Apps apps and more apps?? Our obsession with apps

slick1twoslick1two Posts: 2,877
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Why are we so obsessed with apps? Do more Apps make a better product like mega pixels to a camera? Not true in both cases but yet we use these things to measure the quality and functionality of a product.

How many people print A2 size prints?? Well I could ask the same thing about the app debate, how many people need 100,000 apps? Many of which are carbon copies of each other. So when you whittle it down are there actually that many original apps?

I've browsed through the Apple App store as well as the google store and there are literally thousands of useless poor quality apps on BOTH platforms. Yet people use the number of apps to on a platform to put down a rival platform. Windows sucks because.......Blackberry sucks because.....blah blah and blah. People will shoot off these kind of comments right off the cuff before even giving the devices a try and seeing how good or bad the core functions and user experiences are on a device. Therefore for many, lack of apps is a deal breaker.

But surely having great primary functions right out of the box and having a smooth and usable operating system outweighs the lack of apps aspect of assessing the quality of a device and platform?

For me, I would rather have a device that has a slick UI, is flash enabled (no it's not dead yet) and can display websites as you see on a desktop. Other important factors should be battery life. Let's face it, you don't want to be running out of juice and charging to often and barely scraping through a day. How about having a good browser that isn't buggy? a decent music and video player that plays a variety of file formats? What about having additional ports such as USB, HDMI out so you can connect to a big screen tv?

I think people tend to overlook some great devices that are out there, due to this app obsession so if it has a million apps it;s a winner, without even looking at the other pros and cons.

Any thoughts on this? Do you put down a platform due to lack of apps or do you base your purchase on other aspects of a device and software? What is a deal breaker for you?
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Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,835
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    The point of apps is to make the smartphone/tablet personalised to what you want. I have loads of apps - satnav, sports apps, apps for watching tv, social messaging.

    The ability to see a website as you can see it on a PC isn't important to me, if it was, I'd buy a PC.

    I'm not quite sure what you really mean, are you saying that the functionality of all apps should already be built into phones/tablets, if so, that's ridiculous and impossible.
  • slick1twoslick1two Posts: 2,877
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    thedrewser wrote: »
    The point of apps is to make the smartphone/tablet personalised to what you want. I have loads of apps - satnav, sports apps, apps for watching tv, social messaging.

    The ability to see a website as you can see it on a PC isn't important to me, if it was, I'd buy a PC.

    I'm not quite sure what you really mean, are you saying that the functionality of all apps should already be built into phones/tablets, if so, that's ridiculous and impossible.

    Nope, I wasn't saying that. I'm saying that why do people obsess over apps? Of course we all use and want useful apps, but what I am talking about is why people tend to knock a device that doesn't have an extensive range of apps. For me I use around 10 or so and I wouldn't mind a few more original apps as long as they are useful and not gimmicky. But I just think it's a poor measure of a platform and device, when there are other important factors to take in to consideration when buying a tablet or smartphone.

    We've all seen reviews on youtube too, where reviewers will bang on about app support yet some devices will do plenty anyways and at least have a decent number of useful apps, which will cater for many users. For instance I have a playbook and it will play stuff like iplayer, itv player, 4od, tv catchup perfectly well off the browser, where other devices would require an app for those sites to work. That's just an example but what my point is, is that I think far too much emphasis is put on apps, with regards to the quantity of apps. More apps equals great, less apps equals fail.

    I feel thats far too simplistic an argument, but people play that card very often.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,835
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    To be honest, the issue of how many apps an ecosystem has available was from a couple of years ago. I've not heard anyone denounce an App store or OS recently for not having apps.
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,538
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    What is the point of a smartphone if you don't utiliise the apps that are out there ? And of course you get to pick to choose which apps you want to use. Even with millions of smartphones outthere, I doubt any two are identifcal in configuration.

    As for quantity, I think android and iphone have reach a point where most of the apps you can think of are on both. There are certainly large numbers of useful apps missing from windows and blackberry. Enough for me to stay away from them.

    As for hardware config, if you are buying iphone then there is not much choice, its only with android that you get to get a choice of which hardware features you want.
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    Everyone has different requirements and people like to get functionality or entertainment which suits them individually. I see nothing wrong with having a lot of choice. That and most apps are very cheap and affordable.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    Apps offer choice of functionality, so you dont have to depend on the manufacturer to have every possible feature you could ever need. Its the same as installing apps on your PC, why bother? Surely if it can explorer files and copy them about its good enough? Nope not for some.

    No phone manufacturer can offer everything that some people are after, including myself.

    A decent sized app store means there will at least be choice of apps, sure some will be a load of crap, but the choice is whats important. Once an app store has matured enough in size, it doesn't matter how big it is really.

