iPhone App Reviews by iPhone App Reviewer | Games and App Store Reviews

Editorial: Icons, people, icons.

Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by iPhone App Reviewer in Uncategorized

Readers of iPhone App Reviewer know that I end most of my reviews with a “Further Improvements: Note to the Developer!” section.  Well something has come to mind that iPhone application developers need to know.  Being an app reviewer I have to track websites and the app store to find the latest and greatest apps.  When a company contacts me about reviewing an app there’s one huge factor to my decision, first impression.  So we have to look at what makes up a first impression, the main thing, especially when looking at a group of apps, is the icon.

Here at iPhone App Reviewer we have a weekly app bonanza.  This is a post containing intersting apps that have been released to the App Store this week.  How do I find these apps?  I scan pages upon page of applications on tracker sites such as AppShopper to find the apps.  When I’m scanning a group of a couple dozen applications, it’s the applications that pop out at me that I’m even going to look at.  Like an employer looking over resumés, he or she spends only a couple quick minutes looking at the paper, the only ones that will get consideration are the ones that pop out and spark the reader’s interest.  The same goes for iPhone applications.

Take a look at Figure 1.  These icons are pretty dull, out of all the apps I look at a day, are any of these going to take my interest instantly?  Do you really think I’d consider emailing or phoning up the developer inquiring about their app?

These apps all are minimal insuccess.  Apple recently announced it had reached over one billion app downloads, with this they made a page stating some of the most successful apps of all time.  Look at Figure 2, and look what these apps have in common, they all have an eye catching logo icon graphic.  This means that they attracted the public’s eye and thus sold more copies.

There’s quite a few independent “indy” developers out there who have learned the iPhone SDK, Cocoa and Objective C programming, bought their Mac computer and spent long caffiene-filled nights programming their app.  It could be a great app but at the end of it all, they simply pull together a quick application icon graphic thus lowering the initial appeal, this might stop a ton of potential customers from even clicking on the link to the application.  As a final statement take a look at Figure 3, in this upcoming weeks Weekly App Bonanza I chose the app Flu Fighter out of many, it caught my eye when I was scrolling down the page of new apps.

Remember, it’s all market psychology.

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Tags: app icons, developers, editorial, icons

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