Queuing and downloading in the App Store
Here's a great idea from Ryan Cash to put iOS apps unavailable for immediate download into a queue that will automatically resume when they become available.
Ryan notes that he often buys iOS apps when he's out and about, whether it be on the recommendation of a friend, riding in a car, etc. The problem is that many of the target apps are over the 20MB 3G limit. I've experienced this myself, as well as the inevitable conclusion: I forget to try again once I'm within range of a Wi-Fi network, and the app's author has lost that sale.
Ryan suggests an "add to queue" option to accompany or follow the notification at right, which would put that download into a holding pattern until the iPhone found a Wi-Fi network. That way, the download would resume, we'd get that cool app we were motivated to buy earlier, and the author will get the sale.
Additionally, Ryan suggests that a queue could keep the user from being pushed out of the store to initiate a download, so that they could tap and get several apps going at once.
They're both interesting ideas, though I wonder if battery life would be affected if a queued app were continually polling for a Wi-Fi network (say you're out for 9 hours). What do you all think?
