Popularity # in AppStore at 0???

[ryanerb]

In the very beginning, when you viewed an app on the app store, it would show the popularity, and the number of downloads. This was very cool to see how many times each app had been downloaded. They are all now set to 0.... anyone know why? Or experiencing the same thing?

I really want to know how many people paid 9.99 for super monkey ball!

 

[Waterpolo820]

My bro paid for super monkey ball, at first he hated it and wanted his money back, but after an hour or so of just getting used to it, he got addicted. And won't put it down..

 

[skwoytek]

In the very beginning, when you viewed an app on the app store, it would show the popularity, and the number of downloads. This was very cool to see how many times each app had been downloaded. They are all now set to 0.... anyone know why? Or experiencing the same thing?

I really want to know how many people paid 9.99 for super monkey ball!

Last I saw, SMB had been downloaded over 12,000 times. That was about mid-afternoon U.S. time on July 10th, before the firmware was even officially available.

I suspect that Apple will find another way to show popularity - top sellers is already a good start. But, if I were a developer - I'd say it's none of anyone's business that I've made $84,000 in six hours.

And yes, once you get used to the tilt of SMB, it can get addictive. I suspect I'll kill many idle hours with that game.

 

[aerospace]

If you wrote an app and made 84,000 in hours that's a lot but for a bigdeveloper like EA Games I would imagine they wouldn't stay involved for less than several million. Halo 3 grossed like a billion dollars in a month.

While I agree an exact count isn't needed, how about a bronze badge if you get 10,000 downloads, silver for 50,000 gold for 250,000, platinum for a million. We can tell which apps are popular and likely good but don't know if they sold 1,000,001 or 37,000,000 copies.

 

[skwoytek]

If you wrote an app and made 84,000 in hours that's a lot but for a bigdeveloper like EA Games I would imagine they wouldn't stay involved for less than several million. Halo 3 grossed like a billion dollars in a month.

Again, that was 12,000 sales before the firmware 2.0 was available via iPhone software update in iTunes. Also, you can't really look at the $$$. We're talking about a $9.99 app that was developed in about 4 months. Halo probably took that long for the closing credits.

While I agree an exact count isn't needed, how about a bronze badge if you get 10,000 downloads, silver for 50,000 gold for 250,000, platinum for a million. We can tell which apps are popular and likely good but don't know if they sold 1,000,001 or 37,000,000 copies.

Milestones would be a cool way to show popularity.

 

[ryanerb]

I know for a fact that TOP sellers thing is a JOKE. All this stupid marketing stuff. Before the popularity count went away, it showed SMB at the top, and I checked the download count, and it surely wasn't the top seller. I know their is a bar graph showing the popularity, which is nice at least. The different badges at different points would be nice too. I just like the exact count. I guess maybe there is a privacy issue as to how much the people made.

 

[skwoytek]

I know for a fact that TOP sellers thing is a JOKE. All this stupid marketing stuff. Before the popularity count went away, it showed SMB at the top, and I checked the download count, and it surely wasn't the top seller. I know their is a bar graph showing the popularity, which is nice at least. The different badges at different points would be nice too. I just like the exact count. I guess maybe there is a privacy issue as to how much the people made.

According to DaringFireball,

The download numbers don’t seem to be live, and a few developers who’ve been (understandably) obsessing over their numbers all day have told me that they’ve seen them fluctuate — both up and down. I suspect both the non-live updates and downward fluctuations are related to caching.

Plus, I don't think iTunes adjusts Top Music live either. I think every hour or so they're recalculated. So I'd surmise that SMB could be at top while a lower ranked App receives a spurt of downloads and numerically passes it until the next hour's calculations.