There are Those Developers who Love the App Store, and those who Complain

Sunday, December 14, 2008

In recent weeks, a letter from an iPhone apps developer sparked controversies regarding App store’s supposed favoritism for the free and 99-cent Apps. The developer claimed that it is difficult gaining visibility in the thousands of free and paid apps released every month. Thus it would be very difficult for his development team to make high quality, state-of-art iPhone Apps which cost more time and resources to make.

However, in this Newsweek article, it seemed anyone with a little programming knowledge and some creativity can make a killing with the App store. “Some kid in his bedroom can make a million bucks just by writing a little application for the Apple phone,” the Newsweek article quoted Brian Greenstone, an iPhone developer.

Apple seemed to have taken notice of the rattle on blogosphere and twicked the App store soon after this controversy, releasing the all time top 10 list for different categories.

Looking at the two sides, those who loved the iPhone store seem to be those who have had success with their applications, ranking top 10 for their paid apps. For the majority of iPhone develpers, they may not have done all that well. It is true as the App store becomes a popular way to download stuff, more developers flock to the platform, hoping to strike it rich. However as iPhone quickly become flooded with all those apps, currently standing at more than 10,000, it will be more difficult for developers to gain visibility in the App store.

Marketing, as with any business, will be essential to the success of an Iphone app. Marketing in the App store, appearing in Apple iPhone commercials, online ads and other offline marketing strategies will be essential to the success of an iPhone application. Customers will buy great products only if they are aware of its existence and the price is right. Good luck to all iPhone developers!