Blatant Manipulation of the App Rating System for Skobbler
We at Appency are working with the first truly free 3D turn by turn GPS navigator in the app store called Skobbler (I mean really free - no in-app purchase, subscriptions, etc) and are having an interesting experience I wanted to get some feedback on.
Skobbler is taking on a HUGE industry, one of the few that have managed to keep their margins on their apps high either simply by charging alot (TomTom), by in app purchase (MapQuest) or by a subscription model (AT&T Navigator, MotionX, etc). A free app entering this market is a scary proposition to these guys. Already we have seen some apps respond by drastically lowering their prices to try and drive some attention away.
Its a free market economy... no harm there.
What IS harmful, is that because the app is free, there is nothing to stop these companies with literally hundreds of employees from getting people to download the app and leave bad reviews for it. (Okay, so the fact that they are downloading it helps a bit). The first version that came out it was comical how obvious it was - one company in particular (we wont name any names, you can see for yourself) sent dozens of people that went and left one star reviews, nasty messages, and 5 star reviews for their app. (Even multiple versions of their app which no one in their right mind would actually need).
We have launched a RateMyApp focus group to help combat this, but the companies are so large that we are up against its really hard. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Let me say one caveat before anyone else does - the app is not perfect, it is able to be free because it uses the first open source mapping system called OpenStreetMap - the wikipedia of maps created by over 255,000 people. Because there is a human element, there can be occasional errors in the mapping that you as a consumer can actually correct right from the app. It also means that with continued use, the app has the potential to have a map that is actually more up to date than any major companies app out there.
We at Appency are working with the first truly free 3D turn by turn GPS navigator in the app store called Skobbler (I mean really free - no in-app purchase, subscriptions, etc) and are having an interesting experience I wanted to get some feedback on.
Welcome to the real world my friend. For some corporation, it is a technique to stay on top of competitor.
What IS harmful, is that because the app is free, there is nothing to stop these companies with literally hundreds of employees from getting people to download the app and leave bad reviews for it.
Appency, how do you know that those bad reviews are from those companies??
We at Appency are working with the first truly free 3D turn by turn GPS navigator
Why? You are certainly free to do what you wish but why are you giving something away that people are prepared to pay for? What's in it for you? Why is it good to put these people out of business? An app with investment behind it serves the customers needs better, people get paid, their efforts become worth their time, and they can pay their bills and eat. Why expend your resources to support something that destroys anthers income?
None of us developers here would be very happy if someone created copies of our apps and gave them away for the hell of it. Who works for free when they have bills to pay?
Where are they getting the money to pay you for your pr services? How are future app developers going to pay you if you set a precedent like this?
Are you busily sawing thru the branch you're sitting on?
Why? You are certainly free to do what you wish but why are you giving something away that people are prepared to pay for? What's in it for you? Why is it good to put these people out of business? An app with investment behind it serves the customers needs better, people get paid, their efforts become worth their time, and they can pay their bills and eat. Why expend your resources to support something that destroys anthers income?
None of us developers here would be very happy if someone created copies of our apps and gave them away for the hell of it. Who works for free when they have bills to pay?
Where are they getting the money to pay you for your pr services? How are future app developers going to pay you if you set a precedent like this?
Are you busily sawing thru the branch you're sitting on?
Some developer just doing it for hobby and love to kill any corporation/company/other developer app for free. At the same time can brag about this is my free app, I give it away for free and look at other company that ask money for it. Mine is free. It is called the pleasure to give it away for free while other ask to be paid. May be it is more about the EGO. .
In other world, welcome to the real world. Every body has their own motivation to create an app. . At the same time, I don't understand if Appency doing it for hobby but complain when other company has the resources to boost their ranking by better customer services.
Granted, I get pissed off when this happens to me, but, you've said it: it's a free economy.
But look it from the other point of view, so you are basically saying that it's perfectly fair from you to put those companies out of business, but it's not fair from them to put you out of business?
Giving away a good product for free has the same impact to them than they writing bad reviews to your app, you gave them a punch, they gave you a kick.
And if you are 5 feet tall and you take on Godzilla well... You know what's going to happen? You've gotta be loads smarter than them if you want to have even a remote chance.
Or the rest of world should just let you win cos you are "nicer" then them?
PS: I thought that your millenary experience in the app world you should know it too well?
if every developer do this then for each niche there will be free one. In the end, all will come down to free.
Why not? Linux is a free world... yet it's a multibillion dollar industry. With free you can't make a junk app, you can't lie in description, reviews don't matter.
