iTunes App Store doesn’t know how to alphabetize

In the rush to be at the alphabetical beginning of the iTunes App Store list, iPhone developers are channeling the spirit animals of so many countless IRC users who have taken advantage of a few preceding exclamation points to get their #!!!cybersex channel to the top of the /list.

The problem is the iTunes App Store alphabetizing algorithm. Less reputable developers have discovered that all it takes to get an app knocked to the beginning of the list is to precede the actual title with a space. So “Aaron the Aardvark” gets knocked out of the first place in the list by Yiffy Furson Software’s “_Zoobilee Zoophilia” datebook app.

But it gets better. Because apps with a space at the beginning can be bumped from the alphabetical top spot by preceding an app title with two spaces, which can then be trumped by three spaces, then four. And so on! The iTunes App Store is the battleground of a massive war of attrition in which the personnel and ordinance are replaced by a limited number of spaces, at symbols and exclamation points.

Doubtlessly, a fix will be forthcoming. In the meantime, Jirbo’s Solitaire City holds onto its cherished alphabetical top spot by dint of its astonishing prologue of fifteen spaces before the application name.

Unfair Practices In The App Store [TUAW]

1. [Doomstalk]

   Someone at Apple needs to learn how to use TRIM()

2. [Moon]

   I do this with my audiobooks. I change the name of the author and put an apostrophe in front of it, so that the books are always on top of my iPod list.

3. [Ryanwoofs]

   It’s good to see an Apple trick that’s been used for years to manage long lists of files has made it to Web 2.0, even if only temporarily!

4. [mistercharlie]

   Are you thinking of Aaron A Aardvark, who changed his name to be first in the Mega City One phone directory?

   If so, his demise would be a fitting one for Jirbo: Aaron was the first victim of an alphabetical serial killer.

5. [Halloween Jack]

   In other news, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAdvantage Escort Service still in operation in many major cities; very discreet, all major credit cards accepted (billed to Spacely Sprockets).

6. [sdfjkl]

   I can’t believe you didn’t use the term “space race” in this post.