Desastrous changes for indie developers in new App Store?

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

I’m surprised to see that noone has brought up the changes in the iOS 6 App Store, which seem to make it almost impossible for indie developers to market their app without putting in much more effort than used to be necessary (no more “what’s new” list, no more categories, and only 1 app visible at a time when searching).

There’s a lot of discussion on several forums about this, like on touch arcade:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=2450601

Too bad, but Apple understandably probably just goes for maximum revenue by pushing the big blockbusters at the expense of smaller indie developers. [import]uid: 70134 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 331343[/import]

#2

Yup, very bad news. And we all know the ‘New and Noteworthy’ sections will continue to be full of 2-star apps by big companies who probably have a personal contact at apple.

Never mind that three of the biggest hits on the store in the last year, Draw Something, Songpop and Logos Quiz were by small-ish developers with little or no marketing budget.

While we’re at it, why is there a ‘top grossing’ section on the app store? What has that got to do with anything? [import]uid: 93133 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125274[/import]

#3

It is a bizarre change to say the least - seen some people on the linked forum leaving Apple with feedback on the change - probably a pretty worthwhile idea. [import]uid: 33275 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125280[/import]

#4

I was actually logging in to bring up a discussion on this(though I wouldn’t have used the new user forum). My first experience with using the new app store was on Sunday when I wanted to find a new tower defense game( have a weakness for them). After a couple of minutes, which is a long time when you think about it, i gave up. The best way to comparison I can make is if you used Google on a super slow internet connection except Google now only gives you 1 result per page. Also, you can’t move to the next page until the one you are on is 100 percent loaded. Going through 500+ apps would take well over 5 minutes of solid swiping.

Just from the consumer side I see the whole thing as a big failure. Not being able to browse the efficiently is a huge problem. At most the new card view system should be an option you can easily switch back and forth from on the search result window. Even then, the list view should be default.

From the indie side i see it as ending my iOS days if they don’t make some dramatic changes. What’s the point of releasing new apps if the user essentially doesn’t have access to them? Sad says.

The other huge problem is removing the what’s new section. The bulk of my downloads(meaning apps I downloaded/bought) came from this. A lot of real gems pass by unnoticed and the what’s new gives the users a chance to catch them. Compounded with the new search card view it literally is impossible to find a new app that is not endorsed by Apple.

The above is also annoying the horrible performance/crashing issues. I can usually forgive those as with any major update bugs happen and I can see those being fixed.

Really, I think iOS6 was Apple’s attempt to compete with Microsoft’s long history of operating system failures. What’s even more ironic is if I had submitted an app of this quality the Apple reviewers would have rejected it =p.
EDIT:

Also, I implore you to send feedback to apple. Your are better off pointing out the problems as a consumer than a developer. Apple really could careless about the developer point of view. Here is the link. http://www.apple.com/feedback/ [import]uid: 147305 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125282[/import]

#5

still search on ipad works like before, so there is still is potential.

now there are several new options indies can use like like / share apps directly from the appstore and facebook twitter integration with game center.

this is big advantage if properly used to get exposure outside rankings.

Tom [import]uid: 111283 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125291[/import]

#6

This really sucks, having to rely only on external marketing and exposure. There’s no really way to get our new apps seen beside search (which is very hard to get exposure from with the new design that makes scrolling so difficult).

I think everyone agrees this is a big mistake and we should all send feedback to make a change. As @ budershank said, it’s better to submit a complaint as a customer, because they will care more.

I just submitted a feedback telling them it’s a bad idea for us users not to have a way to see what’s published daily.

Let’s all do that and hope for a change: http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

[import]uid: 70003 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125295[/import]

#7

Writing to apple will give you nothing !! this was setup long time ago with publishers. What is best for indie developers is to unite and use social media to get external exposure.

in new iOS6 making 5 reviews is nothing, they are not even shown under categories and are less important in SEO

What indies can do is:

  • likes fb page
  • re-tweets important news
  • subscribe youtube and make likes comments
  • conversation on toucharcade
  • share apps from game center level

This is not about indie against indie, this is about indie against big fishes. This is not about gaining exposure inside appstore because in ios6 its impossible without $$$ but to gain OUTSIDE of it.

…but probably most indies just DON’T CARE about it and still doing the same old mistake all over again working on next stupid fart app or something like this … and this is the biggest problem not some stupid iOS update.

Tom [import]uid: 111283 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125297[/import]

#8

?
I go into the new App Store and scroll down, I see "New and Noteworthy as a scrollable Icon list.
I then go to Categories -> Games -> All Games, and see “New and Noteworthy” right below the main banner. I then try simply Arcade, and see “New”, “What’s Hot”, “Paid”, “Free” categories. All as horizontal scrollers. When I click See All on any of them, I get a vertical scrolling list as before.

This is on a new iPhone 5, with the new App Store. I feel I’m missing something, I only see the App Card view when using search, and I see a higher variance in categories than before (More distinct lists, can help discoverability as you are more likely to be higher ranked in at least one of the lists).

