Apple yesterday quietly shut down both the Chomp web site and the iOS app of same name, also shutting out existing users of the app. Furthermore, Chomp.com now points to Apple.com. The iPhone maker snapped up Chomp for its advanced discovery and recommendation engine back in February.
As first order of business, Apple pulled the Android versionin April. Now an iOS version is also a goner. We’ve already seen some tweaks to both the App Store search algorithm and layout, some for the worse (just one search result at a time? Seriously, Apple? Seriously?). Perhaps this move indicates plans to finally roll out better app discovery features stemming from that Chomp talent acquisition.
A man can dream, can’t he?
MacRumors first spotted in its forums reports by some users who could no longer use the Chomp app on their iPhone:
As noted in our forums, existing users of the iOS app have also been shut out, as Apple has discontinued the service effective yesterday.
And here’s the message the Chomp app users were greeted with yesterday:
The prompt reads:
Chomp has been discontinued as of September 30. Thanks for being a loyal user.
This is hopefully a good news in that it indicates Apple’s about to advance the crappy App Store app discovery mechanism.
In the meantime, you can discover what apps people nearby are using with App Map for iPhone (via 9to5Mac):
A new free app launching in the App Store today called “App Map” allows users to discover apps based on the most commonly used by other iOS users in their area. After prompting the user with the usual dialog to allow access to location, App Map requests access to “send a list of your recently used Apps” to its server.
Within the app users can view a list of trending apps worldwide, as well as a live updating map and list of nearby apps based on number of users and distance from their current location.
9to5Mas has more on App Map so check out their coverage for more.
Coincidentally or not, news made rounds earlier today that Apple updated the App Store Terms & Conditions to prohibit apps from advertising offerings by other developers.
Specifically, a new clause specifies that “apps that display apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected”.
Tell us in comments about discovery features you’d like to see applied to the App Store storefront.