App Store updated within iOS 6: new search result layout, Genius recommendations turned on and more (video)
The App Store on iOS 6 beta, software currently available to those a part of Apple's Developer Program, has scored a nice little update this evening.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the third act of a slow redesign arc: after prettier app pages arrived at the end of 2009, Apple extended its recommendation engine to the iPad storefront with a Genius tab in August 2010. The iOS 6 beta build now turns Genius on inside search itself and reshuffles the results layout — moving curation from a separate destination into the moment a user types.
First-order effects
- Developers in the beta program get a storefront where visibility depends partly on Genius matching rather than raw keyword rank, changing which apps surface for a given query.
- The pickup across eight outlets — MacRumors, Gizmodo, App Advice, MacNN, Softpedia and others within a day — signals developer attention is already fixed on the storefront changes ahead of the next-generation iPhone launch Apple has confirmed for September.
Second-order effects
- App Store optimization practice tilts further toward metadata quality and category placement as Genius-driven surfaces join plain search ranking as a traffic source.
- Rival app marketplaces face pressure to match algorithmic recommendation in their own stores, since Apple keeps converting browsing into guided discovery.
Third-order effects
- If each major iOS release keeps rebalancing the mix between user-initiated search and Apple-controlled recommendation, storefront curation hardens into a structural distribution lever — one Apple adjusts unilaterally, with developers absorbing the volatility.
The trend: App Store discovery is steadily shifting from user-typed search toward Apple's algorithmic merchandising, iterated with every major iOS release.