Apple’s App Store, as well as its smaller competitors, could use the help. As the app market has grown first from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of apps, a huge mismatch has developed between the number of worthwhile apps and those that can receive any significant exposure through Apple’s own discovery mechanism, its App Store leaderboards.
When it started up this January, Chomp focused on collecting reviews and ratings for apps. Now it’s parlaying those into what Keighran says will be like a Google for apps, surfacing the best content for the user’s desire based on search terms.
The comparison to Google only goes so far, though. Google’s version of search works because most websites are still quite text-heavy. Apps are distinct programs that don’t necessarily involve text at all, beyond the name — which might not do much to describe what the app does.
Chomp’s search starts with the name and category that iDevice apps have been assigned, but it also mines reviews, both those left by earlier Chomp users and any left on the App Store entry. It then offers alternate search terms beneath the initial results, to help narrow down to what the user wants.
Quality is also more important for apps than for web pages — while users who are performing a search may just want a particular snippet of information, apps are often a paid-for experience that users want to know is worth their time. So Chomp has incorporated its existing user ratings into the search results, using them to help influence the rankings.
Keighran likens a search for apps to a looking for new music. “Everyone that has a collection of music constantly wants new music,” he says. “Everyone has a friend who’s always finding the latest apps … there’s new stuff getting discovered every day, and a core set of users influencing others around them to download more.”
Mobile game developers should find Chomp’s new version interesting, since the choke-point of the App Store has made development a risky proposition — developers can spend significantly on a new game, only to find that it flops due to not hitting the app store’s rankings. It’s not clear yet that search is the right solution, but Chomp itself isn’t putting all its eggs into search; the Chomp app still offers personalized recommendations, as well.
Although it’s just for the iPhone for now, Keighran says Chomp will eventually expand onto Android, and perhaps beyond. Unlike the web, serving multiple platforms will just be a fact of life for any app search engine. “The problem as it stands today is fragmentation and walled gardens, and that’s how it will be for the next few years,” he says.
Source: Inside Social Games
Tuesday, August 24, 2010