Apple's App Store breaks 100,000 apps
By Paul Miller 
posted Nov 4th 2009 9:47AM
posted Nov 4th 2009 9:47AM
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How long will it take Android Marketplace to reach that level?
I'm sure it's evident given my history here that I am Apple-averse.
That said, congratulations Apple, and it's developers and customers! Despite the hullabaloo about your rejected apps (though certainly warranted), 100k is no number to shake a stick at. For us, and by us I mean the cadre of intelligent and capable people who appreciate complexity, there's nothing wrong with choice -- and 100k is a lot to choose from.
Now, here's to hoping that a great field of apps continues to develop on Android, WebOS, and WinMo!
ONWARD.
100,000 apps at the Apple app store. But 99,000 of them are flashlights. I can get a real flashlight for a couple of bucks that has replaceable batteries! ;-)
@ sisyphus
/tipping hat
well said...
Yes, but what we really want to know is can your flashlight make phone calls? How about make fart noises? Because my iPhone can make phone calls AND fart noises, and it only cost $195 more than your flashlight.
Probably not long if a lot of apps can be ported directly over. I'm not sure how easy it is to do, but it would be stupid for them to make it difficult to make iPhone apps work on an Android phone.
To summarise, then, aardWolf's fleshlight cost $195 more than yours and can make farting noises.
If you count the 80,000 fart apps.....
100 years at least
@William
I'm just wondering where you get your information from. Its myunderstanding that EVERY smartphone OS has Soundboards available for download. Where did you find your information that says Apple has approved 80,000 fart applications? I've tried searching google and iTunes but was unable to find a number higher than 47 (I counted in the app store). I figure I'm going to get downranked because most voters on engadget preach about how great compitition is... As long as it's not pro Apple.
I personally don't get the point of bragging about how many apps are in the store. I do realize novelty apps have their place so there will undoubtedly be tons of those, but since I am really only going to use maybe 10-15 apps, I really don't care which platform has more apps in the store. I only care whether they have the 10-15 apps I want. It is nice that I can choose between 100 different flashlight apps, but it is a bigger deal if I can't get a Google Voice, or Tethering app.
Then there is the issue of dilution. Finding an quality app that you want becomes more of a needle in a haystack. The Appstore was supposed to make it easier to find an app than going out on the web and finding one. At what point is it easier and faster to just do a google search and find an app outside the store, like WinMo users have been doing for years.
Quality over Quantity.
"Cream always rises to to the top"
Law of averages apply here too, more milk equals more cream,
but of course that also equals exponentially more crap.
a quick Google search on any app should give you enough info if its work getting or not.
Android supports flash though, right? Can any of those 100,000 apps help with that?
@ j_g_puff - I think you'll find that a fleshlight is an entirely different animal, Apple will never approve.
but can it make calls and farting noises at the same time? This could be a deal breaker for a lot of users.
Guess you woke up this morning and slipped into your troll boots eh?
Does it really matter that there are 100k apps in the Apple store? NO! Because 99% of them are pure crap. There's a reason so many apps are free, because no one would really pay for them. It amazes me how Apple will reject some apps, but allow a plethora of fart and flashlight apps to fill up the app store just so they could hit some arbitrary milestone in terms of numbers.
As already mentioned, quality over quality. I guess when you have 100,000 apps, you are bound to have a few decent ones in the mix. I'm still waiting for Google Latitude and Google Voice if Apple would ever come to it's damn senses.
@j_g_puff: Not to mention the upwards of $80 a month in fees you have to pay to for that privilege.
How many are useful?
1-2% maybe?
Oh boy. It begins. I know we're going to hear a lot of idiots say, "Well, half of them are fart apps, blah, blah, blah," but seriously there are apps that will start your car for you, so that's stretching the truth a bit there.
The truth is, there are so many apps now that you can be almost anybody and have a bunch of apps that apply directly to you.
If you're a lawyer, there are apps that help you study for the LSAT. You can buy a Black's Law Dictionary on the App Store.
If you're a musician, you can buy apps that let you play different musical instruments. There's an app that lets you sing like T-Pain. Or if you're just a music lover, there are apps like Pandora and Shazam.
If you're an artist, there are apps that let you paint. And if you also happen to be a photographer, Adobe has a photoshop app in the App Store.
If you drive a lot, there are GPS apps, and apps that will start your car.
If you like to read, there are a bunch of apps that let you do exactly that, like Stanza. Amazon even has a Kindle app in the App Store.
If you just want to have access to files for work, you have apps like Air Sharing and Dropbox. You also can get apps that let you edit Microsoft Office files, like Quick Office.
