhone, so please forgive any typos
)
Hmmm....so we have reviewed about 1.1% of the apps. Better get busy!
go app store!!
Gah! How long is it going to take before Documents to Go is published???
What's wrong wtb an iPod touch mic???? Apple makes one!!! Jeezzz iPhone blog, do your research
Well said! Here is an example that users want and Apple has been holding up forever. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/mobicip