The question of the validity of iPhone reviews is one that came to the fore in the last few months of 2009 because of the controversy that was swirling around the applications that people and companies wrote so others could download and use them on the devices. What happens with these applications is that they are uploaded to the App store on Apple's site by their creators, and people who download them are allowed to write reviews. But as more and more apps were placed in the store, the question of whether or not positive reviews were being written by the developers and negative reviews by their competitors soon popped up.

When Jeff Bertolucci did some research into iPhone app reviews in the app downloading store, he found that even with the safeguards Apple had tried to put in place to prevent the likelihood of deliberately skewed reviews, it was still too easy to slide around them. Nick Santilli, who writes for www.theappleblog.com, told Bertolucci that it made more sense to talk to people on Twitter or in other user-friendly sites, to get genuine iPhone reviews from people who have actually used the apps. Many people simply don't think reviews at the site itself can be trusted.

The first big confirmation of any iPhone reviews being rigged, though, came in December of 2009, when a Chinese company named Molinker was demonstrated to have had its employees post glowing reviews of its 1000+ apps. The more good reviews an application gets, the more likely it is to be featured among the top iPhone apps and therefore be purchased and downloaded by more people. But as it turned out, over ninety percent of the reviews for Molinker apps were finally shown to be bogus. In response, Apple removed all of them from the store.

There are two reasons, though, why it might still be a good idea to read the iPhone reviews on Apple's site. As Bertolucci says, developers themselves can respond to reviews and clarify misconceptions or demonstrate where a reviewer has made a false claim. But new regulations instituted in December, 2009 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also promise to make the reviews of iPhone downloads a lot more accurate. From now on, reviewers must disclose any payments, products or other compensation received for writing their reviews. This will undoubtedly help at least to reduce the possibility of rigged reviews, even if it can't eliminate them entirely.

Kenny Leichester is a foremost expert in the interior design industry specializing in the outdoor or patio settings using outdoor patio furniture, patio umbrellas, outdoor cushions, patio heaters, patio lighting and so on to create exquisitely beautiful layout. His work on outdoor patio furniture cushions designs and so on are widely distributed and is a regular contributor to PatioShoppers.com.