If you're a gamer, there are some pretty serious console level apps like Hero of Sparta or ATV Offroad. Then you have casual games like the Sims 3, Tetris, CatchaMouse, Zombieville, Fieldrunners, Rolando 1 & 2, Tiki Towers, Castle Magic, and Knights Onrush.
I like to read, but I use books.
Nice essay Mack.
Exactly. Those good apps...ARE the 1-2%.
Bah - I was going to make a comment about how almost none of the apps are useful but I see I have been long beaten to it.
I have 4 pages of apps on my iPod Touch, I only ever really use 1 or 2. All the useful ones you need internet connection and when you are out and about that is often not possible.
Sorry Mack, a professional photographer is going to use the Photoshop app? Are you joking? And honestly, who wants to start their car with their iPhone? Yes, the app store is great and wonderful with a ton of great programs, but trying to justify it with that list is just ridiculous. Congrats to Apple, hopefully the Pre will break 1000 soon. -___-
@Mack: I guess you are posting as "clack" on gizmodo, since it's nearly the same thing you are saying. why didn't you just copy/paste it?
@N900
zing!
I like to urinate in balloons, freeze them, cut away the rubbery outer-bladders then hurl them into jacuzzis belonging to people I don't like.
Where's my bunch of apps? What can you offer me, Mack?
@David
Correct. I've read about the Photoshop app. Reviews said it wasn't even fit to hold the name "photoshop" because it's nowhere CLOSE to the actual thing.
The bigger point here, guys, is that it really depends on who you are. There's an app now to appeal to almost anyone.
Yeah, there may be only 30 apps relevant to any particular person, but there will be another completely different set of 30 apps that are relevant to someone else. Now that there are 100,000 apps, the App Store will appeal to just about anyone, no matter who they are, their profession, religion, race, age, etc.
But go ahead and bash if you must. Won't change the reality no matter how but you complain.
I don't want to speak for Mack, but I think I know what he is trying to say. With 100,000 choices, there are apps for everyone. However, at 10,000, 20,000 apps, there are a lot of gaps. For instance, I doubt that any other app store has Tom Harrison maps, which for me is important. Same with SunPower's solar monitor. With a number like 100,000, you do get a lot of crap, which all of the app stores have, but you also get a lot of niche apps, which not all of the app stores have.
@David You are making my point. To you the list Mack made was crap. But I guarantee you there are many people who find those apps useful and even indispensable.
Seriously... If someone can categorize and name 1000 apps that are actually useful on an iPhone (without excessive duplicates like twitter or facebook apps that do the same thing) I'd be floored. Even most games aren't that engrossing for more than 2 weeks. I own an iPhone and I've dug through the apps and I've purchased an app or two so I know... 99,000 of those apps can be classified as either gimmicks, advertising for a movie or product, or just plain old garbage. The idea to market the App Store based on total app #s is marketing BS. I seriously believe that an App Store can be half that size and still have just as much meaningful content.
How many of them offer basic functionality that most other phones have built in?
@ DC Mike
"The idea to market the App Store based on total app #s is marketing BS. I seriously believe that an App Store can be half that size and still have just as much meaningful content."
Maybe you don't know enough about marketing there Mike. This is no different from what Apple did with iPod sales and iTunes sales early on celebrating the numbers sold, generating buzz to bring in more accessory makers, more content providers etc etc. all while strengthening their ecosystem. Developers follow the buzz and the $$
btw I have over 100 Apps installed on my PC, but I mainly use 5 on a daily basses.
@DC Mike: You are missing the point. Take me. Excluding games these are the important apps to me that I use on a regular basis:
AAA Discounts
AccuWeather
Amazon Mobile
Bloomberg
Dropbox*
Facebook
Home Inventory*
iPregnancy*
Mint*
MLB At Bat*
Movies
NY Times
Pandora
Remeber the Milk*
Sequoia/Kings Canyon Nat'l Park Map*
SunPower Monitoring*
Time Mobile
USA Today
Weber's On the Grill*
Wikipanion
Yelp
Yosemite Valley Trail Map*
1Password*
So to me at this time, these are the apps that are important to me. Many would be available on other platforms or online, but several (those with the *) are only available on my iPhone thru the app store. And most of those with the asterisk were developed well after the App Store reached 50,000+ apps. Without the huge numbers, many of my preferred apps never would exist. You can find the same story for the majority of iPhone/Touch users with a different list of 20-30 apps. That is why 100,000 apps are important.
@Dave95 Do you believe that 100% of what someone tells you to sell you something is the entire truth about that product? I know enough about marketing to know that they'll gloss over a shortcoming to sell a product. The 100,000 app store number is impressive, but to act like it couldn't be shaved by 1/2 and still have the same amount of useful content shows that you don't realize just how big the number 50,000 is.
