The "Metro" App Hit List

Posted by Firefly7475 on October 8, 2012 03:24 am 5

IMPORTANT NOTE: This thread has a very specific scope - to discuss the apps we would like to see "metro" versions of. Feel free to discuss the pros and cons of these apps, or include your own... HOWEVER any comment along the lines of "Windows 8 is DOA if..." will be taken as a direct violation of the trolling clause of The Verge community guidelines specifically "taking a thread off-topic", and be reported to the mods.

My completely subjective list

I went through some more popular apps on iOS and Android and tried to determine, based on popularity and service tie-in, how important they were.

By service "tie-in" I mean how irreplaceable the app is. For example a calculator app might technically be more popular that the Evernote app. However a user would generally be happy with any old calculator app as a replacement as long as it supported the same functionality. The same can't be said for Evernote.

These are the apps I'd like to see "metro" versions of.

Books

I think the book readers are the most important here, rather than the apps that represent real books.

  • Kindle
  • Nook
  • Goodreads

Entertainment

There are a bunch of TV viewer apps in this category. The items on the list are going to change from country to country.

  • ABC Player
  • Netflix
  • Amazon Instant Video
  • Hulu Plus
  • NBC
  • DirectTV

Finance

  • Banking apps (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank)
  • Credit card apps (Discover, AMEX)
  • Mint
  • Quicken

Food and Drink

  • Weight Watchers
  • Epicurious
  • Pizza Hut
  • OpenTable
  • Urbanspoon

Gaming

This is by far and away the most popular category on the iPad, claiming 32 of the top 50 paid apps

However, apart from the Angry Birds, I can't see any examples of users being tied to a specific gaming franchise.

This is actually something Microsoft should capitalize on - for example the release of touch based games from the Halo, Forza, DOA, Fable and Gears of War franchises would give the platform instant gamer cred.

Lifestyle

  • eBay
  • Amazon
  • Groupon

Music

The biggest requirement in this category isn't actually listed, and that is an equivalent to GarageBand.

  • iHeartRadio
  • Pandora
  • TuneIn Radio
  • Spotify
  • VEVO

News

  • Craigslist
  • Instapaper
  • Apps for news publications (60 Minutes, CNN, NYTimes, TIME, National Geographic,FOX, USA Today)
  • Digg

Photo and Video

This is a tough category as there is very little service tie-in, but is also one of the most popular categories.

I think we need to see alternatives to iPhoto, iMovie, Adobe Photoshop Touch and Camera+

Business\Productivity

This is a category that Microsoft have a pretty solid hold on with Office. Most apps are just trying desperately (and failing) to be like Office.

  • Box.net
  • Dropbox
  • Google Drive
  • Adobe Reader
  • LogMeIn
  • Evernote

Social Networking

  • Skype
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Sports

This category is going to be very country specific as well

  • ESPN
  • MLB.com
  • NFL
  • CBS Sports

Travel

  • Google Earth
  • Yelp
  • Hotels.com
  • KAYAK

Utilities

  • Chrome
  • Firefox