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Apple Changes App Ranks, Rejects Pay Per Install
tlhIngan writes "Recently, Apple changed their App Store ranking algorithm to stop ranking apps by download counts and instead use something else, akin to the recent Google changing of their Marketplace ranking algorithm to give more weight to apps' actual usage. As a side effect, Apple has also started rejecting pay-per-install apps ('freemium' apps that request the user to install companion apps to earn in-game currency). These apps were often used to game the charts by artificially inflating the download count and raising the ranking of the app in the App Store. No word on how companies like TapJoy (one of the largest 'culprits') will react."
Seriously, "freemium"? That has to be the worst mangling of the English language since "doorgasm."
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Right? I can't believe some store owners want to have a say in what they sell.
Isn't this America?!?!?!?!
The opposite of progress is congress
* Cheaters get caught gaming the system.
* Apple reacts with a heavy hand.
* Others take the cheaters' place in the app rankings.
* Wash, rince, repeat.
Actually, they're targeting a rather annoying practice of app X saying "Hey, download App Z and get a free W".
Usually the suggested app is a complete piece of crap, but by having a more popular app push it, they might get more downloads than they otherwise would have. You just know that app X is getting paid to shill for other apps and getting a benefit for becoming rather tedious.
I've actually found this to be fairly annoying. Apple isn't telling me what I can I can buy or use ... they're cutting down on the ability of an app I've had installed for all of 5 minutes popping up to suggest that I install all sorts of crap.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Ignore the apple haters, as you should in any thread. They experience an inverse effect of the JOBS RDF, where their personal reality bends and distorts until Apple is always wrong. It makes them do dumb things like promote flash and hate unified, consistent UIs.
Anyway, I'll be glad that Apple is changing their rank system. Searching for apps in the interface is useless because companies gaming the system put endless piles of utter, complete crap. If browsing on the phone pretty much only the hand-picked featured items are worth a look.
Perhaps rather than an emotional reaction ("This sucks!"), the author meant TapJoy will react by coming up with another clever mechanism to game the system?
Apple actually made a useful change to their app store rules for once! I used to get annoyed by this practice while playing iMobsters by Storm8, one of the companies that employ this tactic. I'm certain it made their apps appear more popular than they were.
How is this different from what any store does? If I go to Sears I may not be able to buy the same stuff I can get at Target. Walmart may choose not to stock albums by certain groups or NC-17 videos. In a slightly closer model, I can't get all the xbox arcade games I want to play on my WII or even my PC.
Given that there are other smartphones out there with other stores, in what way is Apple's behavior different from any retailer. They choose what they stock. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.
It is "That is".
TitanWars? Other lame-o-wars game getting into the "top apps" list simply because they confer in-game benefits for Elimnate/We Rule players?
GOOD RIDDANCE.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
There is no problem with Apples app store.
The problem is iPads, iPhones and iPods.
The real problem is people that own a home that they can ONLY furnish from Ikea.
WTF?
We would not allow that anywhere else in our lives.
Then again if you are fully aware with the situation and buy the device knowing its limitations then more power to you.
And. If you are an idiot who spends money on things with no information other than "It looked cool and all my friends have it."
Then you got what you deserved.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
You mean "It is 'That is.'."
They didn't decide what you can buy or use. You decided not to get an iphone. jailbreakers decided to jailbreak. It's true that if Apple had their way, they would force people to not jailbreak, but they can't. As it stands right now apple decides the terms on which their store is used and you decide if you want to shop there or not.
We would not allow that anywhere else in our lives.
Printers, game consoles, and proprietary razor/blade systems to name three such other examples most of us let into our lives.
Sure, you can often often use non-approved inks in printers by getting syringe based refill kits. But if we're allowing hacks, then you can also Jailbreak an iPhone.
While I wouldn't call people idiots I think this is the key point. Right now you either are saavy enough to know what you're getting and not buy an iPhone/iPad if it doesnt fit your needs or not techy enough that you'll never miss what you don't have.
I also think ever since the early days of video games we've let this into our lives repeatedly. If I wanted to play Sonic, I needed a Sega. If I liked Mario Bros more, I bought NES.