So maybe the future is free apps with paid stuff inside. Just like Lite->Full scheme. Unfortunately stupid Apple policy doesn't allow disabling features in lite version, so it's hard to convince the user to buy the full version.
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look at the track record of every company in the world who goes open source and gives away all their products and services. every single one is bankrupt. and before you say google, remember that their free products and services are 100% aimed at driving their paid services. giving things away like this makes everyone involved poor. the people making the competition go out of business. the guy putting out the effort for the free app never gets to eat. and the consumer, in the end, gets a crappy, unsupported product that doesn't serve them well.
i should probably add that this $1 price tag for apps is probably going to have the same end-result as free apps. eventually, everyone making $1 apps will realize they're not making any profit.
look at the track record of every company in the world who goes open source and gives away all their products and services. every single one is bankrupt. and before you say google, remember that their free products and services are 100% aimed at driving their paid services. giving things away like this makes everyone involved poor. the people making the competition go out of business. the guy putting out the effort for the free app never gets to eat. and the consumer, in the end, gets a crappy, unsupported product that doesn't serve them well.
That's the point of hobby app. It is created for fun if the fun stuff gone the support gone too. Why developer want to support app for a life time? This is where corporation coming into play. They are in for the long run.
look at the track record of every company in the world who goes open source and gives away all their products and services. every single one is bankrupt. and before you say google, remember that their free products and services are 100% aimed at driving their paid services. giving things away like this makes everyone involved poor. the people making the competition go out of business. the guy putting out the effort for the free app never gets to eat. and the consumer, in the end, gets a crappy, unsupported product that doesn't serve them well.
i should probably add that this $1 price tag for apps is probably going to have the same end-result as free apps. eventually, everyone making $1 apps will realize they're not making any profit.
I'm not gonna say Google. I'm gonna say Red Hat (S&P 500 net $70+ million), MySQL, TrollTech, Novell, Canonical (30 million revenue).. and so on...
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We at Appency are working with the first truly free 3D turn by turn GPS navigator in the app store called Skobbler (I mean really free - no in-app purchase, subscriptions, etc) and are having an interesting experience I wanted to get some feedback on.
...
What IS harmful, is that because the app is free, there is nothing to stop these companies with literally hundreds of employees from getting people to download the app and leave bad reviews for it.
...
I don't think there is anything to worry about with competitors downloading a free navigation app simply to submit negative reviews. I mean, honestly, it's a free navigation app! I think most users would still download it and try it out anyway.
I actually did just that today.
I will probably write a review for it on the App Store sometime soon. Tried it out today, on a route I already know well, but just to try it out. I think that the app's UI is a bit confusing in several ways. At the same time, though, I also thought it was a great app overall. But wondering why it's free... sure, since it uses a free map/navigation system, that makes that possible, but I'd still expect it to be $5 or maybe even a bit more, even $10. At $10, I would expect that potential buyers might start to care a lot about existing reviews. At $5, a lot of them would likely try it out anyway (I probably would have). At free, well, it's really a no-brainer.
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I don't get it. How do you know it is the competitor????? And not the users themselves? I don't think a developer would waste his time to write fake bad reviews on other apps.
And it is evident that reviews do not really bring sales that much. That is why we see apps like Hands Heater in the top position. The average rating is 1-2 stars, and yet he is at the top. Advertising does it.
I don't know... i just cant see it how u can say it is competitor that wrote those reviews.
I don't get it. How do you know it is the competitor????? And not the users themselves? I don't think a developer would waste his time to write fake bad reviews on other apps.
And it is evident that reviews do not really bring sales that much. That is why we see apps like Hands Heater in the top position. The average rating is 1-2 stars, and yet he is at the top. Advertising does it.
I don't know... i just cant see it how u can say it is competitor that wrote those reviews.
You're wrong. It's done all the time.
If you're in the top grossing list a few bad reviews can mean several hundred euro less per day.
I'm not gonna say Google. I'm gonna say Red Hat (S&P 500 net $70+ million), MySQL, TrollTech, Novell, Canonical (30 million revenue).. and so on...
as far as the others are concerned, i don't know enough about them personally to say much, but my brother-in-law worked for novell and he was looking to get out because they all know the ship is sinking. they were very successful with netware and the such back in the day, but MS ate their lunch. they've been living off the past since then. the switch to open source is really killing them faster.
if you're honest about it, you'll see that giving away what you make doesn't make you money. if these other companies are successful, it's because they're using the free stuff to prop up some other revenue source. so the cost becomes hidden, but it's still there. it's kind of disingenuous if you think about it.
Blatant Manipulation of the App Rating System for Skobbler
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