[jayfuerstenberg]

If you're about to release your first app on the app store you're not qualified to understand its dynamics. Sorry.

I believe this redesign is a small step backward, and some sort of step forward. Showing a screenshot is a good idea but users are notoriously lazy and won't venture past even a few results so it creates a feedback loop where only the best performers get rewarded, further fueling that performance.

[drgath]

> If you're about to release your first app on the app store you're not qualified to understand its dynamics. Sorry.

Possibly. But it does mean he's more qualified to view the App Store from a user's perspective, instead of a developer's. The App Store is designed for users, not for developers, which was his whole point.

[jayfuerstenberg]

OP is thinking he can enter the app store and have his app somehow be better than all the apps that came before it to the point where it'll rise to the top in iOS 6's listings.

My app (KEYBOX) has been on the app store for over a year and in magazines and whatnot and I've ASO'd it to quite an extent where the sales have stabilized but penetrating the first few pages for most searches in various languages still proves challenging.

Users fall into roughly 3 categories...

1. Actively looking for your app (be it by name or function) and will buy right away.

2. Not looking for your app but may buy if they stumble upon it.

3. Not looking for your app and and wouldn't buy even if they stumbled upon it.

We developers don't have to do much to get users from group #1, and #3 is simply not interested. We want to be in front of the eyeballs of members of group #2. Apple's rankings are still a black box but the higher up our apps appear in the listings the more likely they are to be seen and therefore purchased.

The app store is designed to make money above all else and if Apple wants to keep it that way it needs to make sure apps aren't hidden in the catacombs of the app store. This redesign my end up doing just that.