In my experience, the decision was basically similar to this. I got an iPhone because it did what I wanted and had a large and established app store. I knew it wouldn't have everything but nothing does. If the value of having something not availble though Apple is high enough, I can switch phones.
I wonder what they're using now to base the rankings. The wording of the summary is bad; Apple is not monitoring how many times people open apps etc. My guess is that it's likely how many ratings the app got in the app store and what the average rating was.
> Sure, you can often often use non-approved inks in printers by getting syringe based refill kits
Are you serious?
Refilled ink cartridges are avaialable everywhere, they may not be as cheap as doing it yourself but they are out there. And the yare pretty decent these days too.
+----------------- | What is the question!
Clearly we need Open Source Shaving to free us from the grasp of proprietary shaving solutions that are designed to take control of our razors away from us. A Free/Libre razor solution would ensure that shaving people everywhere can enjoy choice and power in their shaving life. One might even say that Free Shaving is a fundamental human right.
RMS should get on this.
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
Refilled ink cartridges are avaialable everywhere, they may not be as cheap as doing it yourself but they are out there. And the yare pretty decent these days too.
But they still void the warranty on your printer. At least the manufacturer doesn't try to brick it if they find out.
The Linux of razors is the straight razor. It always works, doesn't require proprietary blades, and is very powerful. And if you don't know how to use it, you can end up in a world of hurt.
Virtually all consumer electronic devices suffer from that problem. I don't see any easy way to change the software on my microwave, for example. I don't even see an easy way to install another OS on Android phones, which are supposed to be the most geek friendly of all.
I do agree it is a real problem, but I don't see how it is specific to Apple. The PC is one of the few consumer devices that can be "furnished" by other vendors.
they're deciding what you can buy or use.
Well...
Well, not me, I don't have an iPhone
So what's the problem, then? Apple has a nice smartphone, but they don't even come close to controlling the market. Buy a different phone, right?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You've seen the man, right? Do you think he even knows what a razor is?
Making fun of dumb people since 2009
You have seen pictures of RMS right? I doubt he even knows what a razor is let alone the tyranny of living under P&G iron rule.
I am here only because I want to quote the above poster, who said, "You mean 'It is "That is."'"
Actually, to be more pedantic/picky/what-have-you, I don't think you use two periods. I believe the period inside the quote (the one for "That is.") works for the rest (the "You mean" sentence).
YET.
I'm sure they would love to get away with that, and other devices are setting the precedent. It's only a matter of time.
The problem is iPads, iPhones and iPods.
The real problem is people that own a home that they can ONLY furnish from Ikea.
WTF?
We would not allow that anywhere else in our lives.
Really? Try purchasing (from 1995 - 2005) a PC without Windows.
Or try purchasing
I posit that your idealized view that we should always have options and freedom of choice (which I agree with) is an un-natural situation, it's only enforced by governmental regulations, international free standards, and group action.
Both consumers and businesses really want functionality (that's usable) first. Folks (and businesses) often don't have time or capacity to actually review competitive options unless the cost of the product requires this (say, home/vehicle purchase for a family), and even then are not very good at it. Competitive options for their own sake aren't usually sought after.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
All the more reason why he needs to get involved with Open Shaving! We can give the man a safety razor, sell him a support contract to go with it, and in a year or two, he'll be ready to evangelize for Free/Libre Shaving and will have some kick-ass before/after pics! I see wins all around!
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
Who better to evangelize for Open Shaving! With a safety razor, an optional support plan, and a freshly shaven mug, who wouldn't be convinced? It might even make him a more credible spokesman for Open Source Software, outside of geek circles of course.
Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
How is this different from what any store does? If I go to Sears I may not be able to buy the same stuff I can get at Target. Walmart may choose not to stock albums by certain groups or NC-17 videos.
It's different in the way that you can go to Target to begin with.
And yes, the PS360Wii situation is similar, but people overall don't give a crap because most of the world sees consoles as overpriced toys rather than productivity tools. Which was how companies marketed smartphones, and PDAs before that, until the iPhone came around.
