App Store hits 500 million downloads: thanks, iFart
By Paul Miller 
posted January 16th 2009 10:58AM
posted January 16th 2009 10:58AM
[Thanks, Richard]
posted January 16th 2009 10:58AM
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I was looking through the App Store today.
I could only find a few applications that were actually useful. I estimated that probably 80% is games or stupid, useless applications. Some of the apps that are useful, come with other smartphones (document editing, file viewing, conversions, etc).
I was not overly impressed with the business, education, or productivity applications and nothing on the app store could make me switch to the iPhone. Maybe if I was a young kid and wanted to play lots of games, but as a working adult, I need applications that allow me to be a useful, productive, person.
Hopefully developers will start creating useful applications for the iPhone. As of right now, it is kind of silly.
isnt that true for Windows? most apps are crap.
There are several productive apps that I use on a regular basis for my business.
AirShare - allows me to transfer files to my iPhone over WiFi from any browser. Also allows me to view Word, PowerPoint and Excel files.
Evernote - Allows me to take notes in the form of text, picture or audio sync it with Evernote cloud service and sync with my Evernote client app on my Mac
ToDo - powerful todo list with categories, priorities and twitter/sms alerts. Syncs to my Toodeledo cloud account and with my mac.
Mint.com - keeps tabs on all my checking, savings, credit card and investments all from one app.
Bloomberg - quick and powerful stock app
iTalk - audio recorder with WiFi sync back to my Mac
SalesForceMobie - I dont use this one but I have seen it in action at it's very impressive
I havent seen apps like these on any other smart phone. I for once would like to hear what apps are on BlackBerrys, WiMo, Palm etc that are so much better than whats on an iPhone. I just dont get what the draw is to these other phones.
m....
......e..h
Perhaps "legitimate" was not the word I was looking for. What I mean is "Someone show me where I can get a working SNES emulator for the Iphone. I miss Zelda: A Link to the Past..."
Check out the demographics of people who are interested in the silly apps iFight Demographics
My U.K. iPod touch lists 6,513 apps. So there are about 9,000 that are either iPhone-only or not sold here. What am I missing? Does anyone have a better breakdown of the numbers?
How many separate developers do we guess are responsible for those apps? If each developer had created 4 apps that would be $375,000 in developer program fees. If they had each bought a mac mini and an iPod touch (which is what I did), it would come to ten times that. Not a huge amount by Apple's standards I suppose but not to be sneezed at.
I find the whole fart-joke thing incredibly depressing. It seems it really is impossible to underestimate the consumer. Here I am trying to craft clever bits of cutting-edge technology and the people making the big bucks are the fart-joke merchants. It honestly makes me want to give up on technology and find a new job.
if you thought that the people buying Apple products were somehow not prone to lowest common denominator mentality just like any other computer system......
you were seriously wrong......
The number of downloadable programs and apps "advertised" reminds me of Apple's touting how many programs are available for their computer OS. Past 3 or 4 dozen mainstays, the second tier defines the word "lame." It reminds me of 3rd rate shareware being hawked on download sites that look like they were composed on a Geocities app. For the applets- notice I didn't say Apple's first tier programs are lame. No need to howl piteously and righteously.
Personally, I think the app store for the iPhone was a stroke of genius. It really provides an infrastructure to keep people in that environment. Kudos to the talking and walking heads at Apple. Notice how many others are now copying that idea?
Finally, thanks to the foaming mouth rabid fanboys ... you know who you are. It's always mildly amusing to read outraged and passionate attacks on any product that others might even remotely admire or want to purchase. It's touching to witness the love of corporation. Really.
Oompa Loompa?
(btw, completely agree with your post)
Sorry but Google talked about an application downloading platform directly accessible through your android device long before Apple announced the App Store.
So Yes it's great, No Apple didn't invented it. (only the $99 fee, the killswitch and such restrictions).
Thank you for respecting the truth.
Well, I do appreciate the information and I'm perfectly happy to cede the conceptualization to Google, but the actual implementation of the idea was pioneered by Apple.