Edit: So I clicked Charts, and see the lack of “New”. Don’t browse through Charts, go to “Featured” and then either start there or hit the back button to go to “Categories” [import]uid: 134101 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125298[/import]

#9

N&N -> only for larger publishers or very lucky indie
New -> check update or release date this have nothing to do with date !

search on iphone is a problem, but on ipad is IMHO better when you have nice icon / image
there no list with release date in categories, this is a killer for no marketing apps

Tom [import]uid: 111283 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125299[/import]

#10

Nice discussion and great point shown here but anyway if it depends on Apple to change things, well, you can forget so.

Apple does not care about what they do not want to take care, and IMO, they do not need indie developers as much as we think they need and so, our indie`s path was cut now and will be like this or worse.

And am not negative, opposite of this but Apple only care about what they want, finish.
Rodrigo. [import]uid: 89165 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125302[/import]

#11

I’m seeing a “Release Date” row for individual Categories (Action, Puzzle, Board, etc…). I think the store is going to take some adjustment as it’s navigation just feels really different compared to previous, with a lot more sub-lists that you can browse through.

But you are correct in that it looks like Apple is trying to add more Curation and Control on their side to expose what people see, and therefore purchase, which is going to benefit those that lobby Apple(Big Publishers with deep pockets and contacts)more than 1-man Indie teams. This is slightly contrasted with having more lists to potentially be featured on, but not enough to balance it out.

Apple doesn’t strictly feature big publishers, and will sometimes ignore their requests when the game doesn’t fit their standards, or genre of the week to present, and seems to be willing to promote any game that catches their eye through the approval process, at least on the genre lists, but I agree this will widen the already HUGE gap between the iOS 1% and all the other apps not featured. [import]uid: 134101 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125303[/import]

#12

“Writing to apple will give you nothing”

Sorry, that’s not fact. While it may end up happening that way in this case, Apple has changed things in the past based on feedback.

Telling them you don’t like something is ABSOLUTELY the right thing to do. Otherwise, you really have no reason to moan about it. Give them a chance to do the “right thing” as you see it.

Jay [import]uid: 9440 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125338[/import]

#13

+1 to J. A. I was somewhat disgusted at the instant ‘Apple won’t change anything’ attitude =p [import]uid: 147305 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125341[/import]

#14

Guys, that is good if i am wrong. I would be very happy.

Now we need only talk to BoD in apple and things will be ok. Anybody lives near Cupertino ? :slight_smile:

But seriously maybe we should start by reposing such articles to inform CUSTOMERS what is going on:

http://www.lightwoodgames.com/blog/2012/09/everything-thats-wrong-with-the-app-store-in-ios-6/#.UGC5c6Qj5rX

Tom [import]uid: 111283 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125345[/import]

#15

Kind of sad that I feel unfortunate about one of my apps being published today. The only way to find it is by searching for it’s exact name. I’m sure it will do well. [import]uid: 147305 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125349[/import]

#16

Moving this to Off Topic - It is more appropriate and should be seen by more users this way. Like others above I would implore everyone who reads this to voice their feedback using the link already provided in post #5.

Whether or not a company listens to feedback is up to them but the idea of not voicing your opinion because you don’t believe it will make a difference is a slippery slope leading only to stagnation and indifference, which ultimately is worse. (Purely my personal two cents.) [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125365[/import]

#17

Err… the paid/free section on the featured-categories pages i guess is the new ‘new release’ section. I think ntero kind of mentioned that but I thought he was confused/wrong(no offense). I was checking out the app store again because i like being angry and saw that my recently released app, Anagram Bounce was on the feature -> category -> games -> word(wow typing all that out makes me realize how buried it is). When I saw these rows before I assumed they were an extended featured/new noteworthy section.

Anyways, that alleviates the above concern i posted in comment 2 i guess. If they can do something about the new search engine view i will be back to a happy camper! [import]uid: 147305 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125372[/import]

#18

Is it me or they kept making changes in the last 24h?

I checked like 12h ago and I’m sure all these sections were not there, but here’s how it is from what I can see now.

There’s the section “New” (Featured -> Categories -> Games -> Subsection -> New) where aren’t the newest released games, but some kind of featured ones published in the last weeks.

There’s “What’s hot”.

And the new released games are at:
Featured -> Categories -> Games -> Subsection -> Free or Paid (They are ordered by date, with some misclassifications)

If anyone can double check and confirm, we got this solved.

Edit: I read what @budershank said after posting this. So I guess we figured it out.

[import]uid: 70003 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125424[/import]

#19

i like new appstore on ipad, its much better IMHO and release date is a combobox on top of the screen so its just deeper

on the other hand iphone appstore sucks. I think apple could improve this version by adding physics to this one page search results. And we have strong argument because this is how ipad version works.

Tom [import]uid: 111283 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125450[/import]

#20

I checked iTunes from my mac and now the “All iPhone Apps” section is back. I’m sure it wasn’t there yesterday when I checked.

So they probably made some changes because they either realized what they did, or because of all complaints from users and developers. [import]uid: 70003 topic_id: 31343 reply_id: 125455[/import]