Under The Bridge

Here’s an unusual news feed to watch from iPhone app review site 148apps.com; along with the expected lists of 148 newest, 148 top ever,  148 top free, 148 top paid, and so forth, they have a page devoted to the last 5 days of price drops.

Discuss amongst yourself the reasons that this list is so lengthy. Is it simply that all these apps aren’t selling? In that case, is it because they’re not worth the price, or is it simply that buyers are cheap? Or are these developers rationally maximizing revenue by charging early adopters more then reducing the price? Or are these transient reductions to pump up download count and improve one’s rankings? Or some other motivation altogether?

While we won’t pretend to have a definitive answer, it’s quite clear that the mass of applications available is now starting to cut out the easy money and some thought needs to be put into marketing as well. Once we finish up the various contracts on the go and turn to writing our own stuff, no doubt we’ll come up with some insights and be sure to share them with you all.

However, there is an answer to another thing that may have struck you as odd: Why 148apps.com? Why not 147? Or 149? Well, as they say:

148 is the maximum number of applications you can install at once on the iPhone OS device. (9 pages x 16 = 144 + 4 in the static bar at the bottom = 148) But 148 includes the default applications. As of 2.1 that is 19 apps leaving you with 129 installable apps. We know because we tried it! What happens if you try to install more? Nothing, iTunes lets you do it, but they just don’t show up on the menu.

Indeed, we are glad they informed us of that, to save us the heartbreak that would no doubt have followed with the failure to install application number 130. Whew!