Nice going Cupertino Skeletor! :)
Another stupid app. These things are fun for kids. Other than that, what is the use for them? There are very few apps that are truly useful and that is why other smartphones are much better for people who need them for PIM, email, and getting work done.
Who do you think buys most iphones?
Kids.
Congratulations from Spain!
What I wanna know is when are the fanboys finally going to get tired of that 4x4 icon page as their "Home" screen. Kinda sad, but I'm sure you can customize it to whatever you want, right? (/s)
I wonder that, too. I have a nice GPE summary applet on the home page with my N810. I just pull it out of my pocket, glance at the screen and know exactly what's on my calendar. No touching necessary. (Not even to unlock it).
It makes iPhone people sqirm.
@Dubb
It's actually more like 4x5...
@Tombio
The four on the bottom don't move to my knowledge.
Is this somehow your way of justifying a crap interface?
"to the best of my knowledge"
nope. try again.
@Dubb
How does not moving make them not be there?
Anyways it's pointless to argue how many icons iPhone has per screen. My experince on iPhones UI is pretty positive compared to many other mobile devices. I can see why some people don't like it but I do. Reason to that is simplicity.
HEY GUYS PLEASE SIGN THIS DOCUMENT IN REGARDS TO STEVE'S HEALTH. SPREAD THE WORD!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/getwellsteve/index.html
If you guys think the Apple App Store is full of junk, wait until the Android store or whatever the hell it will be called comes out. Every jackass will be posting worthless and poorly written apps. It will be like....well, like Mac shareware vs PC shareware.....
Complain all you want about Apple and THE MAN.... Obviously Apple knows how to do what most businesses are supposed to do....
The Android Market has been out since the launch of the G1.....
Are people really this clueless?
Three shameless plugs in one set of comments (so far), huh?
Can't say I'm not jealous though - you probably have thousands of iFart owners all giving their money to you as I type.
Engadget makes money out of our readership and comments. Does it hurt to try and get a little back out of my own comments? :)
well since you're not paying their bills....
yes.
set up your own blog, and get millions of people to read it and then you can do what you want.
Laugh (or not) all you want at iFart. The sheer brilliance is illuminating when applied at the right moment.
My only App Store complaint (and iPhone, generally speaking) is the lack of a Word doc editor.
Congrats Apple!
When will you get it ?
The iPhone is a toy !
You want to edit .doc ? get a fucking blackberry already !
You know what's worst than an Apple fanboy? A rabid anti fanboy.
I might have to agree with you. I expect a little stupidity from applets but I expect more from geekazoids. There's all sorts of gear for all sorts of people. Why wouldn't' we want choice?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BoulderSun @ Jan 16th 2009 12:58PM
@losifreak107:
I'm not a developer (nor do I play one on TV). However, if I were, I would have been insulted by Paul@Engadget's generalized slamming of all iPhone apps. Here are just a few of the great apps I use regularly:
- Google Earth
- Gas Cubby
- eWallet
- PhoneFlix
- Shazam
- Pandora
- iheartradio
- Now Playing
- TiltMeter Pro
- Total Body
- Epocrates Rx
- Urbanspoon
and yes, some games:
- Wurdle
- Rolando
- Fieldrunners
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Google Earth, eWallet and Epocrates were out before the iPhone and are available on other phones.
Gas cubby - I found 6 other apps like this for other phones.
PhoneFlix - cool
Shazam - cool
Pandora - very cool, but also available for other phones and even at home.
iHeartradio - cool, but again, not an iPhone exclusive. Streaming radio on phones has been around for a while.
Tiltmeter pro - very cool. This is actually very useful and cool. Currently only on iPhone, but could be coming to the Storm and Pre.
Total body - ok, nothing that special.
Urban spoon - ok, but again other phones can get this info.
Games - there are tons of games for all phones. I do have to admit that the iPhone has some really cool games.
The problem is that the iPhone really doesn't have much for productivity or business applications. That's why Blackberry and Palm are so useful - they have great applications for fun AND work. Many of the iPhones apps aren't anything new either. Total downloads don't mean much if the apps aren't that great to begin with. The comments are true, many of the apps for the iPhone are nothing special, so get over yourself.
