App Store Sorting Loop Holes

Question

Level 1

10 points

App Store Sorting Loop Holes

Looks like some developers are taking advantage of a bug/loop hole in Apple's sorting algorithm in the App Store on the device. If you put a space or some other other special characters in the front of your Application Name then you get sorted at the top of the list when viewing applications by Categories on the device. Look at the Games category in the App Store on a device and you will see a blatant example of what I am talking about.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jul 12, 2008 8:14 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 12, 2008 8:30 PM in response to jdheard

Shall we start taking bets on how long before we find:

MyGameCompany, Inc.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MyGame

?

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Answer 2

johne-dm

Level 1

25 points

Jul 12, 2008 9:10 PM in response to jdheard

my app had the opposite problem... if you name your app with a lowercase first letter, then it gets sorted last on the device, but on the itunes store, it is alphabetical. i haven't changed it, though... i wonder if i should change the app name to start with a space 😉

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Answer 3

Jul 12, 2008 9:15 PM in response to johne-dm

I'll laugh if they revoke Jirbo's ADC account.

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Answer 4

Jul 13, 2008 6:19 AM in response to blazespinnaker

Sorry for my naivety but why would Jirbo's ADC account be revoked? I wouldn't want to make the same mistake.

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Answer 5

red_menace

Level 6

17,102 points

Jul 13, 2008 7:13 AM in response to jdheard

Just look in the yellow pages, they've been doing that for years. I wouldn't call it a bug, OSX just sorts that way.

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Answer 6

jdheard Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 13, 2008 7:27 AM in response to red_menace

Yes companies have played games with the yellow pages forever, but I do not think that putting a space in front of your business name would get you at the front of the yellow pages listing.

This technique seems to really work to boost sales, the " Solitaire City" that is right now at the front of the list, (do not know how long it will stay there before they get leap frogged), has been steadily creeping up the Top Apps list. This game is $9.99, certainly not cheap for Solitaire.

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Answer 7

red_menace

Level 6

17,102 points

Jul 13, 2008 7:47 AM in response to jdheard

It will probably get sorted out eventually, much the same as those companies in the yellow pages named something like "AAAA Plumbing Company". People see that as being silly (well, I do anyway, and just go on to the next), although hopefully it won't go into all of the symbols you see on various game server listings.

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Answer 8

zorba990

Level 1

0 points

Jul 13, 2008 8:50 AM in response to jdheard

Historically Apple is very unforgiving when it comes to doing something they don't like. At WWDC someone warned me about these things and said to be careful if we want to stay in their good graces. Might not be worth it.

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Answer 9

kshep

Level 1

20 points

Jul 13, 2008 5:50 PM in response to zorba990

Looks like this is getting some media coverage now.

Check out: http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/13/unfair-practices-in-the-app-store/

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Answer 10

Jul 13, 2008 6:04 PM in response to kshep

Looks like Jirbo and Solitaire city either got edited or they wised up and realized their marketing techniques were not particularly wise.

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