As amazing as the App Store is in most respects, there are certain things about it that are just plain annoying, either for developers or for users, and sometimes for both. One such thing used to be the provision for any iTunes member to be able to post a review for an application, regardless of whether they’d bought it or not.
Thanks to this feature, a lot of paid applications would end up with crappy ratings just because people thought that they were expensive. Visit any application priced about $5.99 and you’re likely to see several colourful reviews claiming that it’s far too expensive.
To put an end to this practice, Apple now expressly enforces that you must buy an application to earn the right of being able to review it. This is, of course, great for the application developers because this eliminates the possibility of their painstakingly developed application being relegated to the category of third grade products just because a bunch of kids decided to give it poor ratings due to it being out of their budget.
However, I think Apple’s solution is a little too simplistic and, like a few other aspects of the App Store, not fully thought through. Sure, this rule will stop the junk reviews from entering the store but, just like an overprotective spam filter, it will also keep out a lot of great reviews. That’s the reason why almost all online stores, including all the other areas of the iTunes Store, do allow people to comment on products without their having bought them (although there is a valid argument that none of them are exclusive vendors for that category of products).
There are many reasons why someone might have a valuable opinion about an application without ever having used it. I, for one, am quite grateful when I see reviews for applications that tell me that some other application is better than this one, which gives me the opportunity to compare the two and decide for myself. Similarly, it’s helpful to know that the company or developer behind the application I’m about to purchase has a poor track record, which may prevent me from spending my money on a product that has little prospect of ever being updated again.
A better idea, in my opinion, would be to only give credibility to reviews that are lengthier than a certain predetermined number of words (which would ensure that the “omg! $9.99!!! r u insane!!” reviews do not hold any weight) and/or have been marked by a lot of people as helpful.
Or, I don’t know, something else that works better. I’m just not sure that a blanket rejection of all non-customer reviews is such a great idea. However small it may be though, it’s definitely a step in the right direction and is, I hope, indicative of a greater, more subtle detail—maybe Apple is listening to us after all.
[Via TUAW]
