App Store Review Times Are Getting Shorter

Alex Webb, reporting for Bloomberg:

Apple Inc. has cut the approval time for new submissions to its App Store from more than a week to less than two days, part of a broader push to increase revenue from services including mobile applications.

The accelerated pace allows app developers to fix bugs faster, try out new features more regularly and better react to market changes, while building developer loyalty to Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. The mean approval time has fallen from 8.8 days a year ago to 1.95 days in the past two weeks, according to AppReviewTimes.com, which analyzes user-submitted data. In December, the average was more than five days.

Wonder how Apple is achieving this. More reviewers? Lower standards?

Update: I don’t get this: “part of a broader push to increase revenue from services”. I don’t see how shorter review times will increase Apple’s revenue. If anything, it might be costing them more, since the most obvious way they could achieve this is by hiring more reviewers. In some companies everything is a cost center, but not at Apple. If these review times are not just a statistical fluke, the simplest explanation for why is that Apple is responding to long-standing complaints from developers. Remember too, that App Store leadership moved from Eddy Cue to Phil Schiller just a few months ago.

★ Thursday, 12 May 2016