Apple creates an App Store section for iOS 4-compatible games and apps
It's where the posh kids hang out
As our own Mark Brown opined the other day, fragmentation is becoming an increasing threat on the App Store as Apple devices grow increasingly distant from the first iPhone and iPod touch and new games and OS updates seek to capitalise on the more powerful newcomers.
To recap on the current situation, the App Store now contains games that will work on all devices; games that will only work on the 3GS and above; games that will only work on iPhone 4; games that don't work on iOS 4 as well as games that exploit the update's features (as long as you have a 3GS or better); and of course games that only work on iPad.
Confusingly, some iPhone 4-only games are labelled 'HD', which until recently was becoming the shorthand for 'iPad'. Developers can generally be relied upon to put a warning in their App Store descriptions if their games will only work on certain handsets, but it's not an ideal situation, and many customers have wound up miffed.
Apple has today gone some small way towards making things clearer by creating and promoting an iOS 4 section on the App Store. Labelled 'iOS 4. New features, Awesome apps', the section contains games and apps that have been updated to be compatible with iOS 4, including Flight Control, FarmVille, Plants vs Zombies, and Bejeweled + Blitz.
How useful this will prove in helping you avoid accidentally buying games that aren't get compatible with iOS 4 is debatable, but it's sort of a start.
