One review we found was written by an employee of the company that sells the program. Of course you have to assume that every developer that loves their mother's cooking should be expected to love their own games."īut a fake review, pro or con, doesn't invalidate the system, he says: "Frankly the presence of these ‘lover' votes only seems to be enough to offset the even more ridiculous hater votes." "It is like reading any forum or chat log. "Many reviews are pretty idiotic or hilarious or biased in one direction or another," he wrote via e-mail. So was Snorkydog a plant? Or just a devoted fan?ĭigital Chocolate CEO Trip Hawkins acknowledges that user reviews are often less than reliable. But one reviewer, "Snorkydog," had given 5 stars to six Digital Chocolate games, and just 2 stars to a game from another developer (the only other game Snorkydog had reviewed). Within hours of its February 27 release, the app had four 5-star reviews. Then there's Brick Breaker Revolution 3D, a $6 game from Digital Chocolate. We contacted the company in response, representatives noted that 4 of the 5 other reviewers (those who gave ViewTi Golf 1 to 4 stars) had also reviewed only ViewTi Golf and no other app. Of those 14 reviewers, 10 had reviewed apps only by ViewTi LLC, the developer of ViewTi Golf. In early March it had 19 reviews, including 14 by people who gave the app 5 stars (best on a scale of 1 to 5). Take, for instance, the reviews for ViewTi Golf, a golf rangefinder currently on sale for $25. (Apple didn't respond to PC World's inquiries for this story.) We also discovered that it's easy for reviewers to pass judgment on apps they haven't used, despite Apple's recent efforts to curtail that practice. Verifying the legitimacy of a review is nearly impossible, although in browsing reviews for this story we did come across more than a few that appeared suspicious. Whether fake or biased reviews of iPhone/iPod Touch apps are common is difficult to ascertain. "I see no reason to disclose that you are a competitor." "If people purchase the app, they can do whatever they want within the guidelines of the iTunes review system," Comm wrote via e-mail. InfoMedia CEO Joel Comm counters that he doesn't see anything wrong with a developer's posting an anonymous review of a competitor's app. Air-O-Matic, maker of Pull My Finger, says that rival InfoMedia, which sells iFart Mobile, posted bogus comments that praise iFart and slam competing flatulence apps. When contacted by PC World, a Trapster spokesperson, who asked not to be identified by name, e-mailed this response: "We don't have time to post petty slams against competitors, nor respond to accusations that we do."Ĭomplaints are flying even over frivolous programs. Njection, the developer of NMobile, an app that alerts drivers to speed traps, has accused competitor Trapster of posting reviews that criticize NMobile and praise Trapster. With more than 25,000 programs in the App Store, at least some competitive shenanigans are bound to happen-and a few developers have already accused others of planting negative reviews. Many are overwhelmingly upbeat, their wording eerily similar.Īre the reviews fake? Were they written by the developer (and family and friends) to inflate the app's overall rating? For other programs, you may find a string of 1-star reviews that trash the app and recommend a competitor. — - Browsing Apple's App Store in search of new applications for your iPhone or iPod Touch, you find an interesting-sounding program and start reading its user reviews.
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