App Store Changes in Reviews and Listings

[Phil A.]

Now why can they not do this with the rest of the iTunes store. I would be GREAT if only purchasers could review music and particularly movies!

I am so sick of "iTunes, I want to buy not rent! Click yes if you agree!"....

QFT
I picked a TV show at random in the UK store and 10 out of the 19 reviews were moaning that it was too expensive.
I am perfectly capable of reading the price and deciding for myself how I want to spend my money - the reviews should be there to help people decide if the show is any good, not to have a moan at the pricing policy of the iTunes store!

 

[twoodcc]

i don't know about this. i kinda liked it when an app was updated, it got to the top of the list. without it like that, developers won't update as often, i'm guessing

 

[pubwvj]

The lack of being able to see new apps in a category is a problem. I'm not interested in wading through all the apps to find out what is new. I'm also not interested in wading through all the apps to find out what is free. Apple needs a good search feature for the apps.

 

[fastbite]

I want to see new apps fast too.

 

[bob_hearn]

Very interesting. The review fix is long overdue; I just wish Apple would make it retroactive and remove the earlier bogus reviews.

The change in bumping updated apps to the top, if that's what's happened, is harder to evaluate. Yes, apps will be updated less often; it's more in developers' interest to put out new apps.

However... normally, on a day-to-day basis, my sales drop, until a new update comes out, then they pop back up, and begin to decay again. But sales have risen the past two days. I had no explanation -- there was no obvious increased exposure. But maybe this is the effect of true competition taking place, when apps are given a chance to remain visible for a while instead of being instantly buried under tons of updates.

Another potential positive effect is that without the massive update churn, perhaps Apple's review times for new submissions and updates will drop.

 

[milo]

That makes no sense seeing as we are talking about iTunes reviews... but, um, ok...

No, that makes perfect sense.

A person reviewing an iPhone app can only have used that app if they bought it from iTunes.

A person reviewing a song or a movie has plenty of other places they can see/hear it - it wouldn't make sense that only people who have bought it on iTunes should be able to rate a movie or song.

I'm glad they're doing this, but they need to strip out old reviews written by people who don't own the app, there are still LOTS that are obviously from people who didn't buy it.

For movies and songs, they just need to moderate way better, they should set up some automatic filters based on keywords and phrases to delete "reviews" that are just whining about price or "click yes if you agree!!". Right now the reviews are often pretty useless.

One potential down side - I wonder with the new rule for reviews, if this will lead people to download free apps just so they can write negative reviews for whatever reason?

 

[Pring]

That makes no sense seeing as we are talking about iTunes reviews... but, um, ok...

My point being that I can legitimately have watched/listened to this song/movie by obtaining it from a source other than iTunes. Having done so makes me qualified to give a review.

With an application, it's only possible to get it from iTunes so they can get away with saying you're only qualified to give a review if they know you bought it. Apologies if that wasn't clear.

 

[Pring]

no actually its very smart on their part. it makes all the sense in the world. why put on display ALL free apps? I bet you any amount of money that people will be buying more apps. At least it makes them go though all the apps instead of limiting to just free. VERY smart on apple. Im surprised it wasnt like this from the beginning. Just because it makes you search for free apps, doesnt mean its a step backwards.

I guess it depends what Apple wants from the store. If you recall what they said about iTunes originally; they actually made nearly no money on it but they made the profit from the iPods. People bought iPods as they knew they could easily use iTunes to get music.

If people are buying iPhones because of the app store, which I wager people are, then it makes sense for apple to support the free apps as it could mean more people buying the hardware which is where they'll make money.

maybe you should support developers and buy an app every once and a while instead of just downloading all free ones.

Check my sig, I am one of those developers

 

[iPhoneJoe]

only being able to review apps you have purchased is something that should have been in place since the start

 

[kyrow123]

Definitely something that is a welcomed change.

 

[soundsgoodtome]

What about Genius App feature?

You mean where you select the Flashlight app you bought, and iTunes automatically downloads all of the other Flashlight apps for you (and charges you, of course)?

 

[Philsy]

While it's good that you can now only review apps that you own, I'm disappointed that one can no longer go to 'All iPhone' apps and see at a glance the new ones.

The 'New' section on the store is obviously not up to date and, as such, is worthless.

 

[rockosmodurnlif]

In the meanwhile, readers can use these RSS feeds (currently in testing) to find new applications, version updates, and price drops in the App Store:


All Changes
New Apps (All)
New Apps (Free)
New Apps (Paid)
Price Drops (and Increases)
Version Updates



Article Link

Thanks for the links Arn. Made my day. I already sent the Apple people a letter expressing my displeasure at the removal of the links but now I don't need them.

And as I said before in another thread, I think the reviews are now going to be biased in favor of the apps.

 

[costmo]

Some good, some not-so-good

As a developer with an app in the App Store...

I like the fact that they have limited reviews to those who bought the app. It doesn't make sense to allow a review from someone that doesn't own it.

