by Head of Search
Andrew Girdwood
Apple has changed its policy to ensure that reviews of iPhone Applications can only be written by users who have purchased the application in question. The change should make it harder for developers to negatively rate rival applications and manipulate star ratings.Andrew Girdwood
User submitted reviews have become a cornerstone of the evolution of the internet. Increasingly, users expect to be able to comment on, compliment or criticise the services or products they've received. And it's a feature that has the ability to impact positively on a site's popularity. For example, in the travel market, sites like TripAdvisor have risen to prominence through their vast collection of reviews.
The early success of sites capitalising on user submitted reviews has been tempered with concerns over the integrity of the reviews themselves. In 2006 USA Today journalist Gene Sloan wrote of suspicions that hotel staff were reviewing their own hotels on TripAdivsor and highlighted the concern that hotels were offering cash in return for positive commentary.
The United Kingdom's Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations Act was updated in May 2008 to specifically make it illegal for companies to falsely represent themselves as a consumer. The law, however, places little emphasis on sites that allow reviews and the way that these reviews are policed to prevent infringement.
iPhone Application developer and news editor for Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz welcomed the new policy update from Apple on his blog. Mr Schwartz had experienced anti-Semitic comments on his popular Siddur & Zmanin iPhone application.
"I think this is a good first step in making the iTunes App Store review system more fair for both developers and users," Barry Schwartz told bigmouthmedia.
"To have people review an app without first trying it, well - that is like asking your brother for a letter of recommendation - it just is a skewed review. Outside of that, it adds a barrier to those who have anger towards an individual or group of people. It makes it one step harder for those types of people to leave racist or anti-semitic remarks."
"The best scenario would be to have Apple review reported reviews in a timely fashion, with this policy of having to buy or download the app, before reviewing. What is sad, is that anti-Semitic review is still in the App Store, after I know at least ten different people reported it to Apple over 15 days ago!"
Prolific tech blogger Christina Warren also welcomed the policy update on The Unofficial Apple Weblog noting that many people simply complained about the pricing of applications in the review section. "That isn't fair to developers, and it isn't fair to potential buyers", Warren wrote.
