Hello all Moms and Dads out there, come Nov 30, you’ll not need to worry (if you used to earlier!) before buying your child an android phone with a ready market of over 150,00 apps.
Google has just put the official word out that ALL developers would have to content rate their apps, falling into one of the four categories – All, Pre-Teen, Teen or Mature.
It’s not as if developers are the only ones to influence the ratings, users too have their rights in place as they can inform Google if they think the rating isn’t on the level. Moreover, not only the new apps, but existing apps would be also required to be rated. BTW, if a developer fails to rate his app before the deadline of Nov 30, the default rating of Mature will be given to that app.
Considering the android’s open nature — which allows every smartphone maker to produce a high-end phone just like that — and the global reach, the move was long awaited and deeply desired by some.
If you wanna make a meal out of it, just head over to the official Google page to discover the whole of it in Google’s words.
What You Can Expect:
Content Ratings by themselves aren’t simply enough, unless there is a way or a medium to effectively use it. That medium could be an option in the settings or a special app, whether made by Google itself or by other devs.
We’re more inclined for an option in the settings where, let’s say, parent can specify the age of their child (the user), so that android market automatically blocks the apps not suited for that age level in the android market. Moreover, the phone will auto delete existing apps too, if found beyond the age bar (that’s a bit harsh though!). Oh, don’t think of it as restricting the open nature of android since it’s the buyer of the phone itself veiling it as wanted, and that users do have an option here. If anything like this happens, we’re sure there will be a hack (maybe an app too!) on the Internet to overcome this barrier. No?
Once it launches, we expect developers to make a bunch of apps, centered on the content rating system. Like, an app could be made which will scan the phone to determine how many apps are installed on the basis of above four categories.
BTW, Is Nov 30 also the date when we will see Gingerbread (Android 2.3) launched?
How cool is that with you? Comments are waiting!