    I equate the play store the same as the apple store because they are both mature stores now, where you can find any app you like, with a choice. Where as other app stores aren't quite mature enough in this regard, hence why other features of a smartphone cant make up for a lot of apps.
  • niceguy1966niceguy1966 Posts: 29,560
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    Why do people keep writing books? There are already so many books. I bet most people only read a few per year, and would never read all the existing books. Some books are very similar to existing books.

    I like books in Welsh, I don't have time to read them all. Why do some people think being able to read English is also useful?
  • soransoran Posts: 1,644
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    Ever noticed how some Apple fans will go on about how many more apps Apple have over Android, but when it comes to Mac OSX vs Windows(of which windows has a large advantage) then it becomes about quality is better than quantity?
  • neo_walesneo_wales Posts: 13,625
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    Some people like filling their phone with junk as many do their computers, I've maybe 20 apps on my S3 my daughter has dozens on hers.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    Why do people keep writing books? There are already so many books. I bet most people only read a few per year, and would never read all the existing books. Some books are very similar to existing books.

    I like books in Welsh, I don't have time to read them all. Why do some people think being able to read English is also useful?

    LOL :)
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    soran wrote: »
    Ever noticed how some Apple fans will go on about how many more apps Apple have over Android, but when it comes to Mac OSX vs Windows(of which windows has a large advantage) then it becomes about quality is better than quantity?

    Have iOS and Android as well as Windows 7 and OSX I would say that iOS has more good apps and Windows 7 has more good apps.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    Gormond wrote: »
    Have iOS and Android as well as Windows 7 and OSX I would say that iOS has more good apps and Windows 7 has more good apps.

    They have more worse apps too.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    They have more worse apps too.

    Indeed that can be said for Windows and iOS.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 34
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    I think the whole apps thing might start becoming less important in the future as most platforms will inevitably end up with a solid collection of good apps - you can only have so many good ones, and there are a lot out there which are pretty naff or are just cheap imitations of other apps.
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,538
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    mdt1988 wrote: »
    I think the whole apps thing might start becoming less important in the future as most platforms will inevitably end up with a solid collection of good apps - you can only have so many good ones, and there are a lot out there which are pretty naff or are just cheap imitations of other apps.

    but there are new apps all the time as hardware changes and new ideas of thought of.
  • slick1twoslick1two Posts: 2,877
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    Some people are missing the point here. Is it crucial to have plentiful apps to determine how good a platform is? Like until Android 4.0 arrived the User experience itself was quote buggy, that to me was a bigger issue than lack of apps. First and foremost I want a solid user experience instead of thousands of apps. The apps will come but there are some things you can't customize. Apps won't rewrite programming code for you, that had to come from the OS developers.

    That's why in my original point I was saying there is more to look at when buying a device. But I still hear people all the time using apps as the main selling point. Battery life is a bigger deal too, we keep begging for apps so we get them but we don't make half as much noise for needing a bigger battery.
  • finbaarfinbaar Posts: 4,818
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    Apps are the lifeblood of a smartphones ecosystem. People are obsessed with them because they are useful to them.

    I like app but they are not everything. The most important ones for me are web browsers and GMail client - one of the reasons I use Android. The number of apps is not that relevant, but the quality of the apps is - iOS still leads the way here with Android lagging but improving. WP may have 100,000 apps but the problem there is that many apps are released and never updated and this is something Microsoft has to adrdess.
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,538
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    slick1two wrote: »
    Some people are missing the point here. Is it crucial to have plentiful apps to determine how good a platform is? Like until Android 4.0 arrived the User experience itself was quote buggy, that to me was a bigger issue than lack of apps. First and foremost I want a solid user experience instead of thousands of apps. The apps will come but there are some things you can't customize. Apps won't rewrite programming code for you, that had to come from the OS developers.

    That's why in my original point I was saying there is more to look at when buying a device. But I still hear people all the time using apps as the main selling point. Battery life is a bigger deal too, we keep begging for apps so we get them but we don't make half as much noise for needing a bigger battery.

    you are thinking too android centric

    Apps may determine the platform but they are not going to determine which handset you are going to get if you go the android route.
  • slick1twoslick1two Posts: 2,877
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    finbaar wrote: »
    Apps are the lifeblood of a smartphones ecosystem. People are obsessed with them because they are useful to them.

    I like app but they are not everything. The most important ones for me are web browsers and GMail client - one of the reasons I use Android. The number of apps is not that relevant, but the quality of the apps is - iOS still leads the way here with Android lagging but improving. WP may have 100,000 apps but the problem there is that many apps are released and never updated and this is something Microsoft has to adrdess.

