In its continuous effort to improve customer experience, Microsoft has modified its app certification requirements. And in the implementation of the modified requirements which includes the app naming configuration, over 1500 apps have been removed from the Windows store.
According to the company in a recent blog, Every app store finds its own balance between app quality and choice, which in turn opens the door to people trying to game the system with misleading titles or descriptions. Our approach has long been to create and enforce strong but transparent policies to govern our certification and store experience. Earlier this year we heard loud and clear that people were finding it more difficult to find the apps they were searching for; often having to sort through lists of apps with confusing or misleading titles. We took the feedback seriously and modified the Windows Store app certification requirements as a first step toward better ensuring that apps are named and described in a way that doesnt misrepresent their purpose. These changes included: These changes included:
- Naming to clearly and accurately reflect the functionality of the app.
- Categories to ensure apps are categorized according to the app function and purpose.
- Icons must be differentiated to avoid being mistaken with others.
Microsoft says it will refund the cost of an app that was downloaded because of a misleading title or description
The company reports that the process is ongoing and it says it remains as committed as ever to delivering a great customer experience AND expanding the developer opportunity through fair and transparent policies.