In order to give the customers a better way to locate the new applications (numbered 65,000), Apple is trying to find new ways to categorize software in the App Store on the iPods and iPhones touch, according to Apple COO Tim Cook in a report conference call. As it is known the criteria that is used to define the categories is rendered by the type of application, and lately by the popular and top selling applications, but at the same time it is a fact a lot of opportunity is presented in further improving the methods.
His reply was the response to an analyst question who also implied that there was a “race to the bottom†regarding the pricing of software; a lot of applications are subject to exposure merely by being among the top 25 downloaded on the App Store which software is priced at $0.99. This price seems to be the same for other offerings and Cook was inquired if this one represented so much of a concern that it can determine the consumers to separate quality applications from the low qualitative ones. Cook replied that there was no indication to show that Apple would mix into the politic of developers’ pricing, so long as each developer is free to set his own price in this way being able to make the most out of his business.
Considering that the market is growing more and more, it would be sensible to have lower prices and every developer can select his own way of doing it. The analyst of the Apple earnings report emphasized the fact that on the way of restructuring the App Store it can be encountered some difficulties as they would need to find out is the customers’ opinion regarding the software and if it is worth money. The $0.99 price probably emerged from the users’ expectations from iTunes Music Store, whereas the low prices have generated unworthy applications.App Store unfortunately has been placed next to the YouTube app where the bad taste is more than present, and this thing has dragged down the entire pricing politic for iPhone apps. There is an edgy aspect connected to this matter, in that the developers who plan to build long life applications may be discouraged since their projected developments could cost more than the expected revenues. So, altogether, all these can lead to a degradation of the quality of the applications that are sold through App Store.
Being 1 year old App Store can boast itself with 1.5 billion downloads up to now, a success that was repeatedly confirmed by Cook’s declarations on Tuesday’s conference call adding that Apple has always considered a noticeable software the main ingredient for a mobile experience.
