Our tipster said it uses the service supplied by TopDealApps.com, a website which offers App Store games for free. The idea is that lots of people will buy a game having seen it featured on TopDealApps, therefore pushing the game up the top free App Store chart. Nothing wrong there – there are numerous similar online services out there for developers to try out to achieve the same desired effect. However, our tipster became suspicious that everything was not as it seemed after the results appeared rather odd. “We knew something was wrong but the deal was simple – top 50 free in the US guaranteed. We’ve asked questions regarding our concerns, but they skillfully replied to them. We had an agreement and didn’t want to have legal troubles over them,” our source explained. The tipster’s app received over 30,000 downloads during its time being promoted on TopDealApps. Yet ,the results appeared skewed – all the downloads were from the US, with no noticeable jump in sales in other regions.
Un dezvoltator a incercat sistemul celor de la Top App Deals pentru a isi aduce aplicatia in top 50 cele mai descarcare aplicatii din App Store SUA insa a observat ca rezultatele nu au fost pe masura asteptarilor. Aplicatia sa a inregistrat 30.000 de descarcari intr-o perioada foarte scurta de timp doar in SUA insa extrem de putine persoane au deschis si utilizat aplicatia. Intrebati cum anume functioneaza sistemul din spatele Top Deal Apps, dezvoltatorii sai au prezentat povestea cu detaliile de logare a peste 200.000 de conturi iTunes care ar putea fi utilizate chiar si de roboti virtuali pentru a face descarcarile din App Store.
Our users share their iTunes account with us, so we can log into their accounts to check if they have done the correct download during the campaign. This is how we record and confirm the total download number. It’s simple to explain. No pay, no gain. If the user wants to get reward money, he has to share his account with us. We have our way to check and we can’t share more information with you. This is why we can do this kind of stuffs and provide promo services.
Chiar daca Apple nu poate dovedi ca un website de genul acesta foloseste roboti virtuali pentru fraudarea App Store-ului si utilizatorii nu descarca efectiv aplicatiile, avem o noua dovada a faptului ca topurile aplicatiilor din App Store nu mai reprezinta vointa utilizatorilor ci bugetul de promvoare al dezvoltatorilor.