Personally I find app stores to be a blessing and a curse. Finding a suitable app takes a considerable amount of time. Then you have to evaluate the products to see if they meet your needs. I've deleted more apps than I can remember because most simply don't provide the functionality I want. But more recently I decided to go back and use an app I purchased a while ago and I wasn't' a happy chap.
The app is called RedLaser. The app scans barcodes. Ideally I wanted the app to scan a barcode and then use that code with a page I set up on the internet. That feature isn't included in the app, but with the tools Occipital provided (via their site) I was able to create a custom app to do what I wanted, sought of. I say sought of because I wanted to provide the approach to others and this clumsy approach meant it wasn't viable.
So it turned out I'd wasted the time and money on the app. Now when I go to use the custom app it no longer works, so really I've purchased an app with no useful functionality. I suspect the app was updated as a result of being purchased by eBay and the functionality I used was probably removed.
I'd still like to have the functionality, but to find a suitable app I have to read through numerous entries in the app store (again), and in most cases they are simply created as a tool to promote shopping sites overseas and I have no interest in those programs.
Now the blessing part of this is it is quite some time since I purchased the RedLaser app and there are now twice as many apps available. This is now a free app that appears to do what I want so I can now start testing that app.
Another example is more recently I purchased a blogging program because the Safari browser in the iPhone has been crippled so it doesn't provide the ability to upload a photo using the browser to blogger. Again I went through the process of reviewing a number of apps. This time I obtained assistance from a Mac user and from their contacts a Mac user group's discussion list. That saved a lot of time and resulted in one useful suggestion. So the app was purchased. Whilst it was a pretty poor user experience it was still workable. But then the other day I went to post on my blog and it failed as the app stated blogger wasn't accepting posts at that time. I went to the blog directly using Safari and was able to post so the program isn't up to scratch.
For me the app store is not a pleasant experience. It wastes time and money which is really frustrating. When you do have a win by finding something useful all tends to be forgiven. This is really weird. Chances are you'll end up paying someone that isn't helping and the person who is now helping you, will probably end up with nothing and that doesn't quite feel fair. I wonder if it is just me or are others finding a similar experience.
For me I can't wait until the browser functionality catches up and app stores aren't required. I don't know if that will happen soon as the app stores help the companies providing them by locking people in and taking a 30-40% cut from the developer. But I have faith it will happen. It is just a matter of time.
Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/
The app is called RedLaser. The app scans barcodes. Ideally I wanted the app to scan a barcode and then use that code with a page I set up on the internet. That feature isn't included in the app, but with the tools Occipital provided (via their site) I was able to create a custom app to do what I wanted, sought of. I say sought of because I wanted to provide the approach to others and this clumsy approach meant it wasn't viable.
So it turned out I'd wasted the time and money on the app. Now when I go to use the custom app it no longer works, so really I've purchased an app with no useful functionality. I suspect the app was updated as a result of being purchased by eBay and the functionality I used was probably removed.
I'd still like to have the functionality, but to find a suitable app I have to read through numerous entries in the app store (again), and in most cases they are simply created as a tool to promote shopping sites overseas and I have no interest in those programs.
Now the blessing part of this is it is quite some time since I purchased the RedLaser app and there are now twice as many apps available. This is now a free app that appears to do what I want so I can now start testing that app.
Another example is more recently I purchased a blogging program because the Safari browser in the iPhone has been crippled so it doesn't provide the ability to upload a photo using the browser to blogger. Again I went through the process of reviewing a number of apps. This time I obtained assistance from a Mac user and from their contacts a Mac user group's discussion list. That saved a lot of time and resulted in one useful suggestion. So the app was purchased. Whilst it was a pretty poor user experience it was still workable. But then the other day I went to post on my blog and it failed as the app stated blogger wasn't accepting posts at that time. I went to the blog directly using Safari and was able to post so the program isn't up to scratch.
For me the app store is not a pleasant experience. It wastes time and money which is really frustrating. When you do have a win by finding something useful all tends to be forgiven. This is really weird. Chances are you'll end up paying someone that isn't helping and the person who is now helping you, will probably end up with nothing and that doesn't quite feel fair. I wonder if it is just me or are others finding a similar experience.
For me I can't wait until the browser functionality catches up and app stores aren't required. I don't know if that will happen soon as the app stores help the companies providing them by locking people in and taking a 30-40% cut from the developer. But I have faith it will happen. It is just a matter of time.
Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/
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