The quiet disappearance of iReview on Wednesday afternoon has been followed by official confirmation of its demise to those Web sites which were linked to the Apple Web site review guide.
“Dear iReview Badge recipient,” an e-mail from Apple Computer Internet Services said, “iReview has been removed from http://www.apple.com. Please remove any badge and hyperlink references to iReview from your Web site.”
The e-mail, which was carbon-copied to every recipient instead of using blind carbon-copying, gave no reason for the discontinuation of iReview. An Apple spokesperson did not return phone calls from MacCentral inquiring on the close of iReview.
iReview debuted on January 5, 2000 and was dubbed by Apple as “the Internet’s finest Web site review guide, with Web sites reviewed and rated by Apple.” At its start, iReview contained over 250 reviewed and rated sites, with over 1,000 posted by last summer. But it was then that MacCentral readers started noticing few new reviews or updates to the site, leading many to not use it as a ‘Web magazine’ or suggested portal.