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The Mac App Store Is Full of Scams (howtogeek.com)
Over the years, Apple may have improved security, filters, and screening process of apps for its Mac's App Store, but even today things the quality of fraudulent apps continue to not only seep through its gatekeepers, but often times outnumber the good apps. How To Geek did some investigation over this and published the findings yesterday in a story titled, "Don't Be Fooled: The Mac App Store Is Full of Scams". It didn't take long for the publication to find scam apps on Apple's marquee app store for Mac computers. A search for "Microsoft Excel", for instance, returns "Office Bundle" made by a third-party. The app offers templates -- and just that -- for $30. Same is the case with any Office suite application. This might not seem as a real problem to many, but as How to Geek points out, there is one more problem: almost all these apps have icons and title names that are similar to those of Microsoft's, and Apple has had no issues with that. From the article: Let's be blunt: these customers were ripped off, and Apple pocketed $10 each (Editor's note: Apple charges 30 percent on all transactions on App Store(. And you'll only see these comments if you scroll past the two five star reviews that mention the word "app" numerous times. All of these fakes use Microsoft brands like Office, Word, and Excel in the product names. The logos aren't one-to-one copies of Microsoft's official logos, but they're almost always the correct color and letter (blue "W" for Word, green "E" for Excel, etcetera).
Excel's logo is a green X, not E.
Let's be frank here, if you can't be assed to look at the screenshots and read anything, hell, do more than just look at the icon before pressing "buy", you're being a moron, and you deserve to be scammed. This isn't Apple's responsibility, it's yours, and yours alone to do the absolute minimum amount of "research" (if it can be called that) before spending money. I thought this was called common sense; apparently it's a rare and valuable skill.
30% of 30 dollars is 9 dollars, not 10.
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Caveat emptor!
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Let's be fair for a moment here...
1) It's not Apple's job to police Microsoft's trademarks - that's Microsoft's job. Same with any other trademark that the store owner does not own or control.
2) If the worst you get is an app that has a semi-misleading title that sells you nothing but MS Office templates (for $30? Caveat Emptor, eh?), then it's miles better than the outright malware and data-harvesting apps to be found in other stores. Also, did the author bother to read the description of the item before buying it? Pretty sure that if an app only says "Office Bindle" and has little-to-no description of the product, it's probably going to be a crap purchase.
This is going to sound a bit trollish, but this is the Internet, FFS... show some brains before you buy.
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when does Apple finally take on that piece of junk that is spamming me online every day.
Buying M$ from an Apple store, that's just stupid.
Buying fake M$ from an Apple store, is utterly moronic.
>> Apple may have improved security, filters, and screening process of apps for its Mac's App Store
Citation needed
Buying M$ from an Apple store, that's just stupid.
To be fair, sometimes you're stuck with doing just that (e.g. your company issues Mac laptops, which is nice, but uses MS Office on them, which is not nice.) For instance, I get and use the Microsoft RDP client because 1) I'm cheap (it's $0.00 in the App Store), and 2) it does what I need it to do for the occasional/rare Windows server that I get asked to go fix.
Buying fake M$ from an Apple store, is utterly moronic.
Now this, I can agree with.
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But you wouldn't expect to go into a physical Apple Store and have to inspect the merchandise to make sure it isn't fake, would you? It's up to the owner of a store to protect its reputation by ensuring the quality of the merchandise sold there. If Apple wants to give an experience equivalent to buying gear out of a cardboard box in an alley, that's up to them, but I'm not sure that's the smart move.
Oh no... it's the future.
So, they find a handful of scam apps, and suddenly they make the jump to "The Mac App store is full of scams"?
I'm not saying this isn't a problem, or that the problem of scam apps doesn't exist, but the article never actually says how many fraudulent apps they found, what is the proportion of fraudulent apps to legitimate apps, or how does this compare to other stores (Google Play, Steam...). The jump from "some apps are a fraud" to "The store is full of Scams" is never explained.
This is just another "OMG! APPLE!" piece with very little substance.
This problem is unavoidable. If you have something popular, people will always try to extract a quick buck from it, legitimately or not. As long as it doesn't spiral out of control, and consumers are protected (IIRC, Apple has a refund policy for app purchases), I'd say this isn't as big of a problem as the article tries to make it.
A standard Brick and Mortar store isn't quite the same, though.
Think of the Apple App Store (and Google Play, whatever MSFT still has running, etc) not as typical stores, but as consignment shops, which is essentially what they are. Put with the proper analogy, it makes a lot more sense, no?
