Need help sorting through the tens of thousands of programs available for the iPhone on Apple’s App Store? Now there’s an app for that called Appsaurus.
Hello Chair, a small developer, convinced Apple to allow the app that was previously rejected because it’s similar to Apple’s Genius in helping users find what they like best. For 99 cents, Appsaurus does for your iPhone what TiVo does for your TV or Netflix for your DVD rental queue. It learns from your selections and recommends future choices.
“It makes sophisticated recommendations,” said Hello Chair CEO Luke Iannini. “Other apps make social recommendations based on what your friends like. Ours figures out patterns and groups of apps and recognizes themes.” In other words, if you liked app A, you’ll probably love apps B and C.
Guide And Matchmaker
With the number of available App Store applications expected to grow to 300,000 by the end of 2010, up from just 10,000 in 2008, according to IDC, Appsaurus could be a handy tool to help consumers and developers find each other.
“Any tool that makes it easier to navigate the App Store and helps users find applications that are useful and interesting to them is valuable,” says Aral Balkan, a developer whose creations include ‘Avit, an app that makes it easier to download e-books.
“The App Store has grown so much that although there is, most likely, ‘an app for that,’ the problem is whether or not you’ll find it,” he said. “As such, it needs better search tools and third parties should be encouraged to try and improve the experience.”
Iannini said his technology is based on an earlier program he and partner Kevin Corcoran developed, Adpinion, that groups similar ads.
“Our algorithm comes from ad technology that we’ve been working on for years,” said Iannini. “It was designed to deal…
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