Apple and Google Pick AllTrails and Imprint As Their 'App of the Year' (techcrunch.com) 14
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Both Apple and Google today announced their best apps and games of the year, with the hiking and biking companion AllTrails winning as Apple's iPhone App of the Year in 2023, while the educational app Imprint: Learn Visually won as Google Play's best app. Meanwhile, Apple and Google agreed on their Game of the Year, as both picked Honkai: Star Rail as their winner.
These year-end "best of" lists aren't just a way to drive interest in new apps and games, but serve as a way to gauge the status of the app marketplaces, what the platforms themselves wanted to celebrate and what drew consumers' attention in the year. Surprisingly, however, Apple this year bucked the trend of highlighting apps that were new to the store or that had taken advantage of a recently released technology in an innovative way. Instead, its finalists for iPhone App of the Year included apps that have long deserved accolades as well-built and well-designed mobile companions, including the language learning app Duolingo and travel app Flighty, in addition to winner AllTrails. Still, it's worth noting that this is a different type of selection than in previous years, when App Store winners included the breakout social hit BeReal in 2022 and the well-received children's app Toca Life World the year prior.
It's also worth noting that neither Apple nor Google chose an AI app as its app of the year, despite the incredible success of ChatGPT's mobile app and others. That's particularly odd given that ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history earlier this year when it reached 100 million users shortly after its launch. That record was later broken by Instagram Threads, which hit 100 million users within just five days, and as of October had still maintained an active user base of just under 100 million. (However, the 100 million users Threads initially counted were sign-ups, not monthly active users, we should note. Meanwhile, ChatGPT's rise to 100 million users included its web app, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.) Either one of these picks would represent a mobile app success story, but both app store platforms looked to others as the top winners this year. Plus, outside of ChatGPT, many other AI apps are raking in millions in revenue as well, so the decision to avoid the AI category seems a deliberate choice on Apple's part.
These year-end "best of" lists aren't just a way to drive interest in new apps and games, but serve as a way to gauge the status of the app marketplaces, what the platforms themselves wanted to celebrate and what drew consumers' attention in the year. Surprisingly, however, Apple this year bucked the trend of highlighting apps that were new to the store or that had taken advantage of a recently released technology in an innovative way. Instead, its finalists for iPhone App of the Year included apps that have long deserved accolades as well-built and well-designed mobile companions, including the language learning app Duolingo and travel app Flighty, in addition to winner AllTrails. Still, it's worth noting that this is a different type of selection than in previous years, when App Store winners included the breakout social hit BeReal in 2022 and the well-received children's app Toca Life World the year prior.
It's also worth noting that neither Apple nor Google chose an AI app as its app of the year, despite the incredible success of ChatGPT's mobile app and others. That's particularly odd given that ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history earlier this year when it reached 100 million users shortly after its launch. That record was later broken by Instagram Threads, which hit 100 million users within just five days, and as of October had still maintained an active user base of just under 100 million. (However, the 100 million users Threads initially counted were sign-ups, not monthly active users, we should note. Meanwhile, ChatGPT's rise to 100 million users included its web app, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.) Either one of these picks would represent a mobile app success story, but both app store platforms looked to others as the top winners this year. Plus, outside of ChatGPT, many other AI apps are raking in millions in revenue as well, so the decision to avoid the AI category seems a deliberate choice on Apple's part.
alltrails, ewww (Score:4, Interesting)
Know of a nice, quiet, secluded place for a hike? make sure to never post it on alltrails, lest you lose it to a swarm of selfie taking cretins.
nature without solitude is cheapened greatly imo.
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Ridiculous, given that Organic Maps exists.
That sounds like a more earthy name for dermatographia. But I just gave it a try, and aside from its silly name, it seems like it will be pretty great. Could use more contour lines, though. 50 meters is quite a distance vertically, so you can't really tell whether a trail is tough unless it is steadily rising.
iPad game of the year (Score:3)
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I'm glad (Score:2)
I'm glad they picked those two titles, because I'd never heard of either of them. Now I have, I'll, well, just carry on as I was. Thanks.
Company that sells things... (Score:2)
News at 11.
I guess that makes sense. (Score:2)