Developers have been complaining about the current Top Paid Apps list in the App Store since its inception. The list ranks apps by units sold, which obviously rewards cheaper apps, specifically the $.99 kind. In essence, there is nothing wrong with this approach, but developers have been asking for a another way to rank apps and Apple has finally delivered with a new revenue-based app list.
The new
Top Grossing apps list can be found on the bottom right-hand side of iTunes. Surprisingly, the list actually popped up before iTunes 9 was made available, even before the media event took place, so someone obviously pulled the trigger a little earlier.
If you take a look at the Top Grossing list, you will see quite a few apps that don't appear in the Top Paid Apps list, the list that goes by units sold. For example,
TomTom's navigation app is ranked third in the new revenue-based list, but in the unit-based sales list it can't even be found in the top 300. This new approach is definitely going to help promote those developers whose apps are a bit higher priced but are still selling well.
Who knows, maybe this single new list will even be able to change the entire App Store economy? Although I suppose that may be asking a bit too much.
