Comments on: Apple: 8500 Apps to Review a Week by 40 Odd Reviews

By: Rock4Ever

Rock4Ever — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:16:16 +0000

As someone who submits apps to Apple, I know this system is broken first hand. The worst is they don’t really test anything, and if there is a bug and the developers fix it in as fast as possible it will still take weeks to get to the customers hands. During that time every customer will be totally upset with us as the developers even though we would love to get them a fix right away. The fix stop testing stuff at all just put it live. It is up to us to comply with the agreements, and fix and test our apps. With the thousands of apps competing, a company will have to fix all issues with speed if they are going to make any money.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:03:02 +0000

Don't forget, there's more to it than just the review. As with any large company, I'm sure there is paperwork, and reports to complete. If something is rejected, there probably has to be a summary. Notifications have to be sent. Oh, and who works a full 40 hours of a 40-hour week?

Not trying to defend them, just want to be sure we're realistic.

By: SpiceRak2

SpiceRak2 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:34:03 +0000

The formatting for this site jumbled my equation. Sorry...

8500 apps x 4 weeks = 34,000 apps...

95% of 8500 = 8075 (completed in TWO weeks)...

8075 x 2 = 16,150 apps reviewed in a month

By: SpiceRak2

SpiceRak2 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:31:56 +0000

Forget the manpower (outsourced or not), forget the estimated time to review an individual app (new or update)...Apple said 8500 apps and updates to review each week AND that they complete 95% of that every TWO weeks...can we do the math for this one??

By this equation, I see there being twice as many left and waiting for review...

8500 apps x 4 weeks = 34,000 apps 95% of 8500 = 8075 (completed in TWO weeks) 8075 x 2 = 16,150 apps reviewed in a month.

34,000 submitted. 16,150 reviewed. Hmmm. Please...please tell me I have this completely wrong.

By: jbrandonf

jbrandonf — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:01:31 +0000

Apple needs to offer the ability to sideload apps. OR approve everything minus tethering apps and such and use the killswitch if an app poses a security threat. The app store is just too big to regulate it app by app, update by update.

By: icebike

icebike — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:10:54 +0000

@jbrandonf:

Reviewers don't have to get all the way to the end of the game.

Game characters and scenes are embedded as images and image fragments in the executable and other resources stored in the game. Computers are really good at scanning for that stuff.

This might change in the future as the phone gets more powerful. Then characters can simply be meshes of triangles (nothing but numbers) which are imaged by the GPU. But we aren't there yet, and Apple does not forbid such content on any of its computer platforms.

By: sting7k

sting7k — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:24:50 +0000

It may not take that long to review updates to apps and some new ones may not take that long either. But only 40 people to review? Come on now, with their billions I’m sure they can at least double that for literally mere pennies if this job is out sourced.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:13:41 +0000

i dont belive that for a second. I own a small business. If that were me, i would have hired way more people already. and this is Apple we’re talking about. there i no way those numbers are right.

By: Seth

Seth — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:27:26 +0000

These calculations in the main article dont make any sense (i.e. 6.5 minutes per app) Apple says they receive 8500 apps and updates to review every week, but Apple doesn’t say that its people actually review that many in a week.

By: talkin73

talkin73 — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:00:23 +0000

Wow, great feedback from folks breaking this process down. A lot to think about.

@icebike - That makes sense about updates being much faster to review. Though not a huge difference, 20+ minutes, for example, would seem more feasible than 7 minutes for some level of app assessment.

@jbrandonf - Good point that it would take a long time to go all the way through a game (which is a primary genre of apps for the iPhone) and ensure nothing "inappropriate" there. Hmm.

Reading about the details of all this leaves the impression that the beast being created by demand for iPhone applications is becoming a bit unwieldy! But, I suppose it's just reaping what you sow if a company makes their product insanely popular but insists on retaining that level of control over the software allowed on it.