Apple removes all customer reviews from online Apple Store

On November 17, Apple removed the “Ratings & Reviews” section from all product pages on the Apple website, AppleInsider reports.

Amber Neely, AppleInsider:

It is currently unclear what has prompted this decision, nor when Apple will bring back the option to read the opinions of other customers at the time of purchase.

AppleInsider received a tip from a reader who had noted the buyer review section was missing on Apple’s online retail store page. The user also pointed out that the pages have been removed from U.S., U.K., and Australian Apple online stores, which suggests this is not simply a mistake, but rather an intentional move on Apple’s behalf.

Utilizing the Wayback Machine, AppleInsider found that the reviews were pulled at some point between the evening of November 16 and the morning of November 17.

MacDailyNews Take: As a site with millions of comments we can say with certainty that not all are kosher. Rampant spam attempts are made daily (thank God for spam filters – you should have seen the old days; even today some spam attempts at advertising and other things get through and have to be dealt with manually) and some have completely different agendas than commenting on or reviewing the subject at hand.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]