I recently found the screenshot I took of my homescreen when I started with AppAdvice (then AppleiPhoneApps) five months ago, before OS 3.0 was released. It's crazy when you sit back and think about the number of changes that can happen in such a short period of time.
I'm curious how it is for you, but for me the apps on my homescreen fluctuate on a weekly basis. Nearly half a year later, after testing out literally hundreds of apps, several of the apps on my homescreen are still the same ones I had when I started out. i.TV is still there, Todo by Appigo is still there, Facebook is still there. Though all three apps received major upgrades recently.
However, TweetDeck replaced Tweetie, Now Playing lost out to Flixster (for the time being) and Textfree replaced Apple's SMS Messages app. Simplenote and Evernote together have replaced Apple's Notes app too.
What this all tells me is that iPhone development is fast. While some of the apps I use today might be the same ones I used five months ago, I only use them today because they received massive upgrades in the interim. Each of the apps you see in my screenshot had an upgrade very recently and, in some cases, has been upgraded two or three times in five months time. We can (and do) complain non-stop about Apple's approval process and the length of time it takes an app to get through, but the fact remains that it is still an insanely competitive market and if an app falls behind the competition it's just one short wiggle away from being deleted.
In what other market is it that easy to get rid of a lagging product and adopt a competitor? The word hypercompetitive has been around for years to describe markets where it is difficult for companies to gain a solid advantage for an extended period of time. That term was coined before the iPhone though and before the existence of an App Store where it is takes mere seconds and costs nothing to install a better app that can do almost anything. This ultracompetitive market is keeping developers on their toes and pushing innovation years ahead of other App Stores.
So it gets me curious. What does your homescreen look like now and how has it changed in the last six months? Upload screenshots to Flickr, Twitpic or some service, link us to it in the comments and tell us about the changes. Why are apps on your homescreen? Why not?
