Apple Planning to Shoot iPhone Developers in the Foot?

Ready for another quick iPhone 2.2 sneak peak? Mac Rumours — quoting Greek site iPhone Hellas, who I won’t quote in turn because we all know how embarrassing Google translate usually is — are reporting that the latest iPhone betas now ask you to rate App Store applications as you delete them from the device. This is either a totally brilliant or incredible stupid idea.

My initial thoughts — which echo those of many of Mac Rumours’ commenters — were that this was a bad idea. If you’re deleting an application from your iPhone, the chances are that you’re doing so because you are not happy with it, and would therefore be likely to give it a lower mark than it deserves. Apple has only recently cleaned up the ratings in the App Store itself, altering the system so you had to have at least used application before leaving gems of wisdom like “this costs money and so is teh ebil.” On the surface, this new feature looks like it could mark a return to unhelpful, knee-jerk reviews.

Of course, the alternative view is that if you’re deleting an application from your iPhone, the chances are that you’re doing so because you are not happy with it, and in all likelihood neither would other users be. Under these conditions, the new rating feature would be a great way of marking those applications which aren’t worth bothering with. It all depends on the system being used responsibly by all concerned. We’ll have to wait and see whether it makes it into the final release. 

• iPhone Hellas
• via Mac Rumours