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Thoughts on the App Store experience

Fred Oliveira on July 23, 2008

I’m an Apple fan - no use denying it. As such, I’m used to great experiences when using their products. So it sort of rubs me the wrong way when Apple actually seems to take steps to make my life unpleasant - and those of others like me. Like, say, in the case of using the new App Store to manage applications on the iPhone. Here’s an example of three things that are wrong with the experience of buying and managing apps on the device:

1) If I download an application to try it out, delete it, and then want to install it again - because that just might be the way I am with decisions -, why do I need a message telling me that I’ve already downloaded that application once, and asking if I want to download it again. Yes Apple, I do want to download it again, I just clicked the damn “INSTALL” button.

2) I have no idea why, but if I download an application on my iPhone, iTunes keeps complaining it can’t sync it with my Macbook Pro because it is not “authorized” to “play the item” (seriously.) on my computer. It’s not a song, so I won’t be playing anything, Apple. And do I really need to “Authorize Computer” for free apps? Come on.

3) Why is there no way for me to use iTunes to download a bunch of applications and then just drag Applications in and out of a device, just like I do with tracks and playlists? I know we’ve been there before, but this sync-everything experience is really boring and convoluted. Installing and uninstalling applications on OSX is usually a drag and drop experience, why smack us in the face with this absurdity?

I hate posts that only complain, so I’ll make amends right now. It’s not all bad about the App Store and the iPhones’ application management experience. I for one am quite happy about what Apple is doing with the iPhone and its promotion as a platform. But if you guys over at Cupertino could fix these things, now that would be great.

Note: using the iPhone App Store? How’s your experience been thus far? And if you’re inclined to share, what applications have you been using, free or otherwise?


Comments on this post

Eric Clemmons

Of course, I don’t believe the process of installing/uninstalling apps should be regulated in the first place. A user should be able to hit up a website and download an app alone, but still be able to take advantage of the App Store, much in the same way users could download a standalone Widget, but could use Apple’s website to find more Widgets and check for updates.

But for the experience itself, it seem pretty solid. For those of us installing several applications within a sitting, it kind of sucks to be dropped back to the home screen to see the app downloading, just to go back into the App Store and select another freebie, rinse, & repeat. Luckily, they drop you back in where you left off, but it seems the 1st time was enough to let you know it was working. A “Installing…” notification would suffice on the Application page (where it says “FREE”, then “Install”).

Fred Oliveira

Eric: Yup, naturally, I’m not saying its a crap product - I love it, and I almost (almost!) gave up on third-party apps (through jailbreaking - I do admit) because of it. But there’s these issues - like the one you describe - that just seem wrong, and so un-Apple-like. You know, sometimes you just want the experience to be like unwrapping one of their laptops, or the iPhone. Picture perfect.

Hopefully these things will get fixed.

Hans

Agree with you, though I can begin to understand Apple’s perspective as well. Re: authorization… Apple wouldn’t be able to track number of installs (unless they called home, in which case privacy would become the issue). Re: drag apps to/from a phone… Apple wouldn’t be able to prevent developers from offering apps directly from their own website, potentially bypassing Apple’s ability to take a cut of any non-free apps.

Shimoda

Completely agree with the experience. I was also expecting another kind of workflow and suffered the same absurdities, which even reached new heights when you try to use your iPhone with a couple of computers (is it really that uncommon?) The apps suddenly disappear and have to be redownloaded, resynced, reauthorised.

I’ve come to expect a different experience from Apple, but sadly the whole 2.0/MobileMe roll out has been a royal pain in the ass. Stuff I couldn’t even imagine in the Tiger Era… I’ve even considered rolling back to 1.1.4, but the truth is it’s very hard to let go of 3rd party apps (Gutar ToolKit is a must for guitarists, btw), so we’ll have to wait for an OS update, much like when Leopard rolled out.

Carlos Ouro

That’s what’s so exciting about the Android project - when running on an iPhone like hardware it can really shake up the cellphone market. Android might be able to run on the iPhone itself ( http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/thread/c55b1a57f175c75f ) or some other cool hardware company might come into play ( http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/02/16/rumors-alienware-working-on-android-based-iphone-killer/ ).

The “open apps for all” strategy of Android takes out most licensing limitations and hardware bounds that iPhone tries to hold on to. If it gets nearly as “pretty” as my iPhone, i could give up on it.

Kevin Arthur

It’s been a little smoother for me, probably because I’ve only connected my iPod Touch to one Mac for syncing. I’ve had a couple of glitches where I tried to install an application when on wifi and it failed. It downloaded okay later when I was connected, but only after a confusing message or two like you posted above. Updating applications is also a bit unintuitive in iTunes.

I have noticed that syncing takes an awful long time now because it’s “backing up” stuff.

And of course crashes are an annoyance. Lots of apps and even built-in stuff have crashed on me. Hopefully that gets fixed in a firmware update.

All in all, though, I’m pretty happy — enough not to mess with jailbreaking.

Will

I’ve experienced a world of FAIL with the 2.0 update and app store. Don’t get me wrong, I love the concept here, but overall the app content is a little underwhelming and the store via iTunes is way too confusing.

First, apps I added after 4 days of use with everything would just crash. The older apps worked great. I had to delete my entire app store content and wipe the phone to fix it. Next is the fact that it’s impossible to navigate. If it’s this crummy with 500+ apps, whats it going to be like when it’s well over the thousands? And why are there like 25 flashlight apps for the initial launch of everything? Last, the app store is soooo slow. I have a few apps which we’re updated to Apple a few weeks ago, and still haven’t made it to the store. I’d like my bug fixes please! and not a month later.

Webreakstuff » On the iPhone as a closed platform

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Guillaume

Hello,
I’m just sharing my favorite apps ;)
Well, I like the accelerometer and GPS sensors. I really feel like I own a small pocket satellite; so my favorite apps are so far:

-The flashlight. Genius.
-The jedi light saber. Creative.
-The iPint. Fun.
-Midomi, the singing search engine. Original.
-Evernote. Search for text, OCR-style, in your business cards snapshots (if you can focus properly with the crappy built-in camera).
-Waiting for a true location-aware social network, like wizi or loopt to come on over at portugal.

However, the best app, besides the app store, is the safari browser. Sweet!

Cheers,

Nicolas Cohen

I’ve been installing the apps straight from the phone and its a lot simpler. I too had an issue understanding the whole “unauthorized” thing. But when installing stuff straight from the ipod touch, it’s pretty straightforward. I would argue that it’s not really clear that pressing “FREE” means: “show the install button for this app”.

Something to say?