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I buy from the Apple store on a fairly regular basis and I understand that most searches for a mainline product don't produce the product required because a number of them aren't available through the store but there is no reason to blame Apple for having add ins on those products. If a legitimate copy of MS Office is a couple hundred dollars through normal outlets what would make a user think the Apple store would be offering it for 30 dollars? This is somewhere between laziness and wide-eyed greed in thinking that you're going to get a super deep discount through Apple's store.
And on another note, you can buy apps and if they're not what you want to can contact Apple and "return" the app. Granted, it has to be done in relatively short order and it is at Apple's discretion but Apple is pretty good when it comes down to issues of this nature.
This is just more of the same witch hunt we see against Apple and Microsoft that we've seen countless stories about before.
The Mac App Store is a thorn in the side of basically everyone. The promise was that it would be kind of like the iOS app store and you'd have a one-stop shop to find the things that you want. Installation would be easy-peasy, and you'd get Apple's famous quality control as part of the deal, etc., etc.
The store just makes things worse. The apps are significantly restricted in their ability in the name of safety, so whole categories of applications won't ever be found there (Little Snitch, for instance). The store is as hard to search as the iOS counterpart, so you're just as likely to search on google for an app as the app store. The whole system reeks of neglect. The whole thing feels like a letdown whether you're a developer or a user.
So are scams a surprise? Not really. The store just feels like work that Apple felt that it HAD to do, rather than something that they were excited to do. As a Mac user and general Apple proponent, I really think the Mac App Store is an embarrassment. Either put some time and money and people into it, or shut it down.
This isn't Apple's responsibility, it's yours, and yours alone to do the absolute minimum amount of "research" (if it can be called that) before spending money.
But Apple and Google both claim to be screening their apps and most consumers expect them too just as most consumers expect amazon to police their third party sellers and weed out fraud. I personally almost never buy an app unless they also have some sort of free trial or demo that I can test first. I think the quality of apps would greatly improve if apple and google automatically gave an instant refund for any app uninstalled in the first 30 days. I find that 90% of the apps I download I almost immediately delete because they are crap. When I do find a good app I have no problem paying for it and most good apps know this and have a demo with an inapp purchase to upgrade.
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Since one of their touted features is the 'safety' of their walled garden is most certainly *is* Apple's responsibility to work to stop scammers.
It's a merged X and L
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It absolutely IS the smart move.
Carefully vetting and curating apps in an app store would cost Apple a lot of money: they'd have to pay people to examine them all, come up with standards and ensure the apps all meet the standards, field complaints from customers and app makers alike, etc. It's much cheaper to just make it a free-for-all.
The downside is that this approach usually results in a poor reputation, which can in theory cause customers to abandon your app store. But this isn't a problem for Apple. Their loyal cultist customers will buy from them no matter what, so there's really no reason for Apple to invest any money in making them happy. They're so deluded they'll be happy no matter what Apple does or does not do, so Apple might as well keep their expenses as low as possible and maximize profits.
Except it's not really a scam, it's just a program that offers some functionality and it seems that the descriptions of these programs are honest, there are just stupid people who judge it's enough to look at an icon, and estimate it's similar enough to some other program they know so it must be the same thing before spending $30. Those people are idiots and deserve to have their $30 removed from their bank accounts.
Excel's logo is a green X, not E.
Let's be frank here, if you can't be assed to look at the screenshots and read anything, hell, do more than just look at the icon before pressing "buy", you're being a moron, and you deserve to be scammed. This isn't Apple's responsibility, it's yours, and yours alone to do the absolute minimum amount of "research" (if it can be called that) before spending money. I thought this was called common sense; apparently it's a rare and valuable skill.
Keep in mind, Apple became popular because they do the thinking for their users. The mere availability of something that can be confusing on their store really is a big problem for Apple's customers.
I don't know, what would you call a bundle of Microsoft Excel templates so that interested users can possibly find it? Fraud seems to be too sensationalist, the real problem is that actual office is not available and less relevant results thus bubble up to top. An informational message from Apple would easily solve the problem. Of course an actual deal with Microsoft to resell Office would be even better.
If Apple policed the Mac App Store as well as it does the iOS one, everyone would be yelling censorship and crying. At least on the Mac, their app store isn't the only way of getting software. Sounds like the one that should be getting policed more isn't.
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But you wouldn't expect to go into a physical Apple Store and have to inspect the merchandise to make sure it isn't fake, would you?
Brick-and-mortar stores are not immune to selling fake products. Sometimes the fake products are so good that the manufacturer can tell the difference. Saw a TV report many years ago on high-end purses and watches.
