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Mobile apps to soon have ratings system

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 2:05 PM

The CTIA and ESRB announced that they will be introducing a ratings systems for mobile apps and this will be revealed near the end of the month.

We’ll learn more about what this entails when the ratings system is unveiled Nov. 29 but it will be interesting to see what this will require. For those who don’t know, the ESRB is the group which provides the ratings systems for video games and software. This ratings system, along with the one for the movies, is self-policing and is aimed at not letting the government nose itself in the industry. Seeing as there will be a few politicians speaking at this event, I’m guessing this move to rate apps has similar motivations.

Of course, if you’re on iOS, you already have a ratings body through Apple, which rates games and warns users if the app has mature content. TechCrunch points out that the Android Market has fewer controls and users aren’t shown the ratings immediately when they’re downloading apps. I don’t see many issues with the wireless industry trying to get in front of this issue, as mobile apps are a huge industry and this will only continue to grow.

How do you feel about a mobile app ratings system?

[Via TechCrunch, Fierce Content, photo credits]

About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.