there are more than 10,000. Amid growing criticism that the App Store is catering to the lowest common denominator by highlighting applications in a way that the cheapest will be most popular, Apple has made a small tweak, AppleInsider notes.
The changes are on the store's application category pages. Apple now highlights the most popular ones in each category on these pages. More importantly, it separates out the "Top Paid Apps" from the "Top Free Apps" -- and it even emphasizes the Top Paid Apps more by placing them on the left-hand side of the page, while the Top Free Apps are on the right-hand side (most of us naturally look from left to right because that is how we read).
This is a nice change that will help consumers find more of the great apps that are in the store. But don't expect this to end the concerns some developers have about the store's pricing, like the ones Twitteriffic developer Craig Hockenberry expressed in a recent open letter to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
Hockenberry worried that the "proliferation of 99 cent 'ringtone apps'" is affecting app development. Separating free apps from paid ones won't stop that since, technically, $0.99 apps are "paid" ones. And even if you then tried to separate out $0.99 apps, then the paid section would probably be dominated by $1.99 apps.
It's a problem, to be sure, only because popularity breeds more popularity and price point is currently one of the single biggest entry factors to this popularity in the App Store. If someone makes a great $7.99 app, but no one can find it because it doesn't hit the top sales charts, potentially thousands of dollars and jobs could be out the window.
That's another reason why I think Apple needs to start having demo version of apps. A system like that would help apps that cost more than free or $0.99 find an audience.
But at the same time, I've been seeing an increasing number of high production-value apps coming into the App Store. The companies behind these apps, like EA and soon ngmoco with Rolando, don't seem to mind setting prices as high as $9.99 for apps they consider worth it. EA even told me that they'd be willing to go to higher price points than $9.99 if the production warranted.
If the iPhone (and iPod touch) is really starting to be seen as a worthy competitor to systems like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, which have games that run from $20-$50, it seems reasonable that at least some iPhone games should be able to sell at prices above $10.
Of course, EA is a huge gaming company and ngmoco has venture backing from Kleiner Perkins; not every app development house is like that. They need to make ends meet by moving many copies of their app. Unfortunately, right now, that's easier to do at lower price points.