Things the Google Play Store could improve: Part 1 - The top ...

The Google Play Store top charts are an amazing tool for consumers. It shows a quick glance of the popular and trending applications that everyone else is using ... LinksonAndroidAuthoritymayearnusacommission. Learnmore. ThingstheGooglePlayStorecouldimprove:Part1-ThetopchartsTheGooglePlayStoreisanamazingplacebutitisn'tperfect.Inpart1ofthisseries,we'lltalkabouttheTopChartsandhowtheycouldbebetter.AppsByJoeHindyAppsEditorJoeHindyJoeHindyisknownasthe'appguy'aroundtheseparts.He'sbeenatAndroidAuthoritysinceSeptemberof2012.Previously,JoewasapartoftheUSArmyandattendedcollegeforvideogamedesignanddevelopment.Healsoquiteenjoysyardworkforsomereason.•February18,2015https://www.androidauthority.com/things-google-play-store-improve-part-1-top-charts-579865/Editor’snote:thisisthefirstpostinournewseriesdiscussing PlayStoreflawsandwhatGooglecoulddoto improveuserexperience.Feelfreetojointhediscussionandsuggestnewtopics. TheGooglePlayStoretopchartsareanamazingtoolforconsumers.Itshowsaquickglanceofthepopularandtrendingapplicationsthateveryoneelseisusingwhichkindofallowsconsumerstocuratetheirownexperiences.Theideaisamazingbutfarfromperfect.Gamesseemtoruntheplaceandthereexistsonlymoderatecontinuitybetweenthewebandmobileplatforms.Let’sdiginandtalkabouttheproblem. TheMainTopChartsinbothAppsandGamesareactuallyjusttwochartsforgames Toshowwhatwemean,wedecidedtogothroughthetopappschartstoshowyoujusthowfewappsyoucanactuallyfindinthetopappscategories.Wehadnoneedtodothisforthegamesbecausethetopgameschartswere,predictably,allgames.Here’sthebreakdown: TopFreeinAndroidApps IntheTopFreeinAndroidAppssectionoftheGooglePlayStore,wetookalookatthetop50apps.Ofthose,29weregamesand21wereapps. TopPaidinAndroidApps IntheTopPaidinAndroidappssection,weagainlookedatthetop50apps.Ofthose,35weregamesand15wereapps. TopGrossingAndroidApps Youcanseewherethisisgoing.Outof50,48weregamesand2wereapps. TopNewPaidAndroidApps Outof50,26weregamesand24wereapps. TopNewFreeAndroidApps Outof50,43weregamesand7wereapps. Whenyoudon’ttakeduplicateappsintoaccount,thetop250appsacrossfivecategoriesareactually181gameentriesand69apps.Inotherwords,72.4%oftheappsyou’llfindinthetopAndroidappschartsareactuallygames.Whenyouaddinthe250topgamesacrossthesamecategoriesontheGamesside,thatmeansacrosstencategoriesand500apps,431aregamesand69areapps. Nowlet’scountduplicates! Let’sgoastepfurther.Itookacloselookatthetop50appsandgameslistedoverthetentopchartsacrossbothappsandgames.Herearesomeobservations. Totalnumberofduplicates Inthetop500appslistedinthetopcharts,160apps/gameswerelistedatleasttwice.Ofthose,12ofthemwerelistedthreetimes,12werelistedfourtimes,SimCityBuiltItwaslistedfivetimes,andTriviaCrackwaslistedanastoundingsixtimes. Therearelessthan300uniqueappsinthetop500 Thetotalnumberofapplicationsandgamesactuallylistedinthetop50ofeachofthetentopchartscategoriesis290.Only130ofthosearelistedjustonetime. Gameswinagain! Ofthe160appsandgameslistedmultipletimes,159weregames.PandoraInternetRadioistheonlyapplicationlistedtwice. Ifyouneedtoseethesenumbersforyourself,I’vecompiledaniftyspreadsheetthatyoucanviewhere.Thebottomlineisthetopchartsdon’treallyshowmuchvarietyandgivegamesaheavyspotlightbyallowingthemtoinvadetheTopAppscharts,despitehavingawholesetofchartsspecificallyforgames.MostoftheduplicationtakesplacebetweenthesamechartsonAppsandGames.Forinstance,ClashofClanstopsbothTopGrossingchartsandthat’sreallyunnecessary.Furtherduplicationtakesplacewhennewergameshitthetopspotsonthenewgamesandappschartsandthenbecomepopularenoughtomakeitontotheregulartopappsandgamescharts.BackinJanuary2015,thishappenedtoTriviaCrack,whichappearedonsixdifferentcharts.Note:ThespreadsheetwasputtogetherinJanuary,2015.Thetopchartsdochangeperiodicallyandwhilethenumbersmaynotbeexactlythesame,theratiosshouldremainconsistent. Thewebsiteandmobileappsdon’tworkthesame