Original post by Ryan Kim via GIGAOM
The struggle to find good apps just keeps getting harder for consumers. And that keepsattracting more and more entrants into the app discovery market.
The latest crop of startups are trying to use new approaches and data to make the process of finding apps more intelligent and relevant for users. Companies like Xyologic, AppHero and AppAide are hoping to show there’s still plenty of room to innovate in this market though we’ll have to see if any of them can find traction.
Xyologic brings order to app searches
Xyologic, a Berlin-based startup, first got attention as an app analytics company, but last month opened up a consumer business with its beta app search engine. The search engine organizes apps into 700 categories, which is helpful in starting and refining searches. Xyologic also has 100 game genres that users can choose from.
The idea is that while some people might search for a developer by name, most people don’t know exactly what they’re searching for and don’t know how to phrase their searches to find what they want. So as they initiate their query, the additional categories help users narrow down their search to the categories that are appropriate.
Xyologic, which works on Android for now and is moving to iOS soon, also highlights apps that are good but often overlooked. The company has developed its own app scoring system that takes into account user ratings, comments and download figures.
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