Macenstein reports that developers are furious that
some developers appear to have renamed their applications solely to gain better placement in the App Store. Because applications are sorted alphabetically, a developer can get top placement by putting a space or number in front of their application's name. Macenstein points out that Jirbo, Inc. is particularly guilty, and many of their applications now appear first to users browsing the App Store after having been renamed with spaces in front of their names. Developers are calling on Apple to change the practice of apps appearing alphabetically, or at the very least, penalize those developers who use shortcuts like spaces to jump ahead in line.
With 10 million applications downloaded in the first weekend alone, this has serious consequences for developers. If Apple is not quick to fix this problems, I fear too many developers will be tempted to change their names just to feel competitive. Unfortunately, compounding this problem is that name changing has few consequences with customers. While the uproar among developers is obviously going to be big, (I don't see Jirbo, Inc. winning any popularity contests any time soon), customers may not care too much. They just want an application, and the first one that comes up is often good enough. It remains to be seen whether the average customer will penalize a company just for having spaces in front of its name, or whether the average customer will even notice. Jirbo apparently thinks they won't.
That said, I can't recommend that developers go down this path. While the temptation might be great, it ultimately leads to short term gain. While it may not affect your relationship with customers, it definitely affects your relationship with other developers and with Apple. Clearly, Jirbo thinks Apple will do nothing about this, or at the very least, take away the spaces. It appears they seriously doubt any punishment stronger than that will be forthcoming. *UPDATE* - It appears Apple has taken away the spaces, but Jirbo's applications are still in the store.
There is always space in the market for the lowest common denominator. The point is, do you want to be that guy? I suggest you do not, and here's why:
Many people think that as the App Store market matures, application prices will tend towards zero. While I disagree with this, I do think that prices will be forced lower by people offering free or low cost applications. Ultimately though, as an entrepreneur, you cannot survive by giving away your application for free. Therefore, long term value will come from building a sustainable brand that people recognize as having value. You cannot do this by taking short cuts. Clearly, Jirbo's short-term gain is likely large, but ultimately, building a premium brand has become all but impossible. They now have negative press out there that will never go away. They can never be top class until they have proved to the community that they have given up on this sort of behavior.
Ultimately, as prices trend lower, the developers that develop a reputation for premium, stellar apps will gain more than those who have no reputation or a bad reputation. Brand, integrity, and work product will keep a developer's price up in the long run more than any other thing.
As mentioned above, Apple seems to have fixed the problem. The question is, was it worth it for Jirbo?
