100 Best Products of '09 – The App Store
The Number One Product of 2009 According to PC World
Nov 16, 2009
According to PC World's yearly article “100 Best Products of the Year,” in 2009, the number one product of the year was Apple's iTunes App Store, and for good reason. With a sleek, easy-to-use interface, thousands upon thousands of products, and over 2 billion downloads, it is definitely deserving of its ranking.
User-Friendly Interface
The iTunes App Store has a very user-friendly, straightforward interface that makes it easy for users to navigate and to find what the apps that they want. When users first open the App Store, they are presented with a sleek 3-column layout that allows them to view various categories, featured applications, the top free apps, and the top paid apps.
They can then search for specific apps or keywords, with the results of the search displayed in an organized, easy to browse list. Users who don't know exactly what they are looking for can browse through the categories, exploring the most popular apps as decided by the massive App Store user base.
Large User Community
The large user community of Apple's App Store proves advantageous in many ways. With so many users, most apps have hundreds, if not thousands, of product reviews and ratings.
Anyone searching for apps in the App Store can scroll through the hundreds of reviews to make an informed decision about the app they are planning to purchase. Although some of the reviews can be unhelpful and filled with spam, most of the reviews detail the pros and cons of purchasing the specified application.
Over 2 Billion Downloads
One of the biggest reasons that the iTunes App Store deserves its rating, if not the biggest reason, is simply the sheer volume of downloads. On September 28, 2009 Apple announced that its revolutionary App Store has had over 2 Billion downloads in its first year of service, a number much higher than that of any other mobile application markets. The apps have been downloaded to iPods and iPhones in over 77 countries from 20 app categories.
Over 100,000 Apps Available
Over 100,000 applications are available are available in Apple's iTunes App Store, a figure unmatched by any other mobile device market. Apps are available in over 20 categories including games, business, news, medical, productivity, reference, and more. Almost all of the apps available for download are either free or available for purchase at a very inexpensive price, usually less than $5 USD. The App Store's global reach of over 50 Million users downloading over 10,000 apps a day, absolutely sets it apart from its competitors.
The iTunes App Store, unrivaled by any other app market for mobile phones like Palm, Windows, or Android, clearly deserves its ranking on PC World's list of the 100 Best Products of the Year in 2009. With an incomparable selection of apps, a massive amount of downloads, a large user community that provides much user feedback, the app store is indubitably the best product of 2009.
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