Not a terrible idea probably, but sophisticated users might be put off by the popup signup.

I don't care enough yet about your service to give you my personal information OR to even bother disabling Javascript which I assume defeats the popup.

Let me poke around without signing anything.

I simply clicked "I'm already registered" link and the pop-up was gone!

Note: I didn't register.

I noticed that later. But the first time I visited, I got really annoyed at the popup, then looked for a red X, didn't see one, and left angry.

Only came back because this is on Hacker News and the meta discussion is interesting. The service itself is dead to me.

When your site uses one of those in-window popups, I immediately hit the back button.

Very annoying. Also, clicking on the background did not kill the window.

New visitors are unlikely to sign up before even viewing the site. You may want to popup that modal on the 2nd or 3rd page view.

Exactly what I did too. Pop ups that require my email address before I can see what the site does? No chance.

Thanks for the feedback. Is it that you think it is intrusive?

Personally I find that kind of experience intrusive. I do like the idea though, but what happens after? Do I get to keep the app? Do I get upgrades to an app? I take it the users who are early adopters are also free testers to some degree.

To kill the popup, I lied and claimed I was already registered. Shady first impression, puts me on guard before I read anything else on your page.

You my friend, are on to something...

Great idea, nice design, I'll keep poking at it and let you know if I can break anything.

Popup seems to be missing a close button, so I can not even see what kind of apps you deem to be "premium". Also the word "premium" lights a red light in my brain that means "scam".

Not saying you are a scammer, just saying what my internal bayesian classifier has learned about "premium".

I'm not exactly sure why it's not simply iPhone vs Android. It's not like "HTC" and "Samsung" often have apps that will work on one but not the other. At first I didn't even realize that you did have Android apps, because "Motorola" can be older java-based phones, "Nokia" can be a black and white flip-phone... Not exactly obvious at first glance.

So yeah, just say "iPhone" "iPad" and "Android". Hell, remove the drop-down and make it a logo that you select instead, that should be even easier.

Wow, thats really something. The problem that apps face: to gain visibility in the first week.

This solves it. Would love to see an article on the backstory of how the idea struck you.

Don't upvote submissions like this. Since when is it OK to collect personal information before I've had a chance to evaluate the site? Flagged.

Thanks for the comment. I didn't expect people to be so bothered by the popup. I will remove it.

I must be missing something. I've tried clicking on "Steamscope", billed as a free download, but it opens iTunes and lists the app as $0.99

How do the mechanics of it work? Is it to sort of thing where the app is technically free now but will eventually switch to paid?

Yes exactly. For iOS this seems to be the only way right now. Would be much cooler if they could implement a couponing system.

Then we could be Groupon for apps (Appoun?) :)

Have you tried http://www.appsumo.com

Has potential, but like others stated. Remove that popup asap.