Apple has sent a clear message to any developers who try to game its iTunes
App Store. Software developer Molinker has been kicked out, along with more than
1,000 of its iPhone applications.
The Chinese developer had, according to some estimates, 1,000-plus
applications in the store, most of which were copycat knockoffs of existing
applications. When the friend of writers at the iPhoneography photography blog
saw these rather poor applications consistently scoring 5-star reviews, they got
suspicious. Some investigation showed that Molinker’s applications were getting
many top ratings and almost nothing in the 2-to-4-star range. In fact, the only
other ratings were often 1-star, and likely the only truthful feedback on the
apps’ pages.