    Well this is my point, the stock apps which are the ones used most predominantly should be flawless and functional. In addition some quality apps are great, doesn't need to be huge in numbers, but I certainly don't feel there needs to thousands of duplicate apps as a measuring stick for how good a device/os is.

    I would take a slick and intuitive OS, (windows phone, playbook os) over a limited (IOS or buggy (previous android versions) because core functionality is so good and the user experience is refined so that its actually a joy to use on a daily basis. Who wants constant force closes, laggy browser issues? I know recent Android os updates have addressed some issues. But don't forget phone vendors skin their handsets and offer a secondary user experience. which may or may not be that good depending how much it has been tweaked.Can't put all Android phones in one basket then, since each handset will differ unless it's a nexus using pure Android. They will all offer the same app range, but not the same user experience!

    Apps will come, as an eco system grows, but I don't think it is the be all and end all when choosing a device. I would say pick one that has ease of use, functionality and is less buggy, then you've got something very decent. Use apps to determine your purchase which many still do, and it's pretty much a lottery (of course there is only one choice with an Apple product, Iphone) But people turn away from windows phones, and granted Blackberry phones have been a bit samey samey the past few years but they are gonna bring out the new OS10 full touch phones. I urge folk to put the apps thing to bed for a moment and see what it actually does well, what are the strengths of the phone and what does the OS offer the user with regards to function. Same with the new Windows phones. I'm as yet undecided on an upgrade but will research what is out there in 2 or 3 months time.
  • scooby1970scooby1970 Posts: 2,797
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    I love discovering new Apps and Games for my phone. I'm so glad I discovered things like Appy Gamer, News Republic, IMDb, TVcatchup, VEVO, Aldiko, FotMob Pro, uTorrent, Colournote, so many more and so many games!

    The choice on both Apple and Android machines is just mind-blowing and there to be discovered!

    :) Mark
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,538
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    slick1two wrote: »

    Apps will come, as an eco system grows, but I don't think it is the be all and end all when choosing a device. I would say pick one that has ease of use, functionality and is less buggy, then you've got something very decent. Use apps to determine your purchase which many still do, and it's pretty much a lottery (of course there is only one choice with an Apple product, Iphone)

    But people turn away from windows phones, and granted Blackberry phones have been a bit samey samey the past few years but they are gonna bring out the new OS10 full touch phones. I urge folk to put the apps thing to bed for a moment and see what it actually does well, what are the strengths of the phone and what does the OS offer the user with regards to function. Same with the new Windows phones. I'm as yet undecided on an upgrade but will research what is out there in 2 or 3 months time.

    AFAIK the only platforms that people may be concerned about lack of apps is Windows and Blackberry. I don't think apps are an issue on iOS or Android.

    I don't know who you are speaking to but I really don't think people see apps as an issue these days. I don't see any threads on this site with people trying to decide on phone based on apps.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    mdt1988 wrote: »
    I think the whole apps thing might start becoming less important in the future as most platforms will inevitably end up with a solid collection of good apps - you can only have so many good ones, and there are a lot out there which are pretty naff or are just cheap imitations of other apps.

    PCs have been about for years and years, yet more software still comes out. As does new games all the time.
  • niceguy1966niceguy1966 Posts: 29,560
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    It all comes down the developers. Most companies don't want to invest in developing 4 or 5 apps to fit every OS out there. My bank released an app just for iOS, and 6 months later the Android version was released. So far, no Windows or BB app is available.

    I use online banking quite a lot, and was annoyed when only the iOS version was available (I have Android) but now I'm happy.

    It isn't the total number of apps that matters, its which OS's do developers think are deployed enough to release apps for. Windows may be lacking some important apps today, but if it gains >25% market share, I'm sure this will not be a problem.

    Either go with one of the big two, or get your crystal ball out and buy something else in the hope it gains market share.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    I don't like a load of stuff built into the OS, I'd rather add apps for the things I want.

    I have about 20 apps and I only install things I really use. I have apps for streaming audio and tv, checking bank transations, news, RDP, shopping list, navigation, setting my PVR, shares and more.

    As everyone is different and likes different things apps are fantastic. It gives you a lot of choice on what you want the app for and what features too.

    I hate pre-installed apps as do a lot of people, because you normally don't use half of them and they take up space and even run in memory sometimes.
  • tdensontdenson Posts: 5,773
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    It isn't the total number of apps that matters, its which OS's do developers think are deployed enough to release apps for. Windows may be lacking some important apps today, but if it gains >25% market share, I'm sure this will not be a problem.

    It's not all about market share though. IOS is attractive to developers for two other reasons. Firstly, there are fewer platforms to have to worry about, and secondly, Apple customers tend to be more willing to spend money on paid apps vs free apps.
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