"Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."
"Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."
Thoughts?
Do you want to know a secret of how to ban ZYNGA developer account for $5000? use that service above and target ZYNGA app.
Actually, they already using it like Glu, SGN, Disney, Crowdstar, Gameloft, Beeline.
As time goes on this will grow like a cancer. We don't use scams like this in our company, so it's funny to watch our apps stay in top 200 during the week, but on weekends they magically fall out of the top 200. Why? Because these scam campaigns are mainly run on weekends and the scam apps flood into the top charts on weekends. It's quite hilarious to watch the spikes.
Another side of this is that IAP virtual good apps make huge returns ($50k a day) in revenue. The developers then spend $25k a day to advertise and acquire users. Such high marketing expense still results in a net gain for the developer, so the crazy cycle continues.
The top 100 spots are mostly purchased through advertising and other means. Very few of them are earned through organic word of mouth growth. But is this so wrong?
McDonald's is a rich and old company. They market and keep their iron grip on the fast food business like the few other giants in their business. Little guys have a hard time entering the market and competing. We've gotten quite accustomed to this when it comes to the fast food market "Top Rankings".
As the App Store matures, it's merely starting to mimic what goes on in other businesses.
It'll be interesting to watch Apple's reaction to this by the end of 2012 because this situation is going to get worse before it gets better.
The current market situation may be business as usual when compared to other markets and businesses in life, but there is one major difference. The Store is controlled by one entity: Apple. They can make new rules if they decide that they want to favor quality Apps, instead of Apps that steal money through worthless virtual goods.
My personal hope is that Virtual goods in their current incarnation are a fad that will die once consumers become wiser because they tend to promote creation of shitty greedy apps, not quality apps. But that may be too much well-wishing.
Last edited by PlutoPrime; 02-07-2012 at 01:32 AM.
Apple. They can make new rules if they decide that they want to favor quality Apps, instead of Apps that steal money through worthless virtual goods.
YES, The best quote ever. Zynga is a worthless company that sell worthless virtual goods. And a lot of fool buying the the worthless virtual goods. It is time to sell worthless stuff to a fool. Demand and supply.
People will always find ways to cheat, so the only sensible thing to do is to address the issues as they manifest.
For example, for the download bot scam I think a very easy solution by Apple would be:
- Change the algorithm, again, to weight active usage much more.
I believe this is how the android rankings works too, infact I would completely remove "downloads" in the equation, leaving only active users.
This will get rid of of download bots, and it will also downgrade the tap-joy alike, something that apple already "addressed" but it seems to me they have never radicated.
Go Apple, just move that weight from the your algorithm and we'll have to wait until somebody will engineer a way to fake active users
Zynga are too big and make too much money for Apple to be stung like that. Apple won't be removing their account any time soon.
I disagree, Apple could care less about Zynga if they are bothered, as they did with Abode, which was a huge "no deal" for them. It's just that they aren't bothered yet and Zynga might be a bit smarter than these download bot guys.
An even quicker way to get rid of bots would be to have a credit card mandatory on file of the iTunes account. Getting 20k accounts all with valid CCs on them is a little harder than creating 20k accounts all without CCs.
I could write one of these bots myself, it's not hard, but I've always gone the route of 'honesty is the best policy'.
Maybe it's also interesting to read this topic at toucharcade that triggered this response from Apple.
The poster at TA got contact with a company that facilitated a service to game the Appstore charts by using bot networks that buy big amounts of apps for a client. Good to read is that Apple knows about these practices and has already shut down some of these companies.
If Apple starts banning devs for bots, it will open Pandora Box for another way of getting rid of competition. You use bots to download your competitor's app and then complain to Apple and your competitor is gone.
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I believe this is how the android rankings works too, infact I would completely remove "downloads" in the equation, leaving only active users.
This would work only if most of your users are online while they are using the app.
This issue is very complicated since a series of laws put by Apple, will always be manipulated by those who search for the "gaming" ways. People are creative.
But I wonder, why is it these bots are so easily created? Perhaps Apple
should look into having some sort of CAPTCHA to create an itunes acccount?
I forgot how it was when I created my account, but i think there was no captcha.
I think Apple need to implement iCaptcha for itunes account creation, so it is
not so easy to create a farm of bots. imagine keying in 10000 captchas lol.
I Think in very short period apple will build own algorithm for app in iTunes Just like Google do Panda update, and Google page rank for webpage etc... So many thing Apple will do for better iTunes.
Very interesting link. One poster pointed out that he found top 25 free apps were 90% spam... whereas the top 25 paid was ok.
Here's what'll happen. The customer will see that the free apps are spam and it'll be like ads/pop ups were on web pages years ago. People lose trust and ignore them.
Ask yourself: whens the last time you clicked on a pop up ad while browsing the web?
The upside is that people will learn to ignore the lists, the downside is that it's a very important list to be on.
Apple needs to see that this could be a downfall for the App Store.
One simple solution: downloads and reviews don't count unless the app is installed on an actual device.
2nd solution: no reviews allowed until you've had the app on your device for a while and have used it several times. This will make it hard for bots/farms to post fake reviews.
? Perhaps Apple
should look into having some sort of CAPTCHA to create an itunes acccount?
I forgot how it was when I created my account, but i think there was no captcha.
I think Apple need to implement iCaptcha for itunes account creation, so it is
not so easy to create a farm of bots. imagine keying in 10000 captchas lol.
"Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."
Thoughts?
Still working on my first app. What determines AppStore ranking? Just the number of downloads?
Are there any other factors involved?
Apple warns developers not to manipulate App Store rankings, or risk a ban
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