Should the ESRB be on the App Store?

Too... Many... GAMES!

That would be a LOT of work for the ESRB raters.

I'ma gonna say no.
Also, as you said, Apple has its own ratings. However, I think they're too loose on some games. Doodle Army is rated 9+ and it is completely centered around killing people, has racial stereotypes (the Middle East location has everyone wearing turbans), and lots of blood. Oh well. :p

I'm not even much of a gamer, and I think the ratings are a bad idea. It's good to post information (on the product page in iTunes) for apps that could be age-inappropriate, as is done already. But these game ratings just remind me of the same wrong-headedness the music industry suffers from. I think it just makes kids home right in on the stuff their parents wouldn't want them to download.

No Apple is doing a fine job. The last thing the App store needs is another regulatory body for the app to pass through.

Wow... just wow... I think you guys might not even understand how the ESRB works, and if thats the case, you probably shouldnt be reporting on them. Games are not REQUIRED to be submitted to the ESRB in order to be published. However, if it does not get an ESRB rating, M$, Nintendo, and Sony won't permit it to be published, and most retailers won't want to sell it (you should be understand the incentive for putting them through the ratings board.) Here's the thing though, Apple has taken the retail stores out of the equation, they control the only store that sells the games. Now, with apple doing the approving themselves, developers and publishers have no need to submit their games to the ESRB, because once a game is approved, the only store the game needs to sell in has already said that they will sell it. And seriously, when it comes to whats in the app store, what exactly defines a "game"? Does a rubik's cube app need an ESRB rating? It's a game, there's a goal that you are trying to reach by playing it. Is it not a game if there is a utilitarian use?

Things are never so black and white.

No.

I think developers should be allowed to get their apps rated by the ESRB and that if a developer chooses to get an ESRB rating for their app, it would be accepted by Apple instead of the normal App Store ratings.

This allows big developers who already work with the ESRB to continue to do so for the iPhone and have consistent ratings for their content across all platforms. It also allows developers who are concerned about Apple giving their app a "refused classification" rating (i.e. a ban) to get an ESRB rating and avoid the kiss-of-death from Apple.

No, the ESRB shouldn't "be" in general either.

The ESRB shouldn't exist.

ESRB rating fees can climb up into the THOUSANDS of dollars. You need to be a publisher before they'll even return your phone calls. How would this be good for iPhone gaming?

Apple wouldn't allow it, pure and simple. It's their closed system, and they're going to keep it that way until they are ordered to change it by law.

As for my own view, I'll go with no.