[gurkendoktor]

> could anyone please give me an objective argument

I think it is really subjective and about the "long tail" of apps. If I say that OmniFocus locks me into the Appleverse, someone else will mention an Android-exclusive app and we'll (objectively ;)) discuss for hours. Carcassonne and Anthill may not have worthy Android ports, but I'm probably missing out on Google's best-in-class maps.

The shopping experience may also have a lot to do with each platform's perception. The Play front page[1] looks absolutely uninviting to me. In iTunes or on the iPad, I usually scroll around and discover apps by topic. What do I do in the Play store if I know all the front page apps already (not hard)?

[1] for those of us who are abroad: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...

[bookwormAT]

IMHO all appstores actually fail when it comes to app discovery. It comes down to lists of apps and full text search in app descriptions, ranked by such poor metrics as number of installs or user ranking.

If you need an app for iOS or android, do the same thing you do when you need an app for the web:

ask a search engine!

http://goo.gl/kw8UK

http://goo.gl/66kVp

[gurkendoktor]

That works when you know what you want, i.e. for the first handful of apps. And on almost every tablet I've seen, games outnumber apps.

And when this thread got me curious and I was googling for Android versions of games I like, I had to dig through pages of spam to realize there was no port.

[_ea1k]

> What do I do in the Play store if I know all the front page apps already (not hard)?

Click on the categories link on the left side, and then browse.

[ajross]

Or select on any app you like and use and scroll down to "Users also Installed" and "Users also Viewed". This is a great way to find cool stuff.

It's also unclear if the grandparent is talking about the literal front page of "featured" apps, or the infinite scrolling list of "top" apps by all the categories (currently: Paid, Free, Grossing, New Paid, New Free, and Trending).

I mean, I'm sure one can ding the Play Store for UI wierdness in places, but discoverability has never been one of its flaws in my view.

[gurkendoktor]

Good point about "People also liked".

I meant the literal front page of both stores: Clicking the "App Store" tab in iTunes (same as opening "App Store" on the iPad), vs. going to the page I've linked.

Both stores have categories, but I don't enjoy browsing through them. By topic, I meant the hand-picked thematic groups of apps on the App Store front page, like "Racing Games", "Cookbooks", "Fun for Two Players", "Apps for Travelling" etc. - I really enjoy those. Everything that is hand-picked feels a hundred times more interesting than an automated list to me.