Angel’s Choice. Dominate the world of virtual investing in apps

TNW Quick Hit

Angel’s Choice is a game about finding and investing in new applications.

Enjoyed: Interesting concept.  Wonderful way to discover new apps through playing a game.

Annoyed: If investments aren’t quite up to par, there appears no way of divesting oneself of a poor investment.  Further, searching for new, interesting apps could be more simple than it now is.

Overall: 3.5/5

The Details:

Apps are something I truly enjoy.  I know, I should be given what I pen most of my pieces on, but no, I truly do enjoy apps of all sorts, the good, the bad, those on mobile devices, those that are browser-based, and those designed for a desktop.  A positive to this, let’s say, obsession, with apps is that new ones arrive daily and some of them are actually useful.

Enter Angel’s Choice (free in the iTunes App Store).  Angel’s Choice is designed to aid those who love apps in finding the best of the lot for one’s iPhone and/or iPod Touch.

That said, the app offers more than simply a list of apps for one to search through.  Angel’s Choice is a game about finding and investing in new applications where one can discover new apps and use virtual currency to invest in the most promising new applications one finds.

After entering one’s basic information: username, an avatar if you so choose, and linking your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts (so you can share your app investments/recommendations with friends), one receives a daily salary of $1000 to begin investing:

Note: a shot of the “Friends” screen has been excluded.  Why?  I have none.

From the  screen above one can view stats, investments in one’s portfolio, and the performance of friends:

As you can see I’m doing well, but have a way to go.  To assist with gaining additional money to invest and experience points so I can move from “Assistant” to the next level in the Angel’s Choice food chain, the app provides “Mission” items.  Here one can invest in “Sectors” or apps in the “Start up stage” to advance in the game:

As one progresses through the game, one can compare their performance to that of others based on experience rankings, profitability rankings and gain rankings.  Dominating I am not:

Aside from the features above, one can search for apps by category, categories of apps are based on those from the iTunes App Store itself, with users having the ability to sort apps in a variety of ways and decide which apps to invest in.

Criteria to choose from when deciding to invest include an app’s Angel Points (the index considering funding and investor level in apps), new apps recently invested in by other users, a particular app’s growth rate, and apps funded by friends.

Unlike Appsfire which is more of a recommendation engine for apps, and AppShopper which only allows one to track the newest iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps, updates and price changes, Angel’s Choice is about finding the best new apps, sharing your find with the world and playing an enjoyable game while doing so.