Just 46% of iPhone users discover new apps via recommendations from friends, but that number could take a big jump if a new app just submitted to Apple gets approved for placement in the iTunes App Store.
Israeli and French project AppsFire has submitted a new app that will allow anyone to select from the list of apps they have on their phone and send links to those apps to anyone else by email. Exploring the App Store is maddening, sharing App suggestions with friends is enough fun to make almost anyone jump up and down, clapping like a little school girl. Now AppsFire aims to make that easy to do - and that's just the beginning of the company's vision.
]]> The company already offers a service for sharing lists of your favorite iPhone apps, but its software requires a desktop download and is not being used by very many people. We've tested a new version of the downloaded software and it's a breeze, but not publicly available yet. The first fifty RWW readers who click can download the Mac version via this link and anyone can register for Beta access, including Windows users, via this link. The mobile version is still awaiting approval from Apple.Sharing apps by mobile email could be the killer meta-app.
Company co-founder Ouriel Ohayon told us today that the app will be free and will be monetized through affiliate app links and other mechanisms. Here are the favorite apps of founders Ohayon and Yann Lechelle. I've posted an AppsFire widget of my own favorite apps below, RSS readers can click through to the full post to see it. Note that AppsFire has only indexed about 10,000 apps so far (!) and there are a number that you may have on your phone but won't show up right away. (Breaking News Online and PDX Bus for me.) BoomBox Pro, by the way, is super hot. It's a Blip.fm player and oh my do I love it!
"The vision is to provide many discovery mechanisms," Ohayon told us by Skype, "there are many more coming. For example, in our app we have a VIP section, a way to check Twitter and ask how many recommendations an app has, what the best app for this or that purpose is. Allowing influencers to show the world what apps they use, we'll have a top ranking of shared apps (something Apple does not provide) including geo targeting (top shared in your region). Think of it as a Connected Genius with several layers of discovery for apps with zero data input required since we read your iTunes."
Ohayon says the app was submitted about a week ago. Our fingers are crossed that it will be accepted soon. We're quite excited about it.
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