App stores, it’s not about the numbers

Apple, Google and Amazon all run app stores where customers can find and buy software to run on smartphones and tablets.

You often hear store owners talk about the number of apps they have as if that’s the most important thing to worry about.

It isn’t. What’s more important is whether an app store has the right apps.

Andreas Pfeiffer of Pfeiffer Consulting makes this point in his survey of app store maturity.

Bragging about the total number of apps the way app store providers sometimes do is pointless. Amazon “only” has 85 000 apps it seems, yet it could be the very best app store on the planet—if they were the right apps.

The proud claims about the number of apps available we get from Apple and Google have only one primary function: to show developers and users that their platform is thriving, to make sure they go on developing for it, and, if possible, to give it priority over the competition.

Pfeiffer’s survey concludes app stores still have a long way to go, but that Apple is miles in front of Amazon and Google.