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Gaming the App Store
space_in_your_face writes "Want to boost the popularity of your latest iPhone app? Ask Reverb Communications! 'When it comes to winning in the App Store, this PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy: throw ethics out the window. Reverb Communications, a PR firm that represents dozens of game publishers and developers, has managed to find astounding success on Apple's App Store for its clients. Among its various tactics? It hires a team of interns to trawl iTunes and other community forums posing as real users, and has them write positive reviews for their client's applications. ... Reverb claims that their clients have sold over $2 billion of product under their watch.'"
"Among its various tactics? It hires a team of interns to trawl iTunes and other community forums posing as real users, and has them write positive reviews for their client's applications."
Just so we're all clear, this is already illegal. If they are engaging in this kind of activity, then it's just a law enforcement issue.
What, you don't think they game 0 - 3-star ratings? That's delusional. They already caught on - you'll notice this a lot at Amazon, pay attention when you just sold yourself the book based on a low review. There are several tactics used, like "I bought it for (random-reason X) so IF you are in (really-small-niche X), DON'T BUY, it's meant for (as-written-on-label purpose Y)"
I never got why amazon didn't limit reviews to people who had bought the book, (while it doesn't stop this it makes it a more costly business, I find it particularly surprising that a company with as much control over their system as apple don't limit reviews to app purchasers.
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
and it's an old hat with pretty much every professional marketing company. Either employees are asked to post things, or they hire some external people, like in this example.
I have seen it, I have even been asked to do it*, and from what I know, it's pretty much an expected standard.
Music, games, books, websites, other products, you name it...
The only difference is, that real professional companies have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy about it, and the only person asking is your direct boss, in private.
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* and lied about actually doing it, like most people in the company at that time, because half the staff just got fired because of management incompetence
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
That's not really going to stop an unscrupulous publisher or author. Let's say you want to astroturf Amazon a hundred times... so you buy your book a hundred times. That costs what... $1000-$2000? That's dirt cheap advertising. And if you get your royalties on the book sale and you get a copy of the book, which you can then sell back through Amazon again.
Meanwhile, a bunch of people who have bought your book, and would like to write about how much it stinks, can't. Because they bought it at a normal book store.
Yes they do. My own app Sudoku Grab got a review from someone saying that a competing app was much better. Out of interest I checked to see what other apps this reviewer had reviewed.
He'd reviewed 6 other competing apps, all of the reviews suggested that customers should buy this other app instead.
There's not much you can do about it, just have to hope that customers are savvy enough to see through these marketing tricks.
"Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help."
You only have to do that if you have a low-quality product. My app, Virtual Cricket, competes in a reasonably crowded segment (cricket scores, push alerts etc) and competes against some pretty heavy competition (ESPN, BSkyB etc).
However, I have a quality product and it was recognised as such by Apple who selected the app as the featured app in the App Store. This did more for my sales than spamming online forums etc.
Lesson: quality wins in the end.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."