I don't know if anyone has noticed, but lately there have been several apps by the same developer jump to the #1 Top Grossing app. I looked up the developer on appannie.com and noticed that this devs apps all started out at $449 to get to #1 Top grossing. Should I report this to apple? who should I contact to report this dev? I'm sorry if I'm being a bit harsh. It just angers me when someone throws together a crappy app and gets rich off it. Here's the link: http://www.appannie.com/company/sufpay/
Yeah the dev most likely used promo codes. You can see that whenever his apps get updated, the rank in top grossing goes up. I should try contacting Apple Developer Support. I doubt they will do anything, but it's worth a try.
yeah, not the first time it happens but we're yet to see any reaction from Apple on that which makes me wonder - how can they be so proud of the AppStore, always showing it in brightest colors there are... yet allow such exploits go right on top of it (we're talking about #1 grossing here after all) without any kind of reaction whatsoever ? do they even care about developers whose sales suffer ? do they even care about customers who get cheated ?
They have always been pretty relaxed on policing developers. They completely depend on people reporting violators to them. Essentially, if no one ever reported SufPlay to Apple, they would never catch them cheating.
Actually, that's a pretty neat exploit, update, set your price to $449, give out 50 promo codes to people you know will download and suddenly the appstore thinks you've made $22450 in a single day and you're topping the grossing charts Presumably Apple could fix it so promo codes don't count towards top grossing figures if they can be bothered but if you think about it, the dev isn't really doing anything wrong so your call for a ban is slightly ridiculous. It also only works in the US store. In my opinion anyone who browses the top grossing charts to decide what to buy deserves all they get...
well, they should. they always talk about customer satisfaction and stuff I don't think they have problem with money either this is something so simple that if they wanted to - they'd do it in half an hour... well, techincally what's not against the rules is allowed. yet Apple can and did ban developers or games for virtually no reason - without a benefit to customers. so why not use their supreme powers where it would make sense ? coincidentall - it's the only one that really counts the fact that majority of customers are... umm you know, not very smart and definitely not reading reviews... doesn't yet mean they should be cheated
In that case why don't we all rip people off? That's what they deserve for being stupid, right? Because it's wrong. Plus it ruins the meaning of the Top Paid and Top Grossing charts IMO.
It's probably from my taste in music. I'd never buy music because it was popular and think it's kind of lame when people do but the people that REALLY annoyed me when I was younger were those that told me I should respect the music of (insert name of '80s multi-millionaire) because they had made so many millions. Buying something because it's popular is understandable, buying something because it's made loads of money is just stupid and I really do think that anyone who does deserves to be disappointed. I'll never use the exploit myself, i'm the kind of idiot who, in my heart, thinks things should sell on merit and word of mouth but I don't think it's justifiable to call for Apple to ban this dev for finding a sneaky exploit. If Apple care they should fix the ranking algorithm.
Well, I think a $50 grand paycheck from all the exposure you got will give you a slight change of heart . You're absolutely wrong though, it's clearly a ban-worthy offense. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to justify their cheap methods. Additionally, since TA deleted the original thread leaking this exploit, they should delete this one as well.
I am not the one who can ban the developer. That's Apple's job. I can only bring this to their attention, and they can make their decisions accordingly. However, In my opinion I think someone who scams people for their money should be banned from the AppStore. So I emailed Apple. I hope to hear back from them soon.
Okay, you mentioned you weren't going to be using this exploit, but what part of manipulating your ranking to #1 without spending a dime is fair? Other legit companies spend thousands and thousands on marketing their app to raise maybe to the top 100, yet it's perfectly acceptable to use an obviously unintentional mechanic to get #1 in a few hours?
Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you were accusing me of doing something non-legit when you were talking about me defending this dev. Am I defending them?, I dunno, I have a sneaking admiration for working out the trick and very little sympathy for anyone who buys an app because it's at the top of the grossing chart. It does seem a little unfair and I hope Apple fix it by changing the algorithm but I think calling for the dev to be banned is over the top.
Too many people know about this already now, so no point in deleting it. You didnt hear it from me, but if someone sends a link to this thread to some tech site ( gizmodo, engadget etc), I'm pretty sure this exploit will be fixed in a day or two. Too bad giz will get another reason to attack apple, but thats the only way to wake up apple now a days
