[ErrantX]

> Assessing the quality of an app is what users' ratings are for

As an app store user I disagree. User ratings in the app store are not really a useful guideline in my experience - and it often takes trying several (reasonably well rated) apps to find one that is actually usable.

For example; it took me the best part of 10 tries to find a working tourist map of a city I was visiting a few weeks ago.

The app store review process is currently broken; as you say this decision is prudish, and other review decisions are idiotic.

But I think it is generally broken too in letting too much cruft go live.

In fact, I'd happily pay a premium for a "curated" store where reviewers judged the utility of apps more strictly.

[nooneelse]

I would very much like a free-for-all to be listed in the app store at all, but then give people the ability to create "curated streams" that users can subscribe-to/filter-with. That way, no bizarre censorship or arbitrary in-or-out decisions, but users could, if they wanted, only ever have to look at the store owner's "best of breed" channel.