March 12th, 2009
by Peter Melnikov

I noticed that Apple is testing (or releasing) the updated AppStore review system today. So far the new system is visible on selected apps. But the number of those is growing fast.

Customer Rating are introduced. Instead of posting a review a customer can leave a rating in the special menu which is quick and easy and see how much reviews are already left.

Customer Reviews are broken down into ‘current’ version and all versions of the app. Review date and version number shown with particular reviews. Apps that are submitted as 1.0 versions have limited functionality and users generate a lot of feedback (not always positive). Based on how well developer reacts by releasing updates users tend to improve there ratings. New review system is encouraging developers to come up with better products and is generally more fair to developers.