iPhone app updates: startup vs corporate culture

I was updating iPhone apps the other day and noticed the difference in how app developers describe their updates. In almost any app developed by a startup or internet company, app updates often provide detailed descriptions of the updates made to their application, whether they're new features or just bug fixes. Example:

A couple other examples are Skype and Angry Birds.

But with E*Trade, a rigid, financial, East Coast company who I can only assume lives by a very strict code of corporate culture, they simply described their app update with "Maintenance release" (a very corporate term, by the way).

WOW! Thanks E*Trade! I can't wait to download your app update full of maintenance stuff!

The point is, people like to know what's going on with their devices. Even if you're just fixing stuff, let people know! If you're going to require a user to update your app, you should at least give them the courtesy of letting them know why they're going out of their way for you.

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Comments

Jennifer Connelly
I couldn't agree more, tell us what we are getting. Plus, periodically, I like reading some of the lame excuses they use for updates.
maddie
thats a really good article :)
Brian Alexander
I've noticed this as well. It's nice to see people actually post information worth reading on these updates too!
Rob Whelan
Very good point; it's also worth noting that the tone of the Angry Birds notes are very much "scrappy startup" compared to Skype's update (pretty clearly written by a professional copy-writer), with the foursquare update somewhere in the middle in terms of tone... but the E*Trade notes show they don't even realize this is text that anyone might read, that its tone will be important, and that they *should* be paying someone to do it properly.

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