Are some App Store apps rotten to the core?

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Apple needs to do a better job of policing its mobile phone applications, or competitor Droid could leverage that vulnerability into greater market share.

The big news this week in applications is that Apple purged 1,000 apps from its App Store. According to CNN, this represents about 1 percent of all the applications that are available for the iPhone.

According to Apple, the problem was that a Chinese developer called Molinker was gaming the feedback system set up by the Apple store. Molinker allegedly was paying customers to write five-star reviews in return for free applications. This resulted in a slew of poorly written reviews with five stars and perhaps one or two single-star reviews that actually gave realistic feedback about the products, which many say were either substandard or outright copies of other applications.

Apple says it fixed the problem by expelling all 1,000 applications that Molinka produced. But what does that really fix? Getting a refund from a Chinese developer if you bought one of these apps is probably going to be next to impossible. With no real enforcement, they won’t be in a hurry to write a check. And the next time the Apple operating system  upgrades, it’s very likely that the apps in question will stop working. Nor will this do anything for all the customers who thought they were buying a five-star app based on store reviews, only to find a single-star dud once it was installed.

Recently I’ve written a lot about the Droid phone, and the fact that it has a ton of open-source applications that don’t require you to go through a specific store to get them like you do with Apple.

A few people have written to me to say that I am prejudiced against Apple, and that the Apple store is a great protection against scam apps. And to them I have to say: You are right, about the store part anyway (I don’t actually have anything at all against Apple and in fact admire many of their products). But this Molinker situation shows that Apple is not doing its job in testing and scanning applications before they go up for sale. If they had done so, wouldn’t at least some of the 1,000-plus Molinker scam apps gotten caught before a customer noticed that something didn’t quite smell right? Some of the Molinker apps even made it into the Staff Favorites part of the store. One has to wonder if anyone on staff really supported them, or if they were just automatically moved there because of all the bogus good reviews they were getting.

I do think that open source is better than a tightly controlled system monitored by a corporation, which is why I think Droid will overtake the iPhone eventually. But the Apple model has some advantages — namely, protecting users from bad applications. I would have expected something like this bad situation to happen to the Droid, which has no traffic cops, but not to the iPhone. The bottom line is that a lot of people were apparently asleep at the wheel at Apple, and with a new robust competitor in the market, that can’t happen for much longer if they plan to stay top dog. I’ve seen it a million times. Companies that have blazing highs can also have crippling lows, and the swings happen incredibly fast.

My advice to Apple is to play up on its strengths. If you are going to have a controlled store, then actually control it. Like we say in the GCN Lab, there is no substitute for hardcore testing. Sure it takes time, expertise and a lot of work, but the alternative is something like what happened with Molinker. And the Droid will be waiting in the wings to take advantage of this and every future slipup.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.