Update: NoiseToys has contacted Recombu to explain that Apptitude’s launch is actually in January – the app briefly went live this morning, but will not be available until next month. It sounds great, so we’ll keep you posted!
You can’t swing a cat in Silicon Valley these days without hitting seventeen social media gurus talking about gamification. The idea of wrapping points, achievements and competitive elements around… well, pretty much anything, is proving popular.
NoiseToys is the latest startup to apply these ideas to app discovery. Its new app is called Apptitude, and aims to encourage people to recommend iPhone apps to others, while discovering new tips themselves.
“Think you know the coolest apps? Prove it,” says the app description. “Earn points for recommending apps to friends, complete missions as you try out new apps, and see if you have what it takes to catapult your favorite apps to the top of the charts.”
It’s a nice idea. The obvious comparison is with Angel’s Choice, an iPhone game that turns app discovery into a (kinda) virtual investment game. That was released in October. Of course, there are also discovery apps like Chomp and Appsfire, which fulfil a similar purpose without the gamification.
Apptitude looks pretty polished, but much will depend on how many people start using it, and how quickly. NoiseToys is an interesting developer though: its previous app, Hitmaker, focused on music, getting people to ‘sign’ and promote their favourite songs. Apptitude is presumably born out of the same technology, and lessons NoiseToys has learned from its music game.
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