Thoughts on the iPhone App Store review process

For all those with the "delete now" argument, I have to ask if we should make quality of the product a consideration in ALL of the iTunes store?

I mean, I think an AAC of "My Humps" is a waste of 1s & 0s. I believe that "Hollaback Girl" is utter trash. Still, these items are offered by iTunes regardless of their low quality and the loathing of critics.

Granted, "My Humps" is not $9999.99 -- But that's because iTunes doesn't allow music to cost more than the standard iTunes prices.

All I'm saying is that if "My Humps" DID cost $9999.99 then it would sit in relative obscurity, just like "I'm Rich" will, and eventually the iTunes Powers-That-Be would be able to say, "Well, it's not selling. We have to pull it." and they'd be totally justified.

Let the market pass judgment. It will all work out in the end. People are stupid, but they're not THAT stupid.

This is a no brainer Apple should simply implement the X number of months under 2 stars and your app will be pulled from the online store. Then if the same developer introduces a new app and it intros at less than 2 stars for the first week auto pull it. This keeps the garbage off the app store while still allowing the free market to help weed out the junk that would otherwise just pollute the store.

I gotta take Apple's side on this one... but the app never should have made it on the store to begin with.

How about an open market app store and a section for "Apple approved" software?

In the End, regardless of everyone's Opinion here, Apple does and will decide what get's on the App Store. That is as fact as the Sun rises everyday. No additional debate or opinion will change that. They do this today and will always do this.

With the App Store, Apple's role is that of retailer, just like their Apple Store (both online and brick and mortar).
I know this is confusing to many since the App Store exists on iTunes. But you need to understand that with the iTunes Store, Apple's role is that of distributor, not retailer.

Distribution works on much lower profit margins than retail.
App Store = Retail = Higher margins
iTunes Store = Distributor = Lower Margins

At 200 apps a week, or whatever rate anyone in the know wants to chime in with, the App store may be approaching 10,000 apps a year from now. Ouch.

As a consumer, I EXPECT that Apple will filter the Apps that get on the store by whatever means they deem. If anyone doubts this, go to the Apple Store (retail) and see for yourself. Not every application or every product exists there. Only those that Apple decides to put there, exist. We want this. We need this.

Knowing that Apple is in the business of making profits and growing their customer base through the sound economic practice of turning customers into Highly Satisfied Customers, I expect Apple will use all it's resources to determine what Apps they will make available to Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch customers, in the hopes of making them Highly Satisfied Customers.

As with All companies, they'll make good decisions and bad decisions. As with all successful and profitable companies, they will continue to tweak their product line (Apps on the App Store) and gauge their efforts by profits and highly satisfied customers.

Steve jobs is no dummy.

Is there a place where you can get good iPhone App reviews?

Atari had the same problem.

(E.T. is seen as marking the beginning of Atari's downfall and is often viewed as one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history, as well as the worst video game ever made. E.T. was a contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984, and a glut of unsold copies of the game helped contribute to the video game crash of 1983. As a result of overproduction, hundreds of thousands of unsold cartridges were reportedly buried in a New Mexican landfill.)

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Seal_of_Quality

But these days people can get reviews before you buy for most things.

good riddance i say

you can't let a few bad app(le)s spoil the (imaginary) cart

Did anyone consider that something like "I Am Rich" was just easier to review than the rest of the programs waiting in the queue? It is a static image. What bugs could there possibly be? What grammar issues or interface problems could there have been? Just because some apps are getting rejected or have been waiting for two weeks to make it to the App Store doesn't mean they won't. It just means they haven't yet.

The main problem here is that Apple DOES review apps and stupid submissions get approved while other, fantastic apps, get delayed. If Apple stopped reviewing all apps, many people (mostly developers) would be relieved; alternatively, Apple could review everything and filter crap like I Am Rich. Either decision would be understandable. But as it stands, Apple's reviewing process is both inefficient and ineffective, and that is the most irritating part of all.

Apple should never have posted this app. The app store is already filled with crapapps. I don't want my phone turning into a windows mobile device.

I praise apple for keeping it as closed as they can. It would be nice if the process was even harder, maybe then my phone would crash less.