Because I work in iOS development I choose to consume a variety of blogs and podcasts about iOS development and building a software business based upon iOS development and Apple’s App Store. One common topic of conversation is discoverability – how easy it is for customers to find my all. All of them seem to have the point of view that this problem of discoverability is unique to what we do. Some of them point to the faults in the App Store and say the Apple needs to fix this problem to help them.
Discoverability is a universal business problem and the best way that business has found to solve it so far is marketing. It isn’t Apple’s problem to solve, it is yours. Just like it isn’t a shopping center’s responsibility to ensure that a donut shop has customers. You, the iOS app developer, have to put effort in to let customers know about the awesome thing you’re doing – just like every other business.
Is there room for improvement on the App Store? Always. But Apple doesn’t owe us anything.