Excited to finally release our iOS app, created by the amazingly talented David McKinney (http://davidmckinney.com/). This version is still very early and we're working through some bugs but you gotta ship sometime, right? :)
Why build a native iOS app? What capabilities of the phone are you utilizing?
I ask because this was my experience: I just tried to download the app on my iPhone 4s and I couldn't download it because my iOS version is too old. My Nexus 5, obviously, won't be able to download it either because it's an Android device.
Unless you're doing something majorly different in native than you are in the web version, I don't understand the iOS lock-in and the need to have the most recent iOS version. I mean, I do get it from a developers point of view...it's less devices to test...but it comes at the cost of a lot of people not being able to use it.
The first version of the app admittedly looks very similar to the web experience. We wanted to get something out sooner, rather than later and the most requested feature since Product Hunt launched, has been an iOS app. Our most dedicated fans visit the site multiple times per day so we wanted to make it more accessible.
Although our mobile web version isn't terrible, the native app is faster and easier to use. More importantly, it sets us up to do some interesting things later on, such as interactive push notifications.
I think the reasoning would also be fairly similar to the reason that the big players are unbundling their apps.
The most valuable real estate is the homescreen of your phone. A website bookmark isn't likely to get that placement. A website bookmark that you can download from the App Store on the other hand...
I think it's easy, but not quite obvious to the non-technical user. Then they have the issue that once they've tapped on the icon on the homescreen, they are thrown into Safari. And doing the multi-tasking gesture shows them Safari, not the website directly as a first class app, so it's not obvious how to get back. If they tap again and the URL is not identical to what they are currently viewing, they will get a new tab. So there's good reasons to ship an app, even it is just a webview.
I can't speak for ProductHunt, but I think one reason people release iOS apps that are basically just WebViews, is because it's the only way to make the company "findable" in the iOS app store. Users expect to find stuff in the app store, and if you have a website but no app, they won't find you. Just how Apple wants it ;)
I am on iOS 6. I've stopped upgrading (intentionally) because every iOS upgrade significantly downgrades the performance of the device. My iPad is a few versions old for the same reason
How do you plan to keep it from overflowing with product submissions? The more submissions you get the harder it becomes for a product to get seen, seems like the same problem that most app stores have. Do you have a daily limit for product submissions? Will the list be curated?
Also a top weekly and top monthly would be good IMO.
AMA!