Yes, this. App stores are like a new-fangled version of old-school Yahoo.
In the early internet, it made sense to sort web sites into categories and curate the best ones into lists. Eventually, the internet became too big for that, and search became necessary to cut through the mass of things people could find or wanted to find.
App stores are showing the strains of this today. Discoverability is through the floor. It's also important to note the power of a lightweight link. Web links can be shared with the assumption that a friend can open them with zero friction. This becomes much different when a user has to install an app, possibly even a paid app, to see what you sent.
As it stands right now, I can't apply the four updates available to the (very few) Android apps I have installed until I "agree to the Android Market Terms of Service, the Google Music Terms of Service, the Google Books Terms of Service, and the Youtube Rentals Terms of Service."
Four very long legal agreements, three of which are for services I have no intention of using any time soon (if ever).
Screw that. I'm just not going to use the Android Market.
In the early internet, it made sense to sort web sites into categories and curate the best ones into lists. Eventually, the internet became too big for that, and search became necessary to cut through the mass of things people could find or wanted to find.
App stores are showing the strains of this today. Discoverability is through the floor. It's also important to note the power of a lightweight link. Web links can be shared with the assumption that a friend can open them with zero friction. This becomes much different when a user has to install an app, possibly even a paid app, to see what you sent.