The question of the validity of iPhone reviews is one that came to the fore in the last few months of 2009 because of the controversy that was swirling around the applications that people and companies wrote so others could download and use them on the devices. What happens with these applications is that they are uploaded to the App store on Apple’s site by their creators, and people who download them are allowed to write reviews. But as more and more apps were placed in the store, the question of whether or not positive reviews were being written by the developers and negative reviews by their competitors soon popped up.
Jeff Bertolucci did some research into the validity of the iPhone reviews in the iTunes store, and published some of what he found at www.pcworld.com, early in 2009. He described several safeguards Apple had tried to put in place, such as ensuring that people actually had to download iPhone applications before reviewing them. This still didn’t mean, though, that the reviewers ever actually used the apps. Bertolucci noted that it’s never that hard to get around the safeguards.
The first big confirmation of any iPhone reviews being rigged, though, came in December of 2009, when a Chinese company named Molinker was demonstrated to have had its employees post glowing reviews of its 1000+ apps. The more good reviews an application gets, the more likely it is to be featured among the top iPhone apps and therefore be purchased and downloaded by more people. But as it turned out, over ninety percent of the reviews for Molinker apps were finally shown to be bogus. In response, Apple removed all of them from the store.
Between new federal regulations requiring disclosure of payments for writing reviews, and the ability for developers to respond to iPhone reviews with accurate information, Bertolucci still thinks it’s a good idea to let the reviewing continue at the App Store. Certainly, in the midst of a bunch of rave reviews made for hire, a couple of negative ones will stand out and make the potential user take notice. And the new regulations, instituted in December of 2009, will help to reduce reviews written for a payment, and it’s possible now that users may actually glean some accurate information from them.
Kenny Leichester is a foremost expert in the interior design industry specializing in the outdoor or patio settings using outdoor heaters, patio umbrellas, outdoor cushions, patio lighting and so on to create exquisitely beautiful layout. His work on patio umbrellas are widely distributed and is a regular contributor to PatioShoppers.com.
Recent Comments