Pinterest launched a new product called App Pins on Feb. 11, Wednesday. The new feature aims to help Apple users, who are members of the site, to find apps easier on the App Store.
The new service works in much the same way as "pinning" photos, recipes and many other websites. App Pins also continues the popular bookmarking start-up's philosophy, which is to allow its users to explore and save for later smartphone apps that they are interested in and may want to download later.
The New York Times compares App Pins to a "digital corkboard," where users can "pin" the apps they want to come back to at a later time. Once saved, users can then download the apps anytime with just a few taps right there in Pinterest; no need to go to the App Store.
Pinterest Founder Evan Sharp said in an interview that app discovery is a problem that has not been solved. But he believes Pinterest can be a "really powerful service" for discovering apps.
With an estimated 70 million regular visitors, Sharp believes Pinterest is in a better position to help promote iOS apps because of the nature of its service and because the site's specialty is "really connecting people to the things they want to do." Pinterest users, more than a third of which visit the site through their smartphones, come to the site to find new things to do, see and buy.
The move is just as significant for Apple as it is for Pinterest. The Cupertino firm previously used a "featured" section in its App Store to promote smartphone apps.
With the launch of App Pins, Apple has also created its own account at the site in order to share own app pickings. It currently only has five boards that feature 34 fashion, food and other apps, but this number is expected to grow as the company's in-house team continues to promote apps by season and theme as well as feature "guest pinners."
The partnership is exclusive to iOS apps at this time.