Although Apple’s App Store is decidedly the most successful mobile software hub in the business, it’s certainly not perfect. Sifting through the App Store’s 400,000+ applications to discover new titles can be quite a cumbersome task.
In what appears to be a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the mobile software arena, Yahoo! has taken it upon themselves to remedy this issue by making their own application sorting service, dubbed- Yahoo! App Search…
The new service rolled out in 2 pieces, a web portal and a mobile application titled Y! AppSpot, which is integrated by a barcode scanning system. If you’re browsing apps on your desktop and you see one you’d like on your iPhone, simply open the mobile app and scan the app’s barcode to start downloading.
The web portal is apps.search.yahoo.com. Here you’ll find suggested applications, apps on sale and of course, a full-featured search engine. There is also an app rating and review system that is completely independent of Apple’s App Store.
Y! AppSpot is pretty well done. While the menu system doesn’t look completely polished, the app’s navigating-gestures are extremely intuitive. Apps are displayed on 3D roledex-type menus, which really make for an enjoyable browsing experience.
The mobile app has another cool feature worth mentioning. When a user opens the Y! AppSpot app for the first time, they are given the opportunity to opt into app-info gathering. If enabled, the app will search your device for other app information so it can better recommend titles.
Overall, I’ve been fairly impressed with the new Yahoo! App Search service. I think it’s a nice change of pace from the App Store’s ranking system that has a tendency to spotlight passing trends.
It’s also a good way to stumble on hidden gems that you otherwise may not have known existed. If you want to try the iOS version of Y! AppSpot, you can download it for free in the App Store.
Have you, or will you, be using Yahoo! App Search at all?
[9to5Mac]