Gamertell

There’s no other way to look at it: Apple’s App Store is a mess.

Navigating through the torrents of daily application volley is the equivalent of trying to navigate a blizzard on Mt. Everest. It’s entirely possible but requires a Sherpa. The worst part is, 90 percent of those apps being volleyed at you are worthless crap that only exist to show how desperately Apple needs to put in place a quality assurance team that doesn’t give off the impressions that monkeys are jumping up and down on buttons. Apple won’t fix these problem on its own, so leave it to us to huff and puff at Apple’s door until the company decides to listen.

Hey, Apple! We want you to fix the App Store and here’s why.

Browsing through the store is a mind-numbing experience and it shouldn’t be. Admittedly, Apple did already tweak this problem by adding Top Paid and Top Free categories to the sides of the store when searching in a particular app genre, but that’s not enough.

Apple needs to find a way to better categorize the apps, too. Something like splitting updated from the new apps and separating the free from the paid. It’s segregation of the positive kind that will lead to us costumers being able to actually find things without having to wade through endless crap.

Speaking off crap, put together a quality assurance team, stat. The app approval process has been called into question numerous times, more recently with the Baby Shaker fiasco. Apple allowed an app called “Baby Shaker” to be released on its coveted App Store. The app is just as the name implies - you shake a baby until until it dies. It’s a sick subject for an app that caused outrage from several child welfare groups and left a big stink on Apple’s reputation for “rigorous vetting” of apps. Regardless, Apple should have showed better judgment. Of course, what kind of judgment does it take to release numerous fart apps but refuse a South Park app?

Earlier this week an update to a NIN (Nine Inch Nails) app (NIN: Access) was refused approval due to some mature language yet we have multiple sniper apps. Let’s not forget that we can download an uncensored version of NIN albums with no problem. Would you rather hear some foul language or virtual shake babies? 

Apple will be releasing firmware version 3.0 for the iPhone and iPod Touch June 2009. The new firmware will bring over better parental controls which hopefully will mean an end to all these poor approval decisions and will finally allow us to choose what content we want to see. 

Another of Apple’s problems is too much crap flooding the store. I’m all for free commerce but this is ridiculous. There’s too many throw away apps and they desperately need regulation.

The answer to this problem is simple: Allow apps to sit on the store for a short time period. If the apps generate enough positive feedback, allow them to stay. If not, toss them and have the developer try again. If it’s a paid app that gets tossed, allow people to get some credit for their crappy purchase. Of the 6000 plus games on the store only about 25 to 50 are worth downloading and that’s being generous.

The only real tool we have right now to combat the App Store’s shortcomings is word of mouth. Sources like 1UP’s Tilt Blog, Appletell and Gamertell’s own App Store gaming update are some places that exist to help us through the monotony of getting decent apps for our coveted devices and will probably remain on the forefront of doing so until Apple decides that we are ready for what we already want: Change.

Read [TUAW] Also Read [MSNBC] Also Read [CNET] Also Read [Boing Boing] Also Read [Engadget]