I was browsing App World about an hour ago and I couldn’t help but notice the ‘Newest’ apps page was flooded with eBooks. Since this whole slew of eBooks seemed to be from the same company, I figured I’d download one just to see what the UI was like. First of all, it’s very misleading that a lot of these books are labeled as ‘FREE’. They are just samples, so you will have to make a purchase if you want to read more than a few pages. Second, The text layout was horrible. As you can see in the image after the jump, a lot of words were smushed together. I downloaded a second ebook just to double-check and got the same results.

Hit the jump because I’m not done talking…

The same company also has some paid books that you cannot sample, and I’m sure the text layout still suffers. How would you feel if you purchased an ebook and had to read a couplehundredpages ofthis? Probably not too happy. RIM should really be held responsible for approving all of those shoddy books for App World without checking at least one of them. This really shows RIM obviously doesn’t stick to the testing they claim on their App World developer FAQ..

How does RIM determine if an application is suitable for BlackBerry App World?
RIM will review a submitted application for content suitability and perform technical testing to ensure the application meets the BlackBerry App World Vendor Guidelines.

I’m not saying they should wear turtlenecks and stop every app at the door for an extensive review, but set some ground rules. For a start, when a developer submits over 10 apps in a single day, that should raise a red flag. C’mon now!

On another note, I have nothing against reading, but eBooks aren’t really apps. They’re books. If it was one was added here or there, it wouldn’t be an issue, but being that almost half of the 25 newest apps are eBooks, that really ruins the whole newest apps page. Regardless of whether or not RIM lets this spam to continue or not, they should create separate pages for newest apps, themes, and books. The whole point of App World 2.0 is supposed to make browsing for apps easier, so let’s see if RIM makes some necessary changes before it comes out of beta.

UPDATE: I just checked App World again and 17 of the 25 newest apps are ebooks from For-Side.com Co Ltd. None of the new books are free and some of them are priced as high as $11.99. How RIM is continuing to approve all of these shoddy ebooks without checking their quality is beyond me. I don’t really know if anyone is buying these ebooks, as I haven’t seen reviews on any of them as of yet. I wonder if RIM will catch on before they have a bunch of angry App World shoppers on their hands?

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