Apple improves App Store discovery with revenue-based chart and Genius support

Apple's It's Only Rock and Rock press conference threw up some interesting points, such as the first footage of Assassin's Creed II Discovery, Gameloft's Halo-like shooter Nova, Tapulous' Riddim Ribbon, and EA Mobile’s announcement of micro-transactions for Madden NFL 10.

New iPod touches - at 32GB and 64GB, and based on the iPhone 3GS graphical hardware - were also announced, alongside an iPod nano with video camera.

For developers however, the main story might be tweaks to the App Store, which are rolled into the new iTunes 9 release and the new OS 3.1 firmware update.

As part of this, Apple's Genius recommendation service has been extended to apps.

Of course, the App Store has always had recommendations in terms of the 'Customers also bought...' section for each game, but the more formal data collection and personalised analysis of Genius - as well as better placement for recommendations in terms of position within iTunes - will improve the situation.

Another feature developers have long been asking for is a change to how the Top 100 chart is constructed, using a 'by revenue' rather than a 'by number of downloads' metric.

This would encourage developers to price games higher than 99c, although it has been pointed out that the most benefit will go to publishers such as EA Mobile and Gameloft who have the most titles priced at $4.99 and $6.99.

Smaller publishers and developers such as PopCap (Peggle at $4.99) and Firemint (Real Racing at $6.99) would also benefit.

However it's not yet clear that the main Top 100 chart will be reorganised on these lines, only that a Top Grossing chart will be added to the existing selection of Top Paid and Top Free.

Still, it does show that Apple is listening to developers’ concerns.

31 August 2010 App Store surpasses 250,000 live apps, paid make up 70%

27 August 2010 FTC clamps down on App Store's paid for reviews

23 August 2010 Uzu for iPad sales jump tenfold following App of the Week promo

10 August 2010 Apple rolls out Genius recommendations for iPad

06 August 2010 Android and iOS will rule app downloads in 2010 gaining 78% market share