Then: Sing praises about the superior istore
Now: Was victim's fault because flea market
But... But... But it just works.
You must have forgotten the days of grandma buying the expansion pack to the game you asked for instead of the actual game. Same basic thing is going on here.
The products aren't fake in any real sense. They're just not stand alone programs. Bundles of textures, fonts, templates, filters, etc. for popular programs are valid products somone might want. The issue is morons who don't know what they're buying fall for deceptive marketing where they say it's juts a third party expansion pack in the description but imply it's a stand alone program from the reputable developer in the name and icon often enough to make the practice profitable.
This is difficult to protect people from because nature always makes a better idiot.
But you wouldn't expect to go into a physical Apple Store and have to inspect the merchandise to make sure it isn't fake, would you?
In Yakima, WA, in the United Socialist States of America, counterfeit food items have been discovered in the grocery stores. And don't even get me started on Centrum and bottled water being laced with virility drugs.
It seems Apple wants the variety of the flea market or consignment shops, wants to sell it as being an upscale 5th ave experience, and doesn't want to pay anybody with their vast cash reserves to make it so. I mean, I guess that's how they got the cash. I find all kinds of interesting shit in consignment shops, but some people just have to have the hip status symbol brand
.
I ran a 8 year experiment back in the 80s when one of the genius bars was singing the praises of their app stores. Tacked a couple to the sunny side of a shed, and staked a couple more on the ground. Ten years later my wife took them down and threw them in the recycle when we moved out of that house.
Statute of limitations on false advertising had already expired.
I thought "careful vetting and curating" was the whole reason Apple wanted everyone to use their store, and the reason they charge 30% for what, is effectively, a consignment shop...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Hyperbole much? Some scams, probably not full of them.
I'd recommend starting with Google Play though - full of scams is more likely to be true, and also far more dangerous since Android is basically too easy to root.
Technically yes, but people treat it more like iTunes or a real store, i.e. somewhere curated and safe they can go to buy legit stuff. They may be wrong to do that in some sense, but Apple certainly doesn't slap a "buyer beware" sticker on every app either.
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That's because those purses and watches are made on the same factory lines in China that the real ones come out of. They just aren't sold with the 8,000x markup.
... for a product that usually sells for many hundreds of dollars, they deserve what they get.
That last paragraph made 0 sense to me.
Every consignment shop I've sold through or bought from stakes their reputation in their ability to vet the items sold in their shop as either genuine and complete (and, therefore, worth the increased price tag) or fake/replica/incomplete/broken (and, therefore, priced lower or refused for consignment).
You're right, that's is a proper analogy and it does make a lot more sense. Apple should give a shit, because they're putting their name on it.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
No, you're confused. The reason they charge 30% is because they're Apple and have a captive market full of rubes with their app store, so the 30% is what app developers pay Apple to have access to these customers. The "careful vetting and curating" is what Apple makes the rubes *think* they're doing, even though they're not. No amount of exposure regarding the actual lack of vetting will make the rubes stop buying from Apple and its app store, or even change their perception of Apple.
Not anymore. It's a white X on a green folder with a sheet of paper peeking out.
Excel's logo is a green X, not E.
Let's be frank here, if you can't be assed to look at the screenshots and read anything, hell, do more than just look at the icon before pressing "buy", you're being a moron, and you deserve to be scammed. This isn't Apple's responsibility, it's yours, and yours alone to do the absolute minimum amount of "research" (if it can be called that) before spending money. I thought this was called common sense; apparently it's a rare and valuable skill.
Bullshit.
And it's stupid bullshit.
The naïve, the inexperienced, and the first-time users do not "deserve to be scammed" at any time.
Not everyone is an experienced user of Microsoft products - they have no frame of reference, and these products are specifically designed to be deceptive.
But you wouldn't expect to go into a physical Apple Store and have to inspect the merchandise to make sure it isn't fake, would you?
Brick-and-mortar stores are not immune to selling fake products. Sometimes the fake products are so good that the manufacturer can tell the difference. Saw a TV report many years ago on high-end purses and watches.
True, but at least with the fake brand-name purse you're actually getting a purse, but the people buying fake apps essentially are just getting a picture of a watch.
It's full of scams!
Excel's logo is a green X, not E.
Let's be frank here, if you can't be assed to look at the screenshots and read anything, hell, do more than just look at the icon before pressing "buy", you're being a moron, and you deserve to be scammed. This isn't Apple's responsibility, it's yours, and yours alone to do the absolute minimum amount of "research" (if it can be called that) before spending money. I thought this was called common sense; apparently it's a rare and valuable skill.