Here's my list:
Skype, Pandora, Nike+iPod, BofA, Air Mouse, Urbanspoon, Photoshop Mobile, TripCase, Flixster, AroundMe, SketchBookX, GameTime, VLCRemFree, Shazam, TV.com, WritePad, Quick Office, Air Sharing, Dictionary, Fedex Mobile, Bloomberg, Brushes, Kindle, Stanza, Facebook, Ebay, Shutterfly, Remote.
Games:
3D Roller Coaster Jurassic, Castle Magic, Knights Onrush, Tetris, DoodleJUmp, EW Jim, Pocket God, Rolando, Duck Shoot, Tople, Cro-Mag Rally, Trace, ATV Offroad, Zombieville, Shrek Karting, HarborMaster, The Sim 3, Trism, Skee-Ball, CatchaMouse, Labyrinth, Tiki Towers, Fieldrunners, Tap Defense, Falling Balls, Fling, HeavyMach, iDracula, Paper Toss, Bounce On, Puzzloop, MiniGolf 99, Tower, 3D Roller Coaster Haunted, Falling Balls, Papaya Farm, Super Monkey Ball, 2XL SX.
And there are some completely useless apps that I absolutely love:
Bubbles, Koi Pond, BubbleWrap.
So don't knock the useless apps! If you're stuck in a line at the post office, they can relieve the boredom.
The problem here is that even if the number of "useful" apps remains at 1-2%, 1-2% of 100,000 is somewhere between 1000 and 2000. That is more apps than you can even bother getting on the Pre, and more than enough apps to keep any one person buying happy.
Not every app will ever be for everybody, that's just a fact of life. It is nice to have the variety that the App store offers, regardless if 100,000 apps is a useful statistic.
"If you're a lawyer, there are apps that help you study for the LSAT. You can buy a Black's Law Dictionary on the App Store"
WOW a dictionary is an app now ? That just revolutionize having to turn pages.
"If you drive a lot, there are GPS apps, and apps that will start your car."
Not FREE ones eh ?
@ DC Mike
The App Store is only a year and few months old, it still have ways to go, bugs to iron out, and trash to throw out just like any other new fast growing business or venture. But the idea and goal for Apple here is to generate buzz, pull in more developers, strengthen the ecosystem and brand, and build a significant lead on its competition. If the number were 400,000 Apps sold, they would take it in order to do so. Again no difference from what they did with iTunes and iPods and look at there market lead today. They cut the number in half now, they piss off developers who would only run and help other platforms grow even faster. Hate them or love them, those 'useless Apps' is playing a significant part in generating buzz for the store.
@DC MIKE, I get that you think the total figure is overused and that's fine, but why on earth would you expect anyone here to sit down and name one THOUSAND apps just for your entertainment? As others have said, it really isn't down to raw numbers, but choice - you personally may find only ten, twenty, or a hundred apps that suit you down to the ground, but they'll be a completely different hundred that the guy next to you uses, or the guy next to him - an appstore of Apple's scale can cater to every taste.
Personally I currently have 111 apps on my phone, maybe 20 of them are harmless junk, 30 of them are probably the same 30 that everyone else has, another 30 might be games and (apparently) worthless in your eyes, but that still leaves another 30 or so that are just for me - little utiliities and useful gadgets that are ideally suited to my life and my phone - and I almost certainly wouldn't find them anywhere else.
@ everyone who uses Pandora,
give Last.fm a try,
IMO it easily outmatches Pandora for music selection (depending on your musical tastes) and also logs every song you listen to on your Last.fm profile so you can go back and review the tracks and also stream the songs on demand.
is possible that the last.fm app might not be available in some regions outside of the US due to licensing issues, so forgive my lack of knowledge in that area....
@ jakem
Not many in my opinion. I only use three apps, sportacular for scores/stats, boxing timer for interval circuits and the weatherbug for radar. That's it. That's 999,997 apps that are no good to me.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
The question should be "how many is useful compared to the other OS's?"
I wonder what that number would be at if they didn't censor half the things submitted...
Congratulations.
Now only if they could get a proper way of going thru all those 100,000 apps.
Thanks.
These are the sources that I use to find what I need in the App Store:
App Vee (App review site)
http://www.appstorehq.com/chorus-iphone-81902/app
Uquery (A Google-like search engine for the App Store)
http://www.uquery.com/
AppSniper (an App that let you track Apps on sale)
http://www.apptism.com/apps/appsniper
But the point of an on-device app store is so you don't have to interact with the computer to find anything. You should be able to have a top notch filtering system for a top notch App Store.
I'm not saying anyone has this yet (because going thru the Android Market is almost, if not the same, as tedious)
Oops, screwed up the App Vee link. It's actually here:
http://www.appvee.com/
But Chorus is a good recommendation App, but it's kind of new.