Wi-Fi is as secure as your virginity in the Zone, in Old Taipei - Charles Brown
|
|
|
Mobile app download bots compromise Apple's App Store
DOWNLOAD BOTS have been exposed as the cheating way to get apps to the top of the charts on Apple's IOS App Store.
The bots, which repeatedly download an app, are offered to developers to get their apps better exposure and market presence. Developers might not have been fully aware of the method, but the secret is out.
Inside Mobile Apps brought up the issue at a conference it held, where developers admitted using marketing services involving bots. It appears that many developers might have known about the bots for months or possibly even years.
However, the developers became suspicious when a surge in downloads didn't bring a matching increase in active users. Many developers have now opted out of the practice including Fiksu and Tinyco
Micah Adler, CEO of Fiksu said, "We were approached by these services many months ago. It was presented as an ad network, but it became obvious to us that users weren't even launching the app. So we stopped using it after that."
"It's been this well-known secret in the ecosystem," he added.
It's unclear how long Apple has been aware of the problem and done nothing about it, but it recently sent out a warning by way of its IOS app guidelines.
Apple said, "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."
Perry Tam, CEO of Storm8 said, "As a developer, I'm glad Apple issued a warning. It shows that they're dedicated to maintaining the integrity of the App Store. The ultimate goal is to get the best content to users."
In contrast, Google's Android Market is effectively immune to such techniques. Its ranking algorithm doesn't rely on numbers of downloads but other factors such as whether the app remains installed on a device. µ
Tags: Software
Share this:
Share
The Market application checks for updates for installed application - and to do this obviously needs to tell the Market which applications you still have installed...
They definitely need to fix this, I do think having an app access the address book can be very useful for many apps. Path is great and I've also been playing around with the GiddyUp app (not released yet in private beta giddyupapp.com) and amazed how convenient it is to allow the app to access your contact list. I am uncomfortable with any "storing" this info however on their servers and would prefer that Apple only allowed the app to access this data, not download it.
How does Google know if an App is still installed on your device? Bit of snooping with CarrieriQ, perhaps?
As a spectator, I'm amused Apple issued a warning. It shows that they can't stop people from abusing their store like this.