Normally I would agree with you wholeheartedly.
I'll kindly reserve my support for pointing at the stupid and ignorant masses in exchange for proof that Apple's business ethics here isn't equally fucked up.
Seems sales has eclipsed ethics as more of a rule rather than a much-needed control mechanism. Bottom line is Apple could have scrutinized at least a tad more where blatant shadiness in advertising exists. They don't.
60 million people voted for Donald Trump, and you're complaining about a few dumb folks getting scammed by the Mac OS store?
Dude, the whole freaking country of 320 million people just got scammed by a con man.
Scams are the new normal. Get used to it.
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Apple is just trying to keep up with Google-Play-Store
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Not sure what the big deal is, none of these apps do any harm. The worst case scenario for apps like this purchased through the App Store, or the google play store if you have android, is that you call apple or google and get your purchase refunded. It's quite easy to get a refund which might not be the case if purchased from other sources.
Well, you're correct that an online digital store is not the same as a physical brick and mortar, but you are incorrect on how they are different. Brick and mortars aren't expected to open and test every product they carry, and over a hundred years of brick and mortar sales has given consumers an understanding of this. however, an app store is not even bound by the physical barrier of opening a box. a person manning an app store need only mount the app's DMG or install it and verify that the app is what it claims to be. Obviously, any expectation of this is a slippery slope. How much validation is needed? Must an app store employee play No Man's Sky in order to validate all the marketing claims made by Hello Games? Can an employee limit his validation just to the vague sales description? If a product promises to be the best way to add visual effects to a video, or if the app guarantees that the consumer will meet sexy singles in his or her area by using it, what validation needs to be done? I would say the less a big walled garden app market curates its apps, the more willing that app market needs to be to grant customer refunds. Look, for example, at Sony's steadfast refusal to give refunds for purchases on the PlayStation Network where games and other products were marketed deceptively and especially where these products aren't actually functional. I'd be happy to see a warning affixed to a product description when there has been a certain threshold of specific complaints or refunds. it is public shaming, and perhaps it has a potential for abuse, but it is a way to put dishonest app sellers on notice.
You sound as if you believe Apple is somehow especially bad. It is not, and all
app stores have rubes, From Sony to Android. Hell, go back to the 90s and web software repositories like cdrom.com and CNET have produced rubes of their own.
You mention the difference yourself - even if you didn't realize it.
In the days of grandma buying the expansion - the expansion was labelled expansion pack for [game].
In this case - they "imply it's a stand alone program from the reputable developer" which is deceptive, if not outright fraud.
People like scam artists don't deserve to live. Frankly it sounds like you admire them; either that or you have profited by similar means. Enjoy it if it lasts
I thought "careful vetting and curating" was the whole reason Apple wanted everyone to use their store, and the reason they charge 30% for what, is effectively, a consignment shop...
Are you pretending to not know what it would be full of if they took an "everything goes" approach?
You have 90 days to ask for a refund (which can be done entirely online), what alternative offers that for desktop software?
Vetting, yes. Curating, no. Well they curate a "featured" section, but needless to say this piece of shit isn't featured.
It's not malware. It explicitly says in the description that it's not produced by, endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft. If someone wants to sell an app which consists of little more than a bundle of templates, they can. Nor does Apple set or approve prices.
However, there is a ratings and reviews section, and in the UK Store, this has 5 one-star ratings with reviews that advise not buying it. And if people miss that, Apple has a refunds policy. Explain that the app is not what you expected and you'll get a full refund.
As both a developer and customer, I can assure you that apps are vetted. Despite this article claiming "scam" it doesn't appear to break any rules. It's just not worth the money. And Apple specifically don't set the prices.
I buy from the App Store if the App I want is available there because I'm guaranteed a refund if the app does not meet expectations. That is not true if you buy an app directly.
And because I can be pretty sure the app is not malware. The level of vetting, and the sandbox pretty much ensure that.
People aren't rubes because some asshole on Slashdot with no experience of the topic says they are.
Sometimes. But commonly not. Usually they are inferior look-alikes. Purses are make with fake, or at least inferior leather, and only single stiched, so they fall apart within a few months. Watches come with digital rather than mechanical mechanisms, and cheap eletro-plating that wears off.
Quite. As my wife said once - while watching a documentary about the sweatshops where handbags that cost as much as a car are made - "even the real ones are fakes". It's the most intelligent thing she's ever said.