Apple has purged over 1,000 iPhone applications from Chinese developer Molinker following revelations that it was populating the iPhone store with ripped off apps with fake ratings.
The entire catalogue of apps from Molinker were removed at the behest of Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller. The incident has raised some uneasy truths about the iPhone app rating systems and how easy it is to scam.
This particular scam was so effective that the applications regularly rose to the tops of charts. According to
Wired, one app called ColorMagic, actually made it into the Staff Favorites section of the store, suggesting that this is not selected by staff at all.
iPhone camera and video site, iPhoneography posted an email from a consumer to Apple requesting an investigation in the app creator.
“I have just looked at 44 of the reviewers who posted reviews for this Molinker Inc app “NightCam Pro” & EVERY Review except 2 of the 44+ are ALL FAKE 5 ★★★★★ reviews….If you investigate ALL have ONLY reviewed ONLY Molinker apps.”
Schiller responded, “Yes, this developer’s apps have been removed fromthe App Store and their ratings no longer appear either.”
In August Pakhistani developer Khalid Shaikh had his iPhone developer license revoked, and over 900 apps dumped from the App Store. His breed of apps utilized a team of developers based in India and Pakistan that churned out nearly 1,000 apps that aggregated articles and random web content and packaged them with attractive titles .