One of iOS' biggest advantages over the competition is its massive catalog of over 650,000 apps, but it turns out that about two thirds of those apps are undownloaded and unranked ‘zombie apps,' according to German mobile analytics group Adeven.

“The reality is there are only a couple of thousand apps that really make some kind of downloads,” Adeven CEO Christian Henschel told Gigaom. There are about 400,000 apps in the App Store, he concludes, that have never been downloaded. Now, some of those no doubt deserve to be overlooked - regardless of what Apple says, there are some real stinkers in the App Store, and even on the App Store's top charts. But there's a good chance that there are a lot of really great indie titles out there that we've never even heard of, which is a real shame.

The main problem, Henschel says, is the lack of original thinking when it comes to discovering apps. While the front page of the App Store does a great job of showcasing the crème of the crème, there's really no good way to browse the App Store for niche apps. As Henschel puts it, “If you're an independent, small app publisher, then it's really difficult to be discovered."

Hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel; improving discoverability in the App Store seems to be one of Apple's priorities, with acquisitions like Chomp and the total overhaul that's coming with iOS 6 set to shake things up in the near future.

Via: Apple Insider

Source: Gigaom