Part of the problem is Apple's tight hold on the app store and developers. Plus, the prices that are charged are low, so I don't know how many large developers want to create something that they won't make enough money on.
I don't think the issue is whether or not there is quality out there. It's more about findability. How many bad movies or books are out there? Plenty! But, in addition to Hollywood's advertising and deals shaping our viewing habits, we also have easy and effective ways to share them with one another.
My feeling is that the App Store should be a better web experience, and take advantage of what people have learned. Look at Amazon for e-commerce interface advice, look at Facebook to get inspired about how to make it social.
Apple won't do these things, but once somebody else does (maybe even me?), hopefully that will make it easier and more fun to play the app game.
I must shamefully admit that I contributed heavily to the 500 Million downloads.
I have so many damn apps in my iTunes that when I sync my iPhone I have to pick and choose which apps I want on my phone.
I have well over 150 apps to sort through and I'd say I only use a hand full of them on a regular basis.
Many were free, but just as many were purchased I'm sure.
I think the real reason that the app store is so successful regardless of how many of the DLs were free is the accessibility.
The app store is accessible ANYWHERE. In my car, on the couch, at work. When ever I get an itch, I can just browse the app store in a heartbeat. If I had a bit more self control, I wouldn't have made as many purchases, but I'm a bit spontaneous when it comes to small purchases, which the app store is just chock full of.
SNES emulator? iphone?? booyah!!
Everyone knows you can't get any real work done on an iPhone.
They are just mere toys, and there is nothing smart about them.
Although I haven't used a blackberry, I know there are so many apps out there for WinMo (Much more than the 15,000 in the appstore), and so many *USEFUL* apps at that, for people who you know...have actual work to be done rather than dicking around, that I would find the iPhone experience as a rather useless waste of adoloescent time if I were to ever switch over (hell would have to freeze over first).
Besides, WinMo has hundreds if not thousands of games available for it as well, but it also has tons of actually useful productivity apps as well, something sorely sorely missing from the iPhone catalog.
You've totally bought into the marketing of smart phones. What kind of *actual* work do you think is getting done on phones? No one's typing their company's financial reports on them, no one that has a smart phone AND a job is without a computer. At the most, the average "smart phone" user is now checking their email constantly, unwittingly giving away more of their free time to their company.
The next time you're on a plane next to some clown wielding his "smart phone" on the runway - take a look at what he's doing, and it'll be checking sports scores, or some other form of "dicking around."
You keep acting like business dipshits who can't f'ing use a *real* computer, can somehow get value out of Windows by using a 5-way keypad and 320x320 screen. Next.
you're a rabid anti-Apple dipshit.
I had a blackberry, I now have an iPhone.
Reading and responding to e-mail? Check. Both work just fine. Typing a long e-mail on either device is not fun as I have XXL hands.
Calendar? Check. Both work equally well with our corporate exchange server, I've not missed an appointment.
Logging into corporate web apps? iPhone is far better than the BB could have ever thought of being, However I haven't looked at the Storm
Document editing? Nope, at least as far as I know. Only a masochist would attempt serious editing this on any phone, Black berry or palm included, but viewing doc, xls, etc works great on the iPhone.
Contacts and phone functions? Work better on the iPhone that on my old bb, though I have to say the voice quality on both is barely average.
"Everyone knows you can't get any real work done on an iPhone" No, everyone doesn't know that. Only myopic, anti Apple zealots know that. I get plenty of real work done on my iPhone.
Totally bought into what hype, and can't use a computer.
I hold both an computer engineering degree and a masters.
I can both build, program, and design computers, and actually do.
As for getting real work done, I am referring to the numerous productivity apps.
Ever had to edit a word, pdf, ppt, excel document on the go?
No?
I have.
Ever had to remote connect to your work PC on the go?
No?
I have.
Ever had to copy and paste an email and make edits to it before you send it out to your fellow colleagues?
No?
I have. (Good luck doing that to a 500+ word email with an iPhone)
Ever had to use a TI-89 calculator but didn't have one on you?
