Gold Rush In App Store As Apple ‘Reportedly’ Switches Matrices
The App Store has been all shook up – no longer is Angry Birds the top Free App – that’s been replaced by Facebook despite it being between the number 10 to 20 range for the past year. Netflix has moved up from number 50 to number 24 and even Pandora has risen over 10 spots to number 13.
So what’s happening? It appears that Apple have changed their algorithm by looking not just at the number of downloads an app receives – as it did previously – but also how popular an app is in terms of reviews. This could be an attempt by Apple to reward developers for designing more robust and engaging apps. It is a system we have always used here at theappwhisperer.com and we know Apple constantly monitors our site. As far as we are concerned just because an app has had 1 million downloads it does not necessarily capture its popularity as it could be deleted by 500,000 users after 5 minutes of using it. We have always gone deeper in terms of how good an app is and it looks like Apple now are doing the same. This is all good news for the consumer of course and gives a much fairer scale of app popularity.
Also of note, Apple appears to have expanded the App Store bestseller list to include the top 300 apps, up from just the top 50.
Analytics firm Flurry was one of the first to call attention to the differences. “We’ve been noticing changes in the Top Free rankings for at least three days now,” said vice president of marketing Peter Farago. “From our point of view, Apple is absolutely considering more than just downloads, which we believe is the right direction to measure true popularity of an app.”
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
