@marksbren

Highlights

Searching appstore

Hello?!?! Can we talk to our customers?

Iphone_fail

One thing I have found very lacking in the app stores is ability to communicate with users. I read reviews in the Apple Appstore, Android Marketplace, and BlackBerry App World and cannot help users with their problems. It is quite frustrating. Why can't developers contact users? If someone leaves a comment that the app is crashing I should be able to easily message them and help out. It seems like the current method communicating with users is collecting email addresses on signup or dropping a "contact us" link in the application. Both methods introduce friction. Why not allow contact through the marketplace similar to how users get notifications of updates?

Discovering mobile applications

With so many applications in the iPhone appstore discovery is becoming more of an issue. There are just too many. It is becoming such an issue that applications are being created to help you find applications. These include Chomp (iTunes link) and Appolicious (iTunes link). 

So, how do you increase discoverability? On the web, the search engines helped discoverability. Google's brilliant move was to use links as a ranking system. Also, Adwords helped smaller sites buy their way to discoverability. What are the equivalent data structures for mobile applications? With such a scattered marketplace (Apple, Google, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Verizon and other carriers are all making application stores) how will apps be discovered across platforms? 

Or will the appstores continue to be cluttered with thousands of applications? Maybe the next step is making applications for finding applications that help you discover applications. For some reason, I doubt it.