Not sure I agree, I think categorization has its place just like searching for keywords does - as long as both are implemented sensibly. Not allowing "puzzle" as a keyword because there is an App called Puzzle is ridiculous. I don't know what's worse, the rules that Apple have imposed or the reviewers that are blindly and literally following them. Genres and categories evolve, as should the App Store. Perhaps subcategories isn't the answer, but removing them and lumping everything into one big pool is certainly worse. At the very least, expose the most common search terms in a tag cloud or something that will allow users to find things a little better.
You could still sort the search results on popularity / ranking I would imagine. But the more I read about it here, the more I have doubts about this being a good thing I honestly admit.
All three of my apps made it through with 'puzzle' in the keywords last week. If that happened to you, you have a brain dead reviewer.
I agree completely. I think increasing to Top 200 is great for visibility of those apps that were previously "under the fold".
I think anytime you increase visibility, but in an organized way, everybody wins. Categories changed the store, in a good way. Making them bigger will allow more devs to earn an income. Everything on the phone still seems to just go to 100 though.
It also got rejected first time round for having the keyword 'Smiley'. My App has a screen full of smileys! and I'm not allowed to use that because there is an app called 'Smiley'. I'm pulling my hair out....My App is now 8 weeks in review because instead of just letting me delete what keywords they don't like they reject the app and I have to resubmit.
Yeah but some people are more visual. They like to point and click their way to a purchase and browse interesting looking icons and names along the way. It's almost like window shopping, lol. This is different than someone who knows exactly what they want and are just trying to find the quickest way there. I think I always check the top lists first, then the categories when I'm bored and looking for an impulse purchase, both on my laptop and iPhone. I don't think I've ever used keyword search to find a game to buy.
There is an arrow that is next to the appstore button, and if you click the arrow, it shows you all the categories
People overwhelmingly buy more apps on the device. There was data from AdMob saying that about 7% of all purchases actually come from iTunes. Also, if you happen to get featured in the What's New or What's Hot section that also appears on the device, you'll sell about 10x more than the Staff Picks section, which is also on iTunes home page, but not on device. However, I think the split will vary for particular apps. I'd guess that for top 50 apps, most of the purchases are coming from ppl browsing the top lists on the device. For apps that aren't on any top lists, their customers are probably finding them through search or somewhere else, and probably use iTunes more. I'm really excited about Genius for apps. I think all of us will get a lot of buys out of this feature - everyone wins.
Nope, it just has "Games" I already miss the random (?) "Best ZZZ" games section as sometimes it would point out things I had missed. Did they run iTunes through the wash with a new detergent? Seems my iTunes is now 20% whiter!
I think they may have a different issue with your app, and they're making excuses. My apps have "tangrams" in the keywords, and there's an app called "Tangrams."
You're missing the point that when you click that arrow, and pick "games" from the list, you now end up with one big mashup 657 pages long of *all games*, and not action, strategy, racing, puzzle, RPG, categories to choose from. That is one thing I'm actually excited about the potential of... as you say anyone with a decent game could get a boost out of the App Genius!
Yeah, Genius for Apps could be really good. I definitely am looking forward to seeing how it will work!
we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because of inappropriate 'Keywords' used to identify your application. We will not post applications that reference other applications in their search criteria. It would be appropriate to remove smiley from your list of keywords. It is just a lite version of an App I already have in the App store which they recently approved an update, so I can't see what issue they would have and if they did why pick on the keywords? Why not tell me what the issue is? When was the last time your app went through app review, I know people have been rejected for all sorts of stupid keywords. If they are being anal about keywords, halloween is going to be a blast for all those halloween apps...lol. (There is an App called Halloween).
