This is one of the things that came out of IDF that I was surprised didn't get the same kind of media attention as other announcements.
What stands out to me about this announcement is that this is a necessary advancement for Windows based software. I say that because software discovery is one of the most discombobulated experiences for consumers on the Windows platform. I've been harping on Microsoft and companies that ship Microsoft clients that they need to make the software discovery process much better.
We do a lot of research spending time talking to consumers and observing their computing habits and one thing that always stands out is that they only really use a handful of applications regularly. I don't believe this is solely because their computing needs are so incredibly simplistic that all they need is a handful of programs. If feel more fundamentally to the point is that they don't realize the plethora of great software that exists out there in the universe to add value to their computing experience.
This is one of the more revolutionary aspects of not only the iTunes App store but iTunes in general. When we observe consumers using iTunes what we find is they spend a great deal of time discovering. They discover music, movies, apps and more and enjoy doing it.
My thought all along is where is this experience in digital for the software world. When was the last time you saw a group of consumers standing in the software isle at your local computer store simply browsing software. My experience is those isles are constantly empty as if they plague existed in those isles.
What is fundamentally important to an app store infrastructure akin to what Intel is working on is that this fundamentally has the opportunity to eliminate the need to get software in disc form as well as lead to a world of computing software discovery.
Apple isn't perfect when it comes to OSX software but they do have something useful on their website that helps you find all kinds of great software, categorized and reviewed to help you find useful software. I do this at least once a month and almost always find an application that makes my Mac better and myself more productive.
If this app sore infrastructure or something like it takes off we could safely say the end of optical disc drives in computers is in sight.
Comments