NEWS: Why the Apple App Store Doesn’t Work

CULTURE: Why the Apple App Store Doesn’t Work

by Dan Tabor

In some ways the Apple app store is one of the greatest retail platforms ever invented; it gave the ability for anyone to make an application for their iOS platform and sell it to the public. But in some ways it’s also one of the worst. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of those guys hoping to get some hits by throwing some wood on the ol’ I hate Apple bonfire, and I am not talking about bars or death grips either. I have a legitimate beef, and trust me, I love my iPad.



Have you ever purchased an app and had it simply not work like you expected, or just had it crash over and over again? Have you ever downloaded two apps with the exact same functionality, only because the first one didn’t perform exactly as it was listed in the store?  What do you do? I know if I buy a blender at Target and it only works some of the time, I would simply take it back to Target and get a refund. That’s what you do with defective goods, but not with the app store.

The return process on apps is not the easiest or most intuitive, and good luck trying to contact some of these deadbeat developers to get your $2.99 back. Making an app is a lot like having a baby, sure anyone can do it, but you don’t have to support it afterward. The app store, while being the ultimate in convenience, has no safeguard for the consumers who spend up to $200 million a month on applications. They make it painfully easy to spend money, but not so to get it back.

But what Apple is doing by keeping the prices of apps low is most people wouldn’t want to be bothered with trying to get a refund. They will just simply spend another $2-$5 and buy another app which hopefully will fit their needs, and be done with it. Trust me, I have five RSS reader apps for my iPad and I am still looking for a good one.

So, where’s the guarantee that you’re going to get what you want when you hit that “buy now” button?  You can’t try before you buy on most apps, and the reviews are about as trustworthy and reliable as what you would read on a truck stop bathroom wall. Also, with so many apps now for the two platforms, quality control has started to slip to the point where a 15-year-old got a tethering app through the “very stringent” Apple app store Q&A.

I guess as long as Apple is too busy approving sub-par apps, which we continue to buy, this will keep happening. If there is no real penalty (i.e., easy refunds for consumers or support) for delivering a product that “kind of works,” developers will continue to do so, at least until Apple has another class action lawsuit on their hands when someone actually figures out they spent over $100 on apps just to find $10 worth of good ones.

I liked this thread better the first time it was posted.

And this one of the big reasons I'm so happy with the android market. 24 hour, no questions asked return policy. Developers have no say in the matter either. The market dictates the policy and stands by it. If an app doesn't do what it claims to do, does it poorly, or just plain sucks, uninstall it and no worries. It seems all Apple cares about is building the biggest, not the best.

Of all the things wrong with Apple's app model, this is what you complain about?

The Restaurant locator "R" app was a completely
non-functioning release, and Apple immediately credited my account when I complained. Other than that I have never had any problems. No 3G in my town, but I use WiFi at home and can't blame Apple for that. To me, the iPhone is the greatest thing in the last 10 years.

I haven't had any apps crash or not work the way they were stated to perform but I must not be too picky. My iPad has some hundred apps, but only about 20 are just for the iPad. I suppose if you had a windows based program it would be just as flawed, but who knows because the Microsoft market is so far behind I still laugh maniacally at the idea of "Windows Vista". Anyways, I would just make sure you carefully critique each app when you purchase or play it. The only way others are going to know is if everyone accurately critiques the app. I usually read up on an app before purchase.

Life is not somebody else's fault, they put the apps out there and you decide. Mc Donald's is not good for you, eating it is still solely your decision. their apps offering is a smorgasbord, not a decision maker. Apple will always credit you if you don't like an app.

Every time I read things like these, I wonder why people have not dropped the hype and actually went with a real phone OS.

Nope.

Nope.

As someone who has had a 3G for some time, and now an iPhone 4, I have over 300 apps and have had very few apps I've been disgusted with. Those few have either been free or .99 cents.

There are so many App review sites and forums now, and using some common sense (does this developer have more than one App out? How does it review? How long has the App been out? How many updates?) should really minimize your perceived harm.

really?

I don't hate Apple, i don't love Apple, but the greatest thing in the last 10 years?

You do realize without some of the communication innovations in the last 10 years that don't get a tenth of the media attention as the i-phone/androids, you would be holding a paperweight that could simply make and receive phone calls?

Apple truly has made the mousetrap better, as much as the Androids have also. With this competition we're going to be some huge steps in smart-phone technology, we're not done here.

But they are both built off innovations that neither Apple or any of the Android phones can take credit for. There would be no way these phones could function without the technology that went into the 3G and 4G networks.

Could you imagine trying to use skype on the first generation network? It wouldn't be possible because the 1G network was all analog. Nothing was encrypted and a simple scanner could pick up a cellular phone call.

Don't get me wrong, the smart phones are really cool, but hardly the best thing to come out in the last ten years. The smart phones heavily rely on other things to make them as great as they are.

An app should have a trial run, say 1-2 days. If you like it, you buy it, if not, it self destructs. That's fair and it prevents the consumer from wasting their money. You are right on the money with the dollar amount being too small for most people to care about a refund, but an app maker shouldn't be allowed to flood the market place with apps that hold false promises, in an effort to fatten their wallet and lighten yours.

I'm going to have to say that if you don't like app store, don't use it. Obviously this author didn't read the iTunes Store terms and condition service agreement upon first use of the iTunes application and the stores within. On that note, I'm going to say RTFM, in referencing an end user should always read the terms of service and conditions agreement before using any software. If they don't like the terms of service, then don't use that software.

We should liken the iTunes store to a television. Say you have a Sony TV and you see a commercial on that television screen of a juicy apple created by ABC company. You buy this apple and upon first use your juicy apple has a worm in it, its just not working for you! Do you call Sony and tell them that you want a refund of the apple? Do you blame Sony for providing a platform for that commercial that sold you the apple? The end user has to assume at least some responsibility too. It is the end user's CHOICE to take that chance to buy that apple, based on that commercial, not created by Sony, that used the Sony television as only a platform to present to you, the end user. It is the end user's responsibility to read the terms and conditions set forth by software providers and then make the CHOICE of using that software and services rendered. This is the nature of the beast for the time being.

Gawd. If you want to complain about igadgets, how about the fact that you can't play a fucking .avi file on one? and converting one to mp4, one at a time, on a $2000 Macbook Pro, takes nearly as long as the runtime? Or how you can't download or upload anything on one when you travel without wiping the drive or your friend's itunes library? How the "unlocked" price for an iphone is astronomical, and even if you pay it, there is no sim card slot and no real international utility, otherwise available in phones costing as little as $20?

Nuances of the app store are the least of these devices' problems.

love me some android
and windows 7