Apple took a lot of criticism for its App Store policies over the last couple of years, but considering what’s happening on those “open” stores, I’m pretty happy with what Apple has done.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]There is no doubt that Apple made some mistakes since the App Store first opened. Apps that should have been approved that weren’t, and apps that should have been kicked at the vetting process, but made it through.

At the time, we all waited for the next developer to post an open letter to Apple on their Web site, hoping to stir up some support for their app. When they did, we jumped at the chance to scream at the company.

For the most part, those instances were all part of the App Store’s growing pains. Apple did make some changes along the way and the process seems fairly smooth now.

When I look at the criticisms of what Apple was trying to do with the App Store and how things are working now, I’m glad they stuck to their guns. There were some tough periods, but the company’s strategy gives me peace of mind.

I don’t want to worry that downloading an app may put malware on my phone or trash it in some way. I don’t want to spend my day restoring my phone from a (hopefully) clean backup because a downloaded app blew up my device.

If you don’t think that can happen, consider this. Google’s “open” Android Market in March was found to have 58 apps that contained malicious code that would expose customer’s information. That’s a serious breach of security.

With the malicious apps installed, the developer was able to gain access to the customer’s IMEI and IMSI, product ID, model, partner, language, country, and userID. In a statement released by Google, they said it’s believed that only the IMEI was compromised.

Whatever was compromised, I don’t want to have to worry about that happening to me. If I want to download an app, I want to be able to do it and not be concerned that a developer is trying to trick me.

While Apple has been criticized for being the gatekeeper of the App Store, you can’t argue with the overall success they’ve had. Apple currently has more than 350,000 apps and over 10 billion apps downloaded. That’s a lot of trust from customers.

Consumers shouldn’t have to worry about downloading an app for their mobile device. For the most part, the only people that care about an app store being open are tech geeks.

Most people just want to feel safe. I feel safe in Apple’s walled garden.