Jim Dalrymple at the Loop, following-up on the controversy surrounding Dash:
Apple’s anti-fraud team has apparently been working with the developer for some time to stop fraudulent positive reviews, and negative reviews on competitors accounts. According to Apple, all attempts to work with the developer have failed, resulting in the account being terminated.
“Almost 1,000 fraudulent reviews were detected across two accounts and 25 apps for this developer so we removed their apps and accounts from the App Store,” Apple spokesperson, Tom Newmayr, said in a statement provided to The Loop on Monday. “Warning was given in advance of the termination and attempts were made to resolve the issue with the developer but they were unsuccessful. We will terminate developer accounts for ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, on behalf of all of our customers and developers.”
Damn.
If this is true, then it would be hard to say that Apple has done anything wrong. In fact, we want Apple to notice fraudulent reviews (since they harm consumers and other developers), get them removed, and work things out with the developer.
I don’t know what’s true here. It wouldn’t be right for Apple to make all the evidence public, and it wouldn’t be right for Apple to publish their correspondence with him. So it’s likely we won’t ever know more than we do right now.
Damn. Damn.
From what I’ve been told by sources at Apple, it’s not about Dash, which is a very popular app (and deservedly so). It’s about the other 20-some apps from the same developer, which he apparently published through one or more different developer accounts. I think one reason why the developer community has rallied behind this developer is that the account for Dash had no other apps associated with it. Now that this story is breaking, the developer community is uncovering some of these apps. Most of them are generic consumer utility apps.
Update: The developer has replied with his side of the story. This is wild.