With more than 1 million apps in the iTunes App Store, finding the perfect iOS application for your iPhone takes some research. But a startup in Chicago has a website to help you find the app you want, and it'll also tell you when it's the cheapest.
Apple Sliced, a website created in 2010 by Logan Square resident and Northwestern grad Matt Kraft, has built an algorithm that provides custom app recommendations based on a person's preferences. Users are shown a series of apps, which they give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." As they select which apps are most appealing to them, Apple Sliced begins showing users apps that are tailored to their interests.
Kraft calls it "Tinder for app discovery," but without the swipe function. The Apple Sliced website first launched as a price comparison tool for Apple products, but after Kraft added the app tracking feature, he quickly realized the best way to focus the site. Apple Sliced also lets users set app price alerts and receive notifications when an app drops in price. And it shows an app's price history to let you know when you should buy or wait to purchase the app. That feature is particularly useful to users, Kraft said, as the App Store doesn't provide information on how an app's price has changed over time.
"In the App Store, you don't have any perspective on what a price means," he said. "Is $4.99 up or down? Is the app free sometimes? We have a buy/wait indicator for better buying advice."
Kraft says he has more than three years of user data based on what apps people like and dislike, which has helped build the site's collaborative filtering algorithm. So not only is Apple Sliced measuring what each user likes, but it's comparing it with what other users like to find the most popular apps. Apple Sliced has more than 50,000 registered users, Kraft says.
"(The App Store doesn't) have anything like this at all," he said. "They will sometimes show you similar apps to ones you've purchased, but (Apple Sliced) is completely tailored to each user."
Kraft is part of Apple's affiliate program, and he gets 7% commission on each app that someone buys through Apple Sliced. He wouldn't comment specifically on revenue numbers, but said he's been able to keep Apple Sliced free of ads because of the revenue stream.
"We sell a lot of $0.99 apps," he said.
"What I’m hearing from users is they are coming to Apple Sliced instead of opening the App Store app. I think it's a great App Store alternative. You still have to click over to make the purchase, but I think it's great to have a choice."
Screengrab via Apple Sliced
