Apple is reportedly considering a paid search model for the App Store
Apple is reportedly considering a major change to the App Store. According to a new story from Bloomberg, Apple could possibly add a Google-like paid search feature.
Taking a page from Google
Here’s more from the report:
Among the ideas being pursued, Apple is considering paid search, a Google-like model in which companies would pay to have their app shown at the top of search results based on what a customer is seeking. For instance, a game developer could pay to have its program shown when somebody looks for “football game,” “word puzzle” or “blackjack.”
The site says that around 100 Apple employees are working on the project. Many are from the scaled down iAd team.
A step in the wrong direction?
While we don’t know if a paid search option will truly come to fruition, I doubt many people believe it would be good for the App Store, iOS device users, or most importantly developers.
The App Store is already a multi-billion dollar business. Instead of trying to make more money from it, I’d like to see Apple actually concentrate on improving the laughable search features. That would be a much more important, and worthwhile, first step. A paid search model is one Google trick Apple truly doesn’t need to emulate.
What should Apple do make it easier to search for apps?