App pocalypse: Millions of Pointless Apps

Jeff Atwood (Co-founder of stackexchange.com and discourse.org) has written a great piece (and a bit of a rant) on the state of the app ecosystem as he sees it. I share it with you here because there are some profound truths in his points - especially in the chatter regarding how cluttered the app stores are becoming with apps that don't do anything more than a website did in the first place, and the comparison of the $5 coffee to a $3.99 app.

'Have you ever noticed that the people complaining about apps that cost $3.99 are the same people dropping five bucks on a cup of fancy coffee without batting an eyelash? Me too, and I'm with the coffee people. $3.99 for your app? Outrageous!

Now, contrast this with your app, Mr. Developer. I don’t know you from Adam. You’re pitching digital Instant Refresher Juice 1.0 to me in the form of a new app. The return I’m going to get is questionable at best. I already have 30 apps on my phone, some of them very good. Do I need another one? I don’t use the 30 I have. The experience I’m going to get from adding one more app is not trustable. I’m assured of nothing. Last week I bought an app for 99 cents and it was terrible. I used it once, for 15 seconds. I could be shoving $1 straight down the toilet again for all I know. Your app, good sir, is a total gamble. Sure, it’s only a $1 gamble… but it’s a gamble and that fact matters more than any price you might place on it.' - Jeff Atwood