just my 2 cents worth on iPhone Appstore Rating System

I am not an avid photographer but I do enjoy taking photos using my iphone to capture some instant moments that will otherwise slip past. And I'm quite inspired by Greg Schmigel's iPhone Photography blog ( http://justwhatisee.com ). I started to try out some iPhone applications that I can use to apply different filters to the photos and email to my friend or upload to my Flickr website. I come to realise that Apple's rating system has little meaning to me.

Appstore had limited apps on photography when it first started. Now it has over 10 pages of photography-related apps. I don't have the patience to go through all the reviews and I depend on the average rating to make a quick decision whether to review further. Then I realise that the average rating is actually quite flawed. Firstly, it can be skewed if there are more comments given on the first version of the app then on the subsequent version / update. Secondly, not many people will revise the rating even if they download an updated improved version of the app. Thirdly, there are no date stamp on the reviews. Although the most recent review will be shown first, you simply have no idea if this review is about the first version of the app or subsequent versions. Just take an example: if an app is downloaded 1000 times when it first made the debut and isonly downloaded 10 times since the last revision, it will be "draggeddown" by the average rating as it's highly skewed, regardless if greatimprovements have been made to the latest version of the app.

If Apple is indeed betting on Appstore as the future for iPhone, it should improve the rating system - this not only benefits the developers but also the customers. While I agree that the Appstore should still maintain the average rating of the app since the debut of the app at Appstore, it should also show separate ratings for different versions of the application so that a reader can know at one glance if the app has a better rating since the last revision. In addition, it should correspondingly filter and only display the comments regarding a particular version of the app instead of the full laundry list (which of course could be an option if the reader chooses to view all). Plus, it will be useful to know how many times has the app been downloaded. I'm sure this will provide better user experience and will be something welcomed by the developer. If the developer has indeed made great improvements to the app, he deserves to charge at a higher price and customers will be willing to pay if the rating is indeed good and the comments are indeed positive. Today, you can't really tell unless you read all the comments and try to make out whether the comments are referring to the latest version of the app or the earlier version.

Perhaps Android or Blackberry can also consider doing the same.

Posted by email from poohwinn's posterous