How Apple Should Handle the App Store Blacklist

How Apple Should Handle the App Store Blacklist:

I’ve been trying to decide if I wanted to wade in here, lest people thnk this blog’s turning into “all apple, all the time”. but what the heck, why not?

To a good degree, I agree completely with this piece, with a couple of minor caveats.


The question of how Apple should use the App Store blacklist has been bandied about lately and so far, no one really has the answer. Should Apple act unilaterally and remove apps without any warning? Should it ask for user input? The questions are numerous and the answers are in short supply. I think it needs to have a full-fledged plan that’s made available to the public so developers and users alike will know what to expect.

So what exactly should Apple be doing? It should first start out with a real policy. How can it summarily remove applications from the App store without warning the developer or user? It doesn’t make any sense.

Included in that policy, it should develop an understanding between both the user and Apple that makes both entities work together to achieve the lofty goal of making it a better service for all parties involved.

First and foremost, Apple needs to install a “report” button that lets the users alert the company to ridiculous applications like “I am Rich” and helps them sift through the good and the bad.

By doing that, it also helps create a rapport between Apple and users, who have been kept in the dark so far about what’s really going on when it removes applications like NetShare, Box Office, and others. Let’s face it – users are downloading these applications and they have every right in the world to know what’s going on with them. I don’t think that’s asking too much.

Secondly, Apple needs to set parameters for how apps should be priced. I have no problem with developers assigning prices to their work, but $1,000 for an iPhone application that gives you a mantra isn’t worth $1, let alone $1,000.

99% of the current complaints about what’s going on with the store are solved with a simple thing: communication. Whatever the policy for the App store is, it’s a secret. When something is removed from the store, the reason is a secret. what is cause for acceptance and rejection is basically a secret. “Magic happens” and you either appear or disappear from the store.

All that engenders frustration, and the developers and users are right. that has to stop. I don’t think Apple is “being evil” here as much as scrambling with serious overload, but honestly, they’re trying to work TOO fast and creating problems in their wake by what corners they’re cutting.

So my suggestions are:

1) get in touch wtih the developers; there’s an approval policy internally, somewhere. release it. explain it. At least let them know where the lines in the sand are.

2) remember the mobileMe blog? the one that magically went quiet again as soon as the crisis was over? (gee, funny that. nice conversation). How about an App store blog, so when something is removed from the store, users are told about it. AND WHY. Especially if it’s because of some kind of security or data leakage problem, which users deserve to know.

3) create and publish an appeal process for developers. there has to be somewhere for them to get a decision reviewed. right now, that’s a black hole.

do 1 and 3, and life gets MUCH better for Apple, really fast. Do 2 and you get even closer to the ideal state (to quote Bill Cosby: “Parents don’t want justice, they want quiet”. and what we want here, for apple, is quiet; justice would be nice, too)

as to reporting buttons? Not a huge fan, I don’t think they work well in real life, and they’re easy things to create and ignore and let someone think they’re being heard when in reality they’re being ignored.

Adn having Apple tell a company what to charge for their app? Nope. let th free market play out here. you trust users (with the button) to tell Apple about bad apps, but don’t trust those same users to tell developers they mispriced their stupid product? hey, if the users are smart enough for one, they’re smart enough for both. Let the users vote with their wallets.

my view on Apple managing the app store: you want Apple taking care of key issues, and that includes things like interface integrity, security bugs, data leakages and stuff that could really bork over a phone or it’s owner. but beyond that, the fewer things Apple is involved in, the better. I’d rather see 1000 stupid apps in the store die of neglect than one app not make it into the store because Apple thought it’d be stupid but really didn’t understand what it was all about….

You might also want to read:

  1. Fighting sockpuppet reviews on the App Store App Store reviews have been controversial from the beginning — while they can be helpful for buyers, you often have no idea just who’s leaving...
  2. Refunds And Trials In The App Store Refunds And Trials In The App Store – Inside iPhone Blog: Apple has complete control over the App Store and its component parts. I’ve bemoaned...
  3. Crazy Apple Rumors Site » Blog Archive » Apple Settle With Apple Corps. Crazy Apple Rumors Site » Blog Archive » Apple Settle With Apple Corps.: Apple Inc. and the Beatle’s Apple Corps announced today that they have...
  4. Problems I think Apple should fix and challenges Apple faces (Apple Post-mortem, part 9 of some number…..) Previous episodes: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Over here, I suggested that my “Apple post-mortem” series was going to be eight parts,...
  5. Crazy Apple Rumors Site: Apple Accidentally Sues Itself. Crazy Apple Rumors Site: Apple Accidentally Sues Itself.: Apple Accidentally Sues Itself. Through an error committed by a lower-level paralegal several weeks ago, Apple has...