Apple could be considering a big makeover to the App Store, says a report.
Bloomberg reports that Apple has created a "secret team" tasked in exploring a few modifications to the App Store.
Citing people familiar with the company's plans, the report says the tweaks could include a new strategy that could charge developers so their apps will be "prominently" shown off on the App Store.
One of the ideas being mulled is the paid search that will bear similarity with Google's model. Once paid searches are implemented, developers will have to fork out money to have their apps crop up on top of the search results based on customers' searches. For example, a company should pay Apple so its app will appear among the top results once an iDevice user is seeking for a particular keyword or key phrase related to its developed app.
The team working on this Apple's rumored project is a mix of around 100 employees, which include engineers from iAd and people from the company's advertising group that is being "scaled back." This search team is being headed by Apple Vice President Todd Teresi, who spearheaded iAd.
If this buzz turns out to be true, though it is advised to take it with a grain of salt, Apple could have a new way to generate money via its App Store, just like what Google does.
Khrishna Subramanian, co-founder of Captiv8, a social media marketing company, is convinced that it will be a huge business if the iPhone maker pursues this plan.
"Anything that you can do to help drive more awareness to your app, to get organic downloads, is crucial," Subramanian told Bloomberg.
That's not all the team is trying to work out. The report likewise says the team is also going to improve the way consumers browse in the App Store.
It adds the search team is still relatively new and right now, it is not yet known if and when these improvements are going to be rolled out.
Back in November, Apple pushed out its last major overhaul to the App Store. The update brought with it enhancements to the search algorithms to produce more intelligent, pertinent search results.
