Big thanks to Apple for the new look and functionality of iTunes!

[Syndicated Puzzles]

Wow! Congratulations on a job well done. The new iTunes is breathtaking, but more importantly the visibility of apps has increased immensely. The underbelly of the Appstore is reserved to under performing apps only. Apps now have multiple ways to be found.

A great day for Developers! Good apps have a realistic chance of being purchased now and the charts are going to be more realistic and more competitive. Love everything about the "New" iTunes.

[schplurg]

Wow! Congratulations on a job well done. The new iTunes is breathtaking, but more importantly the visibility of apps has increased immensely. The underbelly of the Appstore is reserved to under performing apps only. Apps now have multiple ways to be found.

A great day for Developers! Good apps have a realistic chance of being purchased now and the charts are going to be more realistic and more competitive. Love everything about the "New" iTunes.

I'm still undecided. Under Racing games there is now a What's Hot area and the first games listed are three Racing Live "Prestige Points" offerings. I have doubts as to how hot all three of them could really be.

Oh wow, I see Dave is "In The Spotlight" though. okay I guess I approve LOL. The layout is a bit different I must say.

[MrBlue]

Most of my stuff is no where to be found.

But I did somehow manage to end up in the spotlight in the iPad Word Games section.

http://donomagames.com/Misc/SpotlightSmall.jpg


:D

[Syndicated Puzzles]

schplurg,

The dust has to settle and the bugs have to be ironed out. We now have a fighting chance to move up and down the "multiple" lists. This was a lot of work and a lot of energy and brain power went in to this new iTunes. Devs have been very critical with the lack of exposure for their apps and Apple did something about it. The new iTunes is a great step and requirement to allow the app store to grow even more.

[mrWalrus]

I agree. Apple doesn't get enough credit for how they've continually evolved their platform. The App store has come a long way.

Kudos to Apple.

[schplurg]

schplurg,

The dust has to settle and the bugs have to be ironed out. We now have a fighting chance to move up and down the "multiple" lists. This was a lot of work and a lot of energy and brain power went in to this new iTunes. Devs have been very critical with the lack of exposure for their apps and Apple did something about it. The new iTunes is a great step and requirement to allow the app store to grow even more.

Cool. I just discovered it so I'll take a deeper look. The layout is cool. I know every time Apple changes something in iTunes it kind of gets done in steps, so I agree that it's probably "in process".

:)

[MrBlue]

And...it's gone. Looks like this spotlight thing rotates pretty quickly!? Good thing I took a screenshot.

[Foursaken_Media]

Looks kind of chaotic and random to me. I mean, 1500 featured apps? Like 150 apps in each genre's spotlight? No one wants to sort through that and I can't imagine it doing much to help exposure -- especially considering that most of the exposure comes from actually being on the featured or whats hot list on the phone itself. Congrats to Daredevil Dave, but while seeing the #1 racing app in the spotlight is cool and all, its not going to help out with middle ground apps exposure.

I do like being able to see the top 200 in each category though, especially overall.

[eJayStudios]

I don't see any changes in iTunes, do I miss something??

[eJayStudios]

found it, but no idea how it works?

Vector Rally is still featured under Hot Games, but not under Racing 'Featured'?

[schplurg]

Looks kind of chaotic and random to me. I mean, 1500 featured apps? Like 150 apps in each genre's spotlight? No one wants to sort through that and I can't imagine it doing much to help exposure -- especially considering that most of the exposure comes from actually being on the featured or whats hot list on the phone itself. Congrats to Daredevil Dave, but while seeing the #1 racing app in the spotlight is cool and all, its not going to help out with middle ground apps exposure.

I do like being able to see the top 200 in each category though, especially overall.

After looking around some more I agree that it's pretty chaotic. But maybe Apple is still sorting stuff out.

On some pages you can't use the Back Button to go to the previous page.

I know they redid the actual individual App Pages recently...the 5-Stars etc being below the screen shots now. Those pages were somewhat broken for a few days (couldn't sort reviews, etc)

[Ozden79]

I agree that things got pretty hectic. Every screen is now full of icons all around and your eyes can't easily pick up what is what...

Needs more work to be usable...

[Fabulapps]

I agree too, but that's already a nice move for developers. We just discovered we are also featured In the Spotlight under Arcade and Strategy :)

I hope they will add a new look for the Appstore on iPhone too, like a Top 200 for example.

[ihavenolife]

Wow it's really great.

And some of my apps are in top charts now, thats great.

Thanks Apple.

[Uptown Arts]

I'm not seeing the "In the spotlight" section now.

[drPedro]

seems that "In the Spotlight" section that are in each category is now called "New and noteworthy" (better consistency)
Anyway, it is a good move for apple as you've all said.
I'm also a happy man since my first little app in now in ipad entertainment "new and noteworthy" in most country where the ipad is going out today (but not in the US store yet!)

