Bad apps mar the experience, according to survey

The only reason bad apps discourage people from buying other apps is because THERE IS NO REFUND MECHANISM on iTunes. There is no question that the inability to try an app, or get a refund, hurts overall sales.

A 24 hour trial period would solve this issue.

There are a million things Apple could do to help users avoid bad App purchases: more subcategories, more advanced searching and browsing (i.e. links to Apps similar to one you are considering and other such Amazon features), sort by rating, and allowing you to filter Genius recommendations so that you can see lists of Apps based on specifically chosen Apps that you already own or specific categories (especially if they can get rid of the duplicate recommendations!) are just a few examples that come to mind.

Still, it would be awesome if Apple released something akin to Google's App Inventor (http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/android-app-inventor-lets-you-be-the-developer-video/) so that power iOS users can create their own custom Apps, when one is needed for personal use, without having to pay $99 bucks a year. At the very least, let us do something code based (like TI or Palm Basic) so I can hope regain the some of the programing capability of my TI-82 graphing calculator. Okay need to try C64 too!

As it stands, app stores really are the most effective way yet to get people to sift through so much of what would be called "shovel-ware", if it were distributed on CDs at brick and mortar stores, before they can find the real gems. That is why people can be turned off to apps: it's more like being turned off to a particular musical genre after experiencing a couple of bad performances.

The key phrase in the article describing the survey is "mobile app using adults".

We not only don't know, from this article, what the survey questions were, we also don't know how many were using the platforms involved. How many were using Android, Rim, Symbian or other apps.

Given all the unknowns, I would say the survey is worthless.

I have 328 apps. I don't know if that's a lot or a little. I guess 100 of them are on the phone. Some kinds, the ones that were really important to me, I have in multiple forms - like a radio app (finally found one I like). Others were flavour of the month for a while, but I hardly think I'll so much as tap them again. Yet others Might have a use if I travel, or work on something specific. The point is, that I love fiddling and trying things out and finding fault with peoples user interfaces.

I gave my 20 year old daughter my 3G when I upgraded. There were 2 apps she wanted - something for Facebook and something for Twitter. In 6 weeks she hasn't so much as looked at the app store. Everything she can think of to use a phone for is covered, by what she's got in phone or from those two.

I don't think she's all that unusual. Not everyone sees their iPhone as a mini computer.

Is it safe to say that those 9% of people are just not very intelligent? I mean seriously..

I think this only make's Apple's case for not including Flash even stronger. If a bad Flash app ran slowly or ate up battery, users wouldn't blame Adobe. They'd blame Apple

People are so GD stupid

Actually, for me, I use the reviews I read here and in other e-zine sources to make most of my AppStore choices. I also think a wider survey would reveal that the same proportion of people who are dubious about the AppStore are also new to the Apple experience and may have been 'burned' by other downloaded app experiences.

So many of the little surveys bring up more questions than they give us answers. I have paid for - and deleted - a small number of lame attempts from the AppStore and I agree how many of the earliest were undercooked or half-baked. I am also concerned about the weeding out of unpopular, or fairly old apps, and especially those who demonstrate little or no support

I've downloaded good apps only to have them ruined by a developers update.

A "revert to previous version" button would be appreciated. Yes it can be done manually, but it's a hassle that wipes out saved information.

Also, a "Hide updates for this item" button would be good.

MAR not mark. it's called proofreading... or no command of the english language.