The App store is very good, but there is still a lot of room for improvement -both from the perspective of the buyer and the developer. Some of the current deficiencies:

1. No beta testing programme for the developers to get their app out there to select testers prior to release to the general public.
2. No means of offering discounts or vouchers to buyers (e.g. if you want to bundle the iPhone/Touch application with your desktop version, or offer discounts to people who already own the desktop version). Developers have no means of tie-ing a purchase of an App store download to an individual to do the converse (offer a discount on the desktop version) if Apple is reluctant to permit the former (as it would impact their profits from the store).
3. No hands-on demos of pay-for apps. This could work as it does for films at the moment where users could get 30 days to try out the app for a maximum of 48 hours in that period. At the end of the 48 hours, offer the opportunity to purchase the app.
4. No videos of the apps in action (which is a big omission given the absence of 3. above).
5. No easy means of providing feedback (crash reports) directly to the developer.

There is likely to be more...

---
-
24" iMac, 2.8Ghz C2D, 4GB RAM, MacOSX 10.5.1
15" Powerbook, 1.5GHz G4, 1.5GB RAM, MacOSX 10.4.11
-
Please visit www.thelandgallery.com for British artwork

[ Reply to This | # ]