IReview
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The correct title of this article is iReview. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
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[edit] iReview by Apple
Not so long ago, Apple had attempted to make the first trip to the web for many new Macintosh users a pleasant and easy experience. During Macworld San Francisco 2000 Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs introduced among many other web tools, iReview.
iReview was part of the iMac halo effect that caused thousands of new computer owners to suddenly have a porthole to the Internet. The main purpose of iReview was to give new Internet users a place to go to get detailed reviews on websites out on the World Wide Web. iReview was integrated right into the Apple website, along with new tools like iCards, and iTools both offered by Apple.
The current (July 2005) tabbed website layout of the Apple.com website was first introduced at this event, and iReview was one of the first. Once a visitor clicked on iReview they had 15 categories on the start of the page to choose from, for specific reviews on subjects they might be interested in.
Each initial review was published by Apple webmasters, that gave their input on the site, and gave a detailed review in their opinion on the site. This site was then given a rating by the reviewer, and was posted showing their rating. Included inside of each review, the readers were able to review the sites themselves, and rate them as well. With the rate system, users were able to organize results by review ratings, or by simple searches.
[edit] iReview Categories
- Movies
- Kids
- Shopping
- Cars
- Parents
- Computers
- Health
- Sports
- Music
- Seniors
- Finance
- News
- Travel
- Real Estate
- Games
[edit] The End of iReview
In March of 2001 Apple pulled the plug on the iReview project. It ended up being a failure for multiple reasons, the biggest problem being that regular web users never thought to look to Apple for this type of online help. The other issue was the fact that the reviews on iReview didn't seem as open as they could have been. Most web users could just as easily click on a link and decide for themselves if they liked the site or not, having to read someone’s opinion on a linked site had little purpose for most. Apple didn't receive enough traffic on iReview, and many thought that it was a mistake in the first place for Apple to post it.