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
That is probably the best Linux to non-geek item comparison I've ever seen ... and I don't even like Linux :)
I'd argue the 'always works' part ... but equally so for both Linux and the razor ... you can easily screw both of them up by mistreating them.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Does grammar in quotations apply outside quotations? I failed english at school so I can't answer this one. I do know that if it were programming we'd be in trouble for unterminated constants in the replace string we were writing. Is a correction a replace string for the above post? I know of a friend once who enabled automatic replace in his IRC history when appropriate strings were said after the fact. So someone could write: "I just popped hard" and then go "oh crap!" "s/popped/pooped" and in his IRC history it would change "popped" to "pooped" There was much lulz when I realised you could change what *anyone* wrote with this. Changing his IRC history to show people (including himself) saying all kinds of retarded things etc.
Why not give the user a choice? Saves battery unless you click on it. Problem Solved!
Methods to jailbreak an iPhone and app stores to use once you have done so are just as available. They're still both hacks. Neither are approved by the device manufacturer, they say they'll invalidate your warranty, but you're free to do them if you want.
Well, to at least some extent, punctuation inside quotations is enough to end the sentence that includes the quote. For example:
He replied, "That's what I said!"
Nobody would write this:
He replied, "That's what I said!".
Similarly, then... if the quote includes a quote, you don't include extra punctuation; e.g., it should be something like this:
He replied, "And then I said, 'That's what I said!'"
You would not write:
He replied, "And then I said, 'That's what I said!'.".
In other words, if you are terminating your sentence, and your quote terminates in the same way, then the quoted section's termination applies to the "parent" sentence as well. If the punctuation differs - for example, you want to end with an exclamation point but the quoted portion does NOT end in an exclamation point - I'm not exactly sure how the rules apply. I know you CAN put the punctuation inside the quotes, but that could get confusing - was the quote supposed to be excited and thus marked with an exclamation point, or was the person quoting the one who was excited...
Only in your ass-backwards country. Here, the manufacturer has to prove that that the third party component is what damaged the product.
Hang on though, it's the same there, in America!
No, they don't void the warranty.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
The problem is that it's not like a normal store. If Walmart refuses to carry a game because it's violent, you've got other options. However if Apple doesn't want you to have an app for whatever reason, you have to void your warranty in order to install it.
Which is the point, this isn't like a normal store this is one where Steve Jobs tells you what you can and cannot buy.
The real problem is people that own a home that they can ONLY furnish from Ikea.
And how is that a problem? It's their choice, leave it to them.
The problem is that it's not like a normal store.
How is that a problem? It's not supposed to be like a normal store.
The problem is that they're not deciding what they sell, they're deciding what you can buy or use.
Really? I must not have seen the law that says that all Earthicans must buy an iOS device.
Can you cite the Statute or Executive Order where that was made the law of Planet Earth, or even the USA?
What are the penalties for NOT purchasing an iOS device? Some sort of Jail time, I'd imagine, right?
Oh, wait...
Same applies to jailbreaking an iPhone.
If Walmart refuses to carry a game because it's violent, you've got other options.
Games is your example? Sony, Nintendo, and MS have absolute and total control over the catalog of games on their systems, and then you have the additional preferences of Walmart to contend with.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
What would you call people who spend hundreds of dollars on something that they have no knowledge of?
I think that situation is made for the word idiot.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Hmmm.
Is it against the law for you to change the firmware on your microwave?
Because Apple, Sony and Microsoft all want you in jail for modifying the hardware you buy.
Not the same at all really. Is it?
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
But could they take you to court for uninstalling windows?
Was there a federal law 1995-2005 that could put you in prison for changing your video card.
Once the long arm of the law steps in and smacks you upside the head for daring to modify things you own the world needs some fixing.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Read the whole post. :)
Or not.
But you do not sound nearly as smart if you only read part of a post and then attempt to slam it by making a point already in the post.
Again though. As I stated.
I you posted that full well knowing the limitations of attacking without reading then more power to you.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
A computer is a computer. It doesn't matter what form factor it is in.
Read the whole post.
I did.
But you do not sound nearly as smart if you only read part of a post and then attempt to slam it by making a point already in the post.
I asked a question that was not answered in the post.
Again though. As I stated. I you posted that full well knowing the limitations of attacking without reading then more power to you. :)
That series of sentences - if you can even call them that - don't make any sense.
You'll have to prove it in court. Good luck.
I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.