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Apple trashes all App Store reviews from non-customers
In the early days of the Apple App Store, feedback could be given for applications much in the same way you can for products on Newegg, Amazon and many other sites to help people make a purchasing decision. Given that word of mouth is one of the most important advertising tools, this is a good incentive for developers to make good software. Unfortunately, Apple found that their reviews were often tainted, getting both positive and negative reviews from people who hadn't actually used the application in question. The end result was Apple prohibiting non-customers from submitting feedback, though it still left a massive amount of reviews left.
That move came in September of last year, and now Apple has finished cleaning up the mess by deleting all reviews posted by non-customers. Reviews submitted by current customers are still intact, though it did leave many developers with significantly less reviews to use as references for their software.
As easy as it is to criticize Apple over some of their App Store policies, this one is a pretty fair move. If you aren't an actual Apple customer, or haven't even purchased the application in question, it's not very fair to be offering feedback on it. There's always room for corruption in any feedback system, such as developers reviewing their own products or paying for positive ones, but by at least this way they are reducing those possibilities. In this fashion, do you side with Apple or do you think it is unfair for them to prevent non-customers from leaving feedback?
That move came in September of last year, and now Apple has finished cleaning up the mess by deleting all reviews posted by non-customers. Reviews submitted by current customers are still intact, though it did leave many developers with significantly less reviews to use as references for their software.
As easy as it is to criticize Apple over some of their App Store policies, this one is a pretty fair move. If you aren't an actual Apple customer, or haven't even purchased the application in question, it's not very fair to be offering feedback on it. There's always room for corruption in any feedback system, such as developers reviewing their own products or paying for positive ones, but by at least this way they are reducing those possibilities. In this fashion, do you side with Apple or do you think it is unfair for them to prevent non-customers from leaving feedback?
User Comments (9)
Post a comment| DarkCobra on February 27, 2009 6:05 PM | I've often been troubled by sites that allow all kinds of
"trolls" to just trash a product whether they've actually
used it or not. The "fanboy" mentality is literally making
a joke out of quite a few electronic blogging sites.
However, I'm curious just how Apple is determining "WHO" is
an actual "USER" of a product. This article uses the
verbiage of "customer" as the determinant. How is that
determined? I can buy an Ipod and related equipment anywhere. I may or may not register it or sign up to use the Apple Store. How would such a legitimate owner/user of the product render comment on their site now? Overall, I like what they are trying to accomplish. Just honest reviews from people who actually have and use the product. [Edited by DarkCobra on 2009-02-27 18:12:39]
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| Rick on February 27, 2009 6:46 PM | Originally posted by DarkCobra: This
article uses the verbiage of "customer" as the determinant.
How is that determined? I *think* you are assuming a customer is
any owner of any Apple product. What *I* think they mean by
"customer" is someone who purchased the reviewed app itself.
People who own iPhones and iPods would not be customers -
only if they bought the app. I can buy an Ipod and related equipment anywhere. I may or may not register it or sign up to use the Apple Store. How would such a legitimate owner/user of the product render comment on their site now? If you buy an app from the app store, you obviously have an iTunes account. At this point, it's pretty easy to keep track of and seems like the most fair way to do it. I also can't help but think that Apple planned this all along -- It was just an easy way to quick influx of reviews and now that the 'community' has been well established, they're wiping the slate clean but still have plenty of reviews left over.
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| DarkCobra on February 27, 2009 10:02 PM | OK, thanks Rick I think I see it now. They are clearly
only referring to software "applications" and not their
hardware products. My bad, as I mistakenly thought they
were referring to Apple products (which would include the
hardware).
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| captain828 on February 28, 2009 1:06 AM | So what about the jailbroken iPhones?
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| Julio on February 28, 2009 1:27 AM | Jailbroken iPhones can still use the App store so I don't
see the limitation there. Speaking of Apple and user reviews, the other day I was surprised to see a glaring exception to Apple fanboyism. My Macbook Pro charger broke a few weeks ago and reviews at Apple.com for it criticize it harshly (2/5 stars) because it seems it's just a matter of time until those break, sometimes as little as a year after use. Yet many of those same users confess to keep buying Apple products.
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| captain828 on February 28, 2009 3:03 AM | Originally posted by Julio: Jailbroken
iPhones can still use the App store so I don't see the
limitation there. I was referring to apps not bought
from the App store, but are available there. But then again
you can't quite control that.Speaking of
Apple and user reviews, the other day I was surprised to see
a glaring exception to Apple fanboyism. My Macbook Pro
charger broke a few weeks ago and reviews at Apple.com for
it criticize it harshly (2/5 stars) because it seems it's
just a matter of time until those break, sometimes as little
as a year after use. Yet many of those same users confess to
keep buying Apple products. For how long have you
used that charger? have you changed it already?Also, how expensive is it? IMHO, most fanboys don't even own a certain product yet they still praise it. I'd call that fanaticism rather than fanboyism. We've all seen posts from fanatic fanboys (be they Apple, AMD, nVidia etc.) and most of the time they don't even own that certain product, but they praise it to the heavens. They also curse competing products to hell and back, again most of them not even using them or downright refusing to use them (Vista anyone?). note: I don't own any Apple products, though I have used many and my general opinion about them is that most of them (not all) are overpriced and overrated compared to current competing products. I also don't enjoy bashing something without solid arguments. [Edited by captain828 on 2009-02-28 03:16:29]
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| sngx1275 on February 28, 2009 9:21 AM | The 'sensationalist' headline is a bit out of place when you
later claim it 'fair'.
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| captain828 on February 28, 2009 11:47 AM | Originally posted by sngx1275: The
'sensationalist' headline is a bit out of place when you
later claim it 'fair'. I agree with that, "remove"
would have been a more suitable word.
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| nazartp on March 2, 2009 10:40 AM | I'm no huge fan of Apple, but believe that practice is fair.
I purchase a lot of parts from Newegg and photo equipment
from B&H and customer reviews are a valuable input. Quite
often, though, you see either fans or critics just pile it
without any regard to actual value of the product. Neither
Newegg nor B&H delete posts from non-customers, but they at
least clearly mark the ones coming from the actual product
owners.
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