Apple Bans Bushel Of Spam Apps
Apple has shaken the App Store tree until several hundred questionable, over-priced apps that drew customer complaints have fallen off the branches.
The apps were all from Khalid Shaikh. Several were rip-offs or news aggregators that didn't work properly. MobileCrunch has the story:
Khalid's apps were of questionable value and quality. He has told us over the phone that he is not concerned about creating particularly valuable apps. Instead, he says, he's going for "less product value" and "more monetization." So, instead of developing one or two apps and charging $0.99, Khalid prefers to create hundreds of apps and charge $4.99. The vast majority of his apps simply provide topic-specific news on a given subject. Apps such as "US Army News" and "Skin Care Updates" cost $5, and aggregate articles from various internet sources. He has mastered SEO on the App Store, and uses the App Store's search as a way to target users (or victims, depending on how you look at it). Many have questioned the value of the apps he produces, and there's a small contingent of developers who are absolutely furious about his business. Rightfully so, it seems: a review of an app titled "WWE Updates" reveals that the user isn't just getting updates of World Wrestling Entertainment; he's also getting breaking news about Michael Jackson.
Those who yearned to have Michael Jackson news interspersed with their John Cena exploits must be devastated by the news.
Apple bans App Store's 3rd-most prolific developerMobileCrunch, via [via IntoMobile]
(Photo: Scott_Wallace)
Post a comment
Comments:
From the tone of the article, they did it when the unwashed masses finally asked them to check up on this guy.
And they baned Google app a week ago?
@mbnovik: Of course, it's their priority. They were afraid the googleVoice app might take a dollar from THEIR pockets, while these junk apps were just ripping off CUSTOMERS.
This jerk does the same thing on the Android (Google phone) marketplace.
He posts tons and tons of crappy apps that more often than not dont even work. They are almost always $5. Everyday I see him post like 20 different versions of a calculator amongst the tons of other junk apps he puts up there.
He chokes off the market for other people because most probably dont scroll down far enough to see anything but his crap. That hurts other honest developers chances of selling their apps or even giving away the free ones.
Im so glad Apple removed his stuff even though I dont own an iphone. I hope Google does the same and does it soon. Then I hope they ban him because its developers like him that give the rest of us a bad name. It doesnt take much to kill a users trust in a system like an app store/marketplace.
I really couldnt be more happy about this. Google, please do the same ASAP!
@Zorks: The problem isnt the feature set. This guy posts like 20 calculators a day for $5. He clogs up the market with junk which chokes off other devs. He does the same on the Android (google phone) market. Most of his apps dont even work. He's a scam artist plain and simple and devs like him give everyone else a bad name and scare away users.
@mbnovik: yeah, this is called damage control. a little CYA maneuvering to show they weren't selectively discriminating against google's app.
Who in their right mind would pay for some apps like that? Don't they know they can just use the browser for news? If Iphone users or other phone users are gullable enough to fall for that then I don't feel sorry for them. An app or program should do something not just provide news. That's not an app, it's the internet and why would you pay 5 bucks for that. Also, the apple app store must be horrible to let apps be approved with no checks. Apple rejected google voice because it duplicates an iphone function. Hell all this guy's app duplicate any and every web browser function. It should have been rejected.
@scottywz: Yeah, I noticed the same thing. Except he's not just a terrorist, he's the terrorist, the baddest of the bad.
I have two immediate and somewhat contradictory reactions to this.
a. How did all these apps from this guy pass muster in the first place?
b. It looks like the major complaint is they were too expensive for their features (which are limited and semi-broken in cases). When did Apple start policing value though?