I very much dislike the fact that the default sort order of the app store is "release date" and new versions/releases don't put you at the top of the list (not to mention the fact that the "release date" is actually the submission date, which can be anywhere from 5 to 45 days from the date the app was actually available for purchase). I understand that some take advantage of the system and make frivolous updates, but this mechanism was one of the few ways that us small/independent developers had to promote new and important changes to their application that would translate into increased sales. I personally have some large and important updates for [SHAMELESS PLUG]TimeLogger[/SHAMELESS PLUG] coming out in the next day or two, and am disappointed that their won't be any exposure for it on the App Store.

As a side-effect, this change is very likely to cause the small/independent developers to slow down improvements/updates on their applications because the monetary reward for doing so is greatly reduced.

I hope that this was a mistake that Apple made and they are correcting it, as was suggested by another on this thread.

 

[Brendan.Porter]

i don't know about this. i kinda liked it when an app was updated, it got to the top of the list. without it like that, developers won't update as often, i'm guessing

Let me fix that for you:

"i don't know about this. I kinda liked it when an app was updated, it got to the top of the list. without it like that, developers won't be able to game the system by spamming meaningless updates to artificially inflate their sales."

Punchline - you're damn right they won't update as often.

 

[trisalsa]

I suspect the All Apps listing was removed because of a bug. Somewhere around the Sept 22nd, the list for all applications dropped from approximately 195+/- pages down to 90. 195 pages at 21 apps per page is pretty close to 4096. Guess is iTunes blew out some counter and the link was removed until they could correct. Could be completely off base, but its as good a guess as any.

 

[redgaz26]

cheers for rss feeds arn!!! just started using rss with my apple mail and works great.
app store is turning into something really good and I also like your touch arcade site which also gives you the latest games as soon as there out
what about applying the quick reply option on MR? they have it on most forums I read and would be a welcome feature here.

 

[redgaz26]

hey arn i know your just testing the rss feeds but half an hour after i got them it seems their down? or is it just me

 

[arn]

hey arn i know your just testing the rss feeds but half an hour after i got them it seems their down? or is it just me

working on my end

arn

 

[umijin]

OK, the changes in the review process are fine.

But removing the all apps link is awful. Why? Apple's NEW APPS listing doesn't show the newest apps! It shows only selected apps that are recent. So the only way to find out which apps are new is to go to the All Apps listing and sort by date added.

I could care less if updated apps get moved to the top of the list (I already know which ones I have - duh!).

Apple needs to get its act together, and represent the consumer's needs over their own needs (or the developers').

 

[majordude]

While Apple is at it and they can't retire because their stock just tanked, I suggest they spend their time...

• Making it possible to sort by rating (customer feedback)
• Making it possible to sort by price
• Making the first listings the ones on sale ($1.99 until Halloween)
• Being able to sort by developer
• Allowing movies in the description instead of just screen shots
• Permitting one-time-only offers or some sort of discount for multiple purchases
• Adding a 30 minute return policy so that you can try and return if the app sucks

Apple, I am available for hire.

 

[dwardin9]

An RSS feed that shows new apps and prices changes!

What a novel idea! Serious I have been searching different websites for this very tool. It took only ummm two months to come out. I would have totally bought netshare it someone would have warned me before gizmodo or engadget said it was already taken down. Punks.

end rant

 

[amemoryoncelost]

backed! Hated seeing very pointless reviews, especially for items that cost money and people obviously haven't used. Makes that purchase that more difficult to decide on.

 

[Raid]

It's too bothersome to hunt through each individual catagory to find new, or updated Apps.

Agreed, right now the App update system is completely broken for me. Itunes says I have 8 updates for my applications, but I have know way of determining which ones they are. (I click on the update link in iTunes and get nothing) With this new system am I expected to search through an RSS feed to find the updates? While the application updates never were fully functional before I used to be able to see the available updates, and get them in a few clicks, this is not an improvement!

While Apple is at it and they can't retire because their stock just tanked, I suggest they spend their time...

• Making it possible to sort by rating (customer feedback)
• Making it possible to sort by price
• Making the first listings the ones on sale ($1.99 until Halloween)
• Being able to sort by developer
• Allowing movies in the description instead of just screen shots
• Permitting one-time-only offers or some sort of discount for multiple purchases
• Adding a 30 minute return policy so that you can try and return if the app sucks

You know these suggestions aren't bad at all, I'd like to add a suggestion that Apple creates a separate list of new updates, or allows a sort by most recent updates, and that Apps can be put in the shopping cart. That might help.

If anybody knows of a simple way of updating apps can you let me know? I don't have time to hunt around RSS feeds... I can't believe Apple is making what was a fairly simple (yet slightly flawed) process and messing it up even more.

 

[ztigerpaw]

This is something I've been waiting for Apple to implant into the iTunes App Store even before it. Finally we can trust our reviews more then the childish complaints or asking if its good.