Google finally launched its highly-anticipated Google+ app for the iPhone yesterday, and the app has already climbed to the number one position in the App Store’s Top Free chart!
That’s an impressive amount of downloads for an app that’s still in an invite-only beta…
The official Google+ app has been met with a lot of initial criticism since its release, but it continues to sit comfortably on top of other flagship apps in the App Store.
Almost immediately following its release to the public, Google pushed a 1.0.1 update to the Google+ app with several bug fixes and performance enhancements. Users have been reporting frequent crashes, and the app has been confirmed as unusable on the iOS 5 developer beta. Google recommended deleting the original app and reinstalling the 1.0.1 version to fix stability issues.
Google’s web app for the social network still works in Mobile Safari, but the design of that interface leaves much to be desired.
Google+ is still sending out invites to users that have placed requests, and those already in the network are able to invite friends with a limited number of invites. It’s estimated that the network has reached 18 million+ users. We still don’t see Google+ as a competitor for Facebook, but the official Google+ app’s success definitely bodes well for the young social network.
What do you think about the success of Google+? Is it just a fad, or something more?
[via AppAdvice]
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
19 responses to “Google+ for iPhone is the Most Downloaded Free App in the App Store”
This is very interesting. I didn’t think there will be also many people using Google+ since its invite only… I got 4 friends on mine!!!! lol
… and out of all those people …. three or four are able to connect.
Seriously, it’s an app that does *nothing* without the invite and they make it available on the app store to everyone on the planet? Of course it’s going to have massive downloads, that doesn’t mean anyone can use it.
Not only that, it doesn’t even save your log-in, so you download it, laboriously put in your log-in only to have it say “try again” and then force you to repeat that over and over again until you give up.
Google knows *nothing* about usability it seems.
cant find it on Indonesia App Store. so it’s limited per selected country or what?
Invites have been open for a week dude. If you’re both slow enough to not have one yet…and also dumb enough to download an app for an account you don’t have…..
That’s your bad buddy. Not Googles.
Can someone pleeeese, give me an invitation for vgstoica(at)gmail.com
Thanks!
Thanks for the invitation! :D
“Seriously, it’s an app that does *nothing* without the invite and they
make it available on the app store to everyone on the planet?”
And how do you suggest Google control Apple’s App Store so that only people with Google+ invites can download the app?
If there are any invites left I’d really appreciate it! For as866411(at)gmail.com
Can you send me an invite? [email protected]
Thanks!
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5