Pierre
-------
toy in app store: Draw with Stars! (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-stars-play-musical-glowing/id367460661?mt=8)

[Syndicated Puzzles]

I have not noticed an improvement in my sales, it still is very early with the new format of iTunes. I have quite a few highlighted games that have generated no sales spike. Anyone benefit yet?

[schplurg]

I have not noticed an improvement in my sales, it still is very early with the new format of iTunes. I have quite a few highlighted games that have generated no sales spike. Anyone benefit yet?

Nope.

My guess is that games that were already featured are now amongst a sea of icons and aren't as "spotlit" anymore. My visibility in What's Hot also changed at that time (moved to the right and out of view without scrolling) so it's hard to measure for me personally.

[Uptown Arts]

It hasn't made much difference in my sales or rankings. I think most sales are driven by the app store on the device.

[AssyriaGameStudio]

It hasn't made much difference in my sales or rankings. I think most sales are driven by the app store on the device.

Indeed, based on my estimates around 80% of sales are from the device, with around 20% being from iTunes itself. Im hoping that there may be a new layout or the addition of some feature slots when OS 4.0 comes out on the actual devices...

[GlennX]

If you look under 'racing/what's hot/see all' there is a list of 120 'hot' racing games which features Ground Effect Lite. This has to be the lightest weight 'feature' of all and has, predictably, had no discernible effect on download numbers.

[mobileben]

If you look under 'racing/what's hot/see all' there is a list of 120 'hot' racing games which features Ground Effect Lite. This has to be the lightest weight 'feature' of all and has, predictably, had no discernible effect on download numbers.

Yeah, I think you're right. It is a great idea and step, but not quite enough to help the indie devs.

Hoops Madness is in the top spot of What's Hot in Sports Games and in the second row in Arcade. Effects on sales has been pretty minimal.

They seem to have some form of weighting on apps, since I tried an experiment and changed categories from Family to Arcade to see if it would make a difference.

I think at the end of the day, what other people have said is right. Most people use the iPhone to view the store. So being featured on the iPhone, being in the top 25 list of any category, and being a new release all have bigger impacts (though the new Releases is a bit hit or miss, but you are more visible for a small window of time).

Having QuitIt! listed on the actual "What's Hot" before ... I can tell you first hand that has a huge impact :p.

[Uptown Arts]

In the Music category, of the five apps on the front page of "New and Noteworthy," only one is in the top 100 (free or paid): "Justin Bieber Amazing Facts + Videos" at 90.

I was a little disappointed when Aqua Chimes was in the "Spotlight" section, then got cut off when the section changed names and was limited to 20 apps. But I guess it makes no difference.

[Sinecure Industries]

Heh, I was able to see Halp! go up yesterday in the Productivity category after we dropped the price to free, that was nice.

[schplurg]

I wish Apple would moderate the categories at least a little bit. Why is a Ganster Wars clone (free btw) in the New And Noteworthy section of Racing? I know my own game isn't technically racing, but it was hard to decide where to put Dave. He's on a motorcycle at least, you go fast LOL.

Even if they don't moderate the sections, why the hell is it in New n Noteworthy (racing)? I assume an actual human has to put it there. Stupid.

Other interesting "racing games"....Mob Wars, Game Dock, Homerun Derby 3D.

:rolleyes:

The Entertainment category seems to be a catch-all for all games. We are forced to pick a second category and there really is no other choice. Thinking about putting DD in Finance and see how that goes :D

[o0Autumn0o]

I wish Apple would moderate the categories at least a little bit. Why is a Ganster Wars clone (free btw) in the New And Noteworthy section of Racing? I know my own game isn't technically racing, but it was hard to decide where to put Dave. He's on a motorcycle at least, you go fast LOL.

Even if they don't moderate the sections, why the hell is it in New n Noteworthy (racing)? I assume an actual human has to put it there. Stupid.

Other interesting "racing games"....Mob Wars, Game Dock, Homerun Derby 3D.

:rolleyes:

The Entertainment category seems to be a catch-all for all games. We are forced to pick a second category and there really is no other choice. Thinking about putting DD in Finance and see how that goes :D

DD reminds me of a smarmy accountant I work with, I'd say go for it :D

[GlennX]

I know my own game isn't technically racing, but it was hard to decide where to put Dave. He's on a motorcycle at least, you go fast LOL.


There are a lot of far less 'racing' games in that chart. I think a few developers have realised that it's good for visibility. When Ground Effect Lite was released in March it stayed on the new releases page of racing for 8 days compared to 24 hours or so on the Arcade page.

Ground Effect is also in the top 100 racing games in 70 stores which, between them, add up to maybe 3 sales per day. Strangely GE gets far more sales from the UK and US where it's out of the 100.

There are some weird things going on in the smaller stores. In Lithuania for example Ground Effect is 7 in Paid Racing, 24 in arcade and 71 in All games. The total number of paid sales in Lithuania is, as far as I can tell, none! Presumably the 93 downloads it had during the FAAD promo are enough to elevate it above the rest of the zero selling competition :)