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

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

Looking at apple's AppStore, IMHO the worst offenders are those 'single app with individually packaged content', for example: stand alone ebooks. Some of them DO introduce extra functionalities per book, but a majority of them can and should be sold as a book engine with the ebooks separated.

One explanation of this phenomenon: by packaging the books individually, the seller doesn't have to setup their own ebook store/module distirbution system. Apple addressed this need by introducing the ability to sell 'in-app modules/content' from the last OS/appstore update.

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by schettj (Post 659692)

What the hundreds of thousands of apps DO show is a thriving third party application ecosystem.

Having 10, 20, or 100 apps that do the same thing gives the user multiple choices - perhaps one does it better, or is cheaper, or faster, or uses less battery, or whatever.

So on the one hand, indeed in order to accomplish function X you only need one application (or even a part of a full featured application) to accomplish task Y, if you have a choice of several apps you (as a user) feel empowered by choice. You (as a developer) can dog-pile onto whatever the hot "function" is this week and try to make money. You (as a device manufacture) can proudly point to your app store/market place/software catalog and say "this is a thriving platform with lots of choices for users, and lots of ways for developers to make money."

And like it or not, that's the world we live in.

IMHO the main problem is not to have hundred of apps doing the same thing : this is unavoidable and it gives choice to the user (sometimes a bit too much, but I prefer to have too much choice than not enough).

The point is the number of apps is artificially high because every e-book and RSS feed is counted as an app, and many websites have an app which is no more than an HTML page adapted to the poor resolution of the phone.

AppStore's succes has proven that a good marketing strategy has turned a weakness (poor web browser experience) and a non-sense (one app per RSS/book) into a fake superiority (most people believe it).

We need to find a way to communicate about these facts in order to bust these myths Apple has insidiously implanted in people's mind.

We could of course try to play the same game as Apple and create thousand of useless apps (apps that are just a shorcut to "evince /path/author-title.pdf" for example), but I don't think it would lead to success. Only Apple has this strange power to generate enthousiasm with stupid/useless things, many times I've thought that if any other company has done the same thing, everybody would have laughed at them). The only way to fight them is to break their marketing strategy so that people realize how crappy are all these appstores.

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

I believe in the open-source strategy. Everyone can add to a project or make a fork. Thus no need to start from scratch. To many apps will make the choice noisy. How will you be able to know what app are the better for you? I remembered that problem while i was using windows. It could take hours to find the right program. One thing why the Ubuntu/Maemo/Debian way is so superior to anything els.

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

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...

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

app count, the megapixels of app stores...

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by n-mi (Post 660119)

We could of course try to play the same game as Apple and create thousand of useless apps (apps that are just a shorcut to "evince /path/author-title.pdf" for example), but I don't think it would lead to success. Only Apple has this strange power to generate enthousiasm with stupid/useless things, many times I've thought that if any other company has done the same thing, everybody would have laughed at them). The only way to fight them is to break their marketing strategy so that people realize how crappy are all these appstores.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZzb42s3y4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx7v815bYUw

these two videos are very very telling.

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

i loved the apple advert (in the uk at least) that demonstrated an app that let you unlock your car doors, flash the lights and toot the horn, all from the iphone! they didn't mention it only worked on specific cars from a specific short-term car hire company.

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

Recently I've watched an documentary about apps called "Planet of the Apps A Handheld Revolution" I cant post the link here but I'm sure you can find it by Googling

If anyone watched it, share what you think about it :)

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

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.

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sopwith (Post 660241)

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.

Interesting premise-- and one that supports the ultimate triumph of an open source approach.

Methinks Nokia is wise to be patient in this space.