No?
I have, via a TI Emulator on my PPC.
Ever had to analyze a circuit to determine the power, resistance, conductance, inductance, etc. requirements at various nodes for any number of circuit types while on the go and didnt feel like lugging around a huge laptop or even netbook just to make quick checks?
No?
I have, via my PPC.
I have also started a PharmD degree recently, and you would be surprised at the plethora of Medical, Pharmaceutical, and general Drug related databases available for the PPCs via WinMo.
While you guys had to wait over a year for Epocrates, I was using it and others well before that.
I am also an avid astronomy fan, and like to whip out my PPC on the go and load up PocketStars.
There is no such app available for the iPhone and certainly nothing anywhere near as extensive.
Furthermore, whereas you guys have to worry about jailbreaking with regards to being unable to upgrade to the latest updates and the countless instabilities introduced by jailbreaking just to get something like tethering enabled, I get to enjoy it by default.
Furthermore, im using a Touch Pro which has a higher res screen than the iPhone, 640x480 FYI, so it's you guys who have to put up with crappy resolutions, not I.
Then on top of that, I have a physical keyboard, the best one in the business, which facilitates typing, something you guys once again wouldn't know anything about...therefore your ignorance on this subject matter is entirely understable.
@ Hamidxa
You assume incorrectly that I have an iPhone. I don't - but we have done usability studies on it, and it's strong points are huge, and accessible to the consumer, whereas WinMos advantages are negligible, and mainly inaccessible to the consumer.
Congrats on having to do all that terrible shit on a tiny, hobbled handset. I do all that stuff on the road, from Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Singapore, Maylasia, Seoul & Nanjing with a...laptop! I was doing it 10 years before you did on your phone, and I get it done faster. Why? UI. Go figure.
I'm a design engineer working with a couple of huge telcos - working on the stuff we're talking about! IN the industry - right now. Imagine that!
therealmusashi,
A Touch HD with a 3.8" WVGA 480x800 screen is a device that is more than capable of getting semi-serious work done on the road..many of the aforementioned tasks I mentioned, and several others that are IMPOSSIBLE (at this point anyhow) on an iPhone.
That is the debate at hand, and FYI, you assume incorrectly anyhow, since Ive been carrying laptops with me for years on end as well. So getting work done on the road is not something I am unfamiliar with, but being able to get much of it done in the palm of my hand is something that to this day eludes the iPhone, whereas on WinMo it is a possibility at least.
Futhermore, I would argue, as would millions of others, that TF3D is every bit as intuitive, and a pleasure to work with as anything out of Apple for the iPhone (which incidentally was stolen from Picsel)...
The coolest thing about the iPhone is all the apps. I just download an app the other day called jailbreak, and now I can install even more apps. With the ability to unlock and tether the phone, I don't know why apple doesn't include this jailbreak app out of the box.
Meh, I own an iphone and 95% of the appstore is crap. And I have over 300 apps on my jailbroke phone. I use maybe 20 regularly. But I've never paid a penny for any of them, so I'm not complaining.
Meanwhile, WinMo did this probably a year or two ago. It's not official, but with the thousands of applications for Windows Mobile out there, and the various WinMo phones, they'd have reach there at some point.
Yet it's not worth a post...
Lol.
Think...this article only needs 499,999,900 more comments by witty people such as this to be as relevant as the App Store.
Meaning it's as impacting as an iFart in the wind!
Hamidxa... what a nimrod! Throwing his accomplishments around like someone is going to be impressed...on this site!!
@shugg: I own a 3G iPhone. Here - let me prove you wrong:
It's easy to get a huge number of downloads in a short time if most of your stock are freebees. I suspect if half of the songs on iTunes were free - you'd have have seen them break 500M pretty quickly too. While we're at it - how are these counted? Is an update considered a download? I've had some apps get updated once or twice a week. How about when you download the same app twice as I recently had to do when moving my iPhone authentication from my laptop to my desktop caused it to panic and delete ALL MY FRIGGING APPS?
Colour me unimpressed.