The screencaps above show a couple of new apps that hit the iPhone App Store over this past weekend. One is for a Ford dealership in the Dallas Fort Worth Area; the other for a Chevy Pontiac Buick dealership in North Carolina. Both are straight-up marketing / promotional apps with very limited functionality even if you happen to be within their local areas.
Here ‘s the entire description for the Grapevine Ford app:
Ford Service Center and Sales Team, Grapevine Ford located in the heart of the Metroplex (just one block north of DFW airport on Hwy 114). We offer FREE storage and shuttle to the airport. Experience Excellence at Grapevine Ford, set a Service or Sales Appt today!
Seeing these two apps reminded me of a thought I ‘ve had for a while on the App Store. We could really do with having a new ‘Promotional ‘ section in the store. Apps like these two, and even some of those produced for much larger retail organizations (Starbucks, Pizza Hut etc) could be housed there.
It might sometimes be a tough call for Apple reviewers as to where to draw the line on what constitutes a purely promotional app “ but hey, it shouldn ‘t be any tougher than lots of the adult rating type decisions they make all the time. I also think there could be some clearer lines drawn in this area “ e.g. start by determining whether an app has any functionality that extends beyond buying from or learning about the services / products of the company behind it. If a Starbucks app offers a wealth of good information on coffee generally or similar, perhaps it does not go into the ‘Promotional ‘ section.
I think that sort of section placement for the two new car dealership apps would make a heck of a lot more sense then their current category, which is Business. When a slew of these local dealership apps come out “ and I imagine they will “ I really don ‘t fancy the way that is going to make the Business category look, and how much harder it will make the task of finding useful business apps in there.
If there was a Promotional area, it could perhaps be divided into Global / National / Local sections, so that if you were after a Ford dealership in the Dallas Fort Worth area you could find it more easily. Those divisions might work well in other areas of the App Store as well.
There ‘s been a fair bit of talk recently about the possibility of having a ‘Premium App Store ‘ “ or more likely a section of the store that just houses apps that are priced at $9.99 and upwards (or whatever price point might be chosen if this happens). I ‘m not dead-set against that idea, but I do feel as if price is not always a great judge of which apps are ‘premium ‘. There are many apps out there that cost less than $9.99 that I would consider to be premium apps in terms of their features, functionality, and performance. There are even a few free ones that fit the bill as well “ Evernote is just one very quick example. Many folks might mention Facebook as another free/premium app.
Right about now, I ‘d find a separate ‘Promotional ‘ section more useful “ in reducing clutter and helping us find solid, useful apps more quickly “ than I would a ‘Premium ‘ section.
What about you all? Does a Promotional section make any sense to you? Or a Premium apps area? If you could create one new category / section in the store right now, what would it be?
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TAGS: iPhone App Store
