How an ideal app store App review process would look like [or How Apple should let go]
100% of the iPhone app developers will agree that the #1 thing they'd like to see improved in the App Store is the App-roval process. It is too long (at least 2 weeks), too complicated, too obscure and sometimes ridiculous
Apple, maybe rightly so wants to keep its app store clean by making sure all the apps included there are of quality and run by their guidelines. However this process causes frustrations and anger. We anticipate this is not going to change. Soon every brand will have at least an app. The pace of apps submitted is not going to decrease and the "human" approach is not scalable.
Fred Wilson points today to the important of instant approval and the sense of gratification it provides. I am nearly sure i can speak for all developers: when you get to the App Store you feel like you have been admitted to Stanford or something.
At Appsfire we'd love to see a lot more apps and lot more choice and lot more happy developers.
So here is what we'd love to see on the App Store
- We'd love to see apps approved by default. You upload your ipa file and you get there. it is immediately indexed and searchable
- Apps would be present and downloadable on a Pre-App store
- Apple should then apply it certification process and run it by the same guidelines
- Any apps certified gets a grade and a special promotion spot on the app store (including better search ranking)
- Any apps certified would be included in a premium app store, 100% certified by Apple, sign of apple quality
- At this point it does not matter how long is the certification process. Apple can take its time
- If they want to make it a little more efficient, they should crowdsource the certification process by giving to some of their biggest fans/users the power to attribute a grade
- If they don't want to go that far they could leverage user data to put in line apps most used and downloaded (they have that data they collect for the Genius)
- To this matter they should totally change the app rating system which is mainly used when you uninstall an app. We should be able to rate an App from the App easily at any time.
- They could create a special access for app developers that have already created certified apps and would get spotted and treated faster
What it means it that Apple should be ready to let go.
LET GO.
- They should accept the idea of a public-by-default Pre-App Store
- They would solve a major pain without compromising with the quality certification so important to them (and users)
- They would solve a major internal pain, because the review process means pressure and cost for them
This is the only way we see for Apple to scale the App review process without having to totally give it up or outsource it.
This is how we want to see it becoming. Wouldn't you?
update: another idea would be for Apple to automatize part of the process by detecting some simple apps dysfunction or unauthorized access, which they apparently start by doing. Won't be enough though, but extending the idea, they could use this approach to detect Malwares