Nowthatwe’vediscussedthefrontpages,let’sdigalittledeeper.Onthemobileapp,goingtoanyappcategorygivesyouarangeofliststolookatbasedonGoogle’srecommendationsforyouandjustsomegenerallistsaswell.Youcanthenswipeoverandseethetopchartsforthoseapps.It’safairlysimplelayoutthatmakessenseandexposespeopletoawidevarietyofrecommendationsandtopappsineachcategory.Noproblemsthere.Onthewebsite,however,noneofthesethingsaretrue.ThereiszeroaccesstotopchartsunlessyouGoogleSearchthemdirectly.ThisisespeciallyconfusingconsideringtheUI.Thewhitebarthathousesthecategorynameisotherwiselefttotallyblankandthereseemstobemorethanenoughspacetoputlinkstothetopchartsthere.Afterall,theydoexactlythatonthefrontappspageandonthefrontgamespage.Furthermore,itdoesn’tmakesensenottolinktothembecauseGooglehasthesewebpages.Theyalreadyexist.Whynotgiveusalinktofindthemmoreeasily?Totheircredit,therecommendedcontentandspecializedlists(e.g.thetopappsforteachersinEducation)remainthesameinboththewebanddesktopversions. Whatcanbedonetofixit? Thankfully,theseshortcomingscouldbeeasilyfixed: Removegamesfromthetopapps: Thisisfairlyobvious.ThereisawholesectionintheGooglePlayStorespecificallyforgames.Itseemsincongruoustoputgamesinthetopappscategorieswhilemaintainingatotallyseparatesectiondedicatedsolelytogames.Thiswouldalsocutdowndramaticallyonthenumberofduplicateentriesresultinginawidervarietyofappstochoosefrom. Graduatetopnewfreeandpaidtoactualtoppaidandtopfree: Manyoftheduplicatelistingstakeplaceonthetopnewfreeandtopnewpaidinbothgamesandapps.Ifagameoranappissopopularthatitmakestheregulartoppaidandtopfreecharts,woulditnotmakesensetoremovethemfromthenewpaidandnewfreetomakeroomforthenextgeneration? Putthetopchartslinksbackintothewebsiteversion:Thatwhitebaratthetopisn’tbeingusedforanythingelseanyway.Plus,thetopchartsforeachcategoryactuallydoexistandGoogledoesmaintainthem.Thereseemstobenoreasonnottoputalinkthere. Wrapup Therearetwosetsofchartsthatyoureallycan’tdoanythingaboutandtheyareTrendingandTopGrossing.ChangingTopGrossinginanywaywouldcompromisetheintegrityoftheinformation.Thatmeanssomeduplicationwillinvariablytakeplace.Trendingisawholedifferentstory.I’mnotentirelysurewhatthatchartactuallyis,whatitdoes,howit’scalculated,orifthere’sanythingactuallywrongwithit.Withtheproposedsolutionsinplace,thereshouldbeawidervarietyofappsforconsumerstochoosefrom.Withmaintenanceonthetopnewpaidandfreecharts,newdevelopersandnewappshaveagreaterandmorefrequentchanceofbeingnoticed.Itmayalsocoaxthosewholongagoabandonedthetopchartstorevisitwiththepromiseofnewer,morevariedcontent.Thatshouldalsohelpwiththeappdiscoveryproblemandexposemorepeopletomorenewcontentmoreoften.Withthelinksrestoredinthewebsiteversion,Googlewillachievemorecontinuitybetweenthedesktopandmobileexperiencewhichwillmakebothplatformseasiertounderstandforconsumers.Ofcourse,we’dlovetoknowwhatyouthink.Arethereanyothersolutionsyouwouldsuggesttofixthisproblemorarewewayoffbasewithanyofours?Soundoffinthecomments!Checkouttheotherpartsoftheseries: Part2:In-apppurchases AppsFeaturesAndroidGames,FreeAndroidGames,GooglePlayStore,OpinionsComments