Blogs
App Clutter Growing, Users Need Guidance
Mon, 07/12/2010 - 10:41am
Google Labs just rolled out App Inventor for Android. It allows a lot of non-programmers to create apps that go just a little bit further than some of the other DIY app makers out there, which pretty much amount to RSS feed aggregators.
The demo video for App Inventor shows a woman and her cat dragging and dropping blocks of Java code into a template to create an app that meows when a button is pushed. While I'm sure the video was done as a way of quickly demonstrating what's possible with App Inventor, I wonder how many one-sound, push-button apps are about to flood the Android Market.
While the numbers game between the Apple App Store and everyone else was a great catalyst for development initially, it's reached a point where it's counter-productive for both the consumer and the developer. You simply can't see, smell or taste 265,000 apps in an app store. In fact, given the relatively limited store fronts at both the Apple App Store and the Android Market, most people get only an impression of a fingernail's worth of the available content.
As for Apple or Google going to any great length to improve the situation, developers are probably out of luck. While all those billions of app downloads may seem like a lot, only about 1 percent of Apple's profit comes from iTunes. Why would it invest any more than it has to in App discovery?
Anyway, my point is that adding a billion one-button apps to the Android Market is only going to boost Google's tally. Benefits to consumers will be slim to none, and most of those apps developed in App Inventor will perish in a trunk in the dusty corners of the Android Market attic. We've reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to apps.
For once, I'll give Apple's approval process a subtle nod. It may seem like a bummer, but it's at least the beginning of a filter that tests for a basic level of quality and functionality. Android Market is already the Wild West, and with App Inventor the possibilities for buggy malware become even greater.
In the end, I see app discovery and review services as the next best thing for the app market. If Google and Apple are going to continue the numbers game and make no real effort to allow the cream to rise, then someone else will need to take on that role. In fact, they already are. More and more websites and publications solely devoted to apps are being created. These sites and publications are for apps what cooking magazines are for recipes. As it stands, consumers don't know which apps they're hungry for, mainly because they haven't a clue what's out there beyond Tetris and iFart.
The demo video for App Inventor shows a woman and her cat dragging and dropping blocks of Java code into a template to create an app that meows when a button is pushed. While I'm sure the video was done as a way of quickly demonstrating what's possible with App Inventor, I wonder how many one-sound, push-button apps are about to flood the Android Market.
While the numbers game between the Apple App Store and everyone else was a great catalyst for development initially, it's reached a point where it's counter-productive for both the consumer and the developer. You simply can't see, smell or taste 265,000 apps in an app store. In fact, given the relatively limited store fronts at both the Apple App Store and the Android Market, most people get only an impression of a fingernail's worth of the available content.
As for Apple or Google going to any great length to improve the situation, developers are probably out of luck. While all those billions of app downloads may seem like a lot, only about 1 percent of Apple's profit comes from iTunes. Why would it invest any more than it has to in App discovery?
Anyway, my point is that adding a billion one-button apps to the Android Market is only going to boost Google's tally. Benefits to consumers will be slim to none, and most of those apps developed in App Inventor will perish in a trunk in the dusty corners of the Android Market attic. We've reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to apps.
For once, I'll give Apple's approval process a subtle nod. It may seem like a bummer, but it's at least the beginning of a filter that tests for a basic level of quality and functionality. Android Market is already the Wild West, and with App Inventor the possibilities for buggy malware become even greater.
In the end, I see app discovery and review services as the next best thing for the app market. If Google and Apple are going to continue the numbers game and make no real effort to allow the cream to rise, then someone else will need to take on that role. In fact, they already are. More and more websites and publications solely devoted to apps are being created. These sites and publications are for apps what cooking magazines are for recipes. As it stands, consumers don't know which apps they're hungry for, mainly because they haven't a clue what's out there beyond Tetris and iFart.
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