My future of the App Store

Plenty of people have offered up their visions for the App Store.  Better search and discovery, better ways for developers to connect with buyers, etc.  But I’m going to offer up my vision and it’s about much more than incremental improvements.

I want ONE App Store for everything.

As someone who is happily ensconced in the Apple ecosystem (exactly, I’m sure, as Apple would want me to be) I have one big complaint about my apps- there aren’t enough “cross-platform” from iOS to OS X and even when they are, it’s hard to find.

So what I would really like is one App Store for everything.  Picture this...

You’re on your iPad and you check out a great new mind mapping app.  It’s got great features, great design, and it’s universal so it works on your iPhone too.  Seems awesome.  But as a “productivity” app, you want to make sure it’s going to be on your Mac when you’re ready to work there as well.  You want it to have “Handoff” and other continuity features.  But instead of having to go fire up your computer and find out, you notice there’s an “App Bundle” icon and so you click.  And there it is- the Mac version, available with the iOS version and with a nice bundle discount.  So you buy the whole package and automatic downloads means it loads up on every device.  You start in on your iPad and set-up your profile info.  You make a password, but a new iCloud Keychain API means when you get to your Mac or iPhone later, you don’t need to “set-up” or even login again.  The software is on all your devices, logged in and ready.  And because it uses Cloud Kit, that mind map you made on the iPad is already everywhere too.

There are lots of little improvements that can keep making the App Store incrementally better.  But I want a leap forward that makes the Apple ecosystem better and a unified App Store could be the key.

Think about it, Apple.  I’ll keep watching WWDCs with a little bit of hope ;)