Apple tweaks App Store listings

Apple has made a few changes to the way applications are listed in the App Store.

(Credit: CNET)

Apple made a few changes to the App Store over the weekend that should cheer up developers, even if the underlying issues remain unaddressed.

Reviews for App Store applications must now be filled out by someone who has actually purchased the application in question, making it more difficult for developers to pump up their own application with favorable reviews as well as for rival developers to "Astroturf" a competitor's application with fake reviews. Applications will also now be listed according to their original release date; before this weekend, an update to an application reset the release date to the time when the application was released, changing the order in which applications are listed in the App Store. (Links via AppleInsider.)

As developer Matt Gemmell noted, the move at least shows Apple is listening to some developer concerns over how the App Store is run. However, the basic question of what is permitted on the App Store, and what isn't, remains unanswered.

It seems probable that Apple has been simply overwhelmed this quarter with iPhone applications, as we draw near the three-month anniversary of the launch of the App Store, and that further changes may be afoot as the concept matures. Apple's quiet deliberate nature has frustrated developers to date, but those frustrations may ease if Apple can address some of the major concerns while keeping focused on the main goal: selling a bunch of iPhones.

[Goodbye Helicopter]

now let's see who complains about some other aspect here...

[kaibelf]

I'm actually very happy with this set of changes, for two very specific/annoying reasons:

1. Every time I've been going onto the app store to see "what's new," I have been seeing almost nothing but .0.1 updates to junk I either tried before or have no interest in, so now there's actually a chance of finding something without digging for 8 years.

2. The reviews have been sucking horribly for a while. From the 1-star gems ("Thiz sounds like a stupid idea, and the name iz dum!) all the way up to the fluff 5-star ones ("I loved this one program this company released about 5 years ago.... i forget what it was, but I'm sure I'll love this app once I get an iphone! kthx!")

[artistjoh]

I always thought that rapid upgrades were a good thing and were encouraged by the incentive of keeping an app up among the latest releases which are naturally the apps that get the most eyeballs.

On the other hand reviews that were by people who obviously had not purchased an app were a waste of time and should never have been allowed.

[Tom Krazit]

I hear what you're saying, but there was the concern that people were putting out minor updates just to goose their ranking, and forcing people to constantly update their app needlessly. Now Apple will have to watch out for people who release entirely new rebranded apps rather than calling them significant point releases, but I think that's a better gamble.

[kaibelf]

Yes, I agree with Tom. I have one app which does nothing (swear to god) but split a check for a restaurant. It's been updated like.... 7 times in the past month, and only once has there been any added functionality. The last 3 updates have been within 2 weeks, but no crash complaints, and no details, so I have no idea what they are actually doing.

[goodspeed8701]

at the end apple sux

[ibeetle]

I wish this was the case with every review comment filed with all retailers. A week does not go by that I do not see at least one one (1) star review on Amazon from people that never read the book or bought the product they are complaining about.

Recent example, the game Spore. One reviewer said he would never buy the game, never play the game even if it were free. Then he typed some chant in capitol letters about F#@k the RIAA. And then made some incoherent disparaging remark about Sony.

Another review on a Dyson vacuum cleaner I was looking at said his excuse for the one star review was because he had, years earlier bought a different model and he just didn't like it (no other reason). So he was going to go through Amazon and give all models of Dyson products one star reviews.

[mbenedict]

My friend has a great Free app on the App Store. But if you look at the reviews, you see a few one star ratings with really nasty and obviously false comments.

Why? These bad reviews were written by paid-app authors who feel threatened by my friend's free app. I mean, why would anyone pay money for their app when they could just use my friend's? Those developers must be losing a lot of money.

Unfortunately these App Store changes will do nothing to stop this kind of review gaming.