Why do people create dumb apps?

Recently I’ve wondered about the glut of stupidly simple single-purpose apps that don’t seem to have a clear path to building a business. Who’s building these apps? Why? And is it really a problem? Am I just an app snob (don’t answer that).

Apparently I’m not alone in wondering this, and as it turns out, there’s a better way to think about this moment: apps are the new pop album, cheap to produce, fairly easy to market, and if one takes off — it pays for all the flubs. Ryan Hoover (of Product Hunt) pointed this out in this conversation on Twitter. Felt it was worth capturing in context:

There’s still room to ask the question about how to create lasting, long term value and establish trust. But there’s also room to create “toys”, as Tyler Hayes put it. Sometimes I get caught up in the big plays that I fail to see that “disposable apps” are a great way to just test something out, especially for small or niche audiences. You don’t have to swing for the fences every time; sometimes a bunt is all it takes to move runners around the bases.