Dash developer gets kicked off App Store for review fraud

[Eug]

http://daringfireball.net/2016/10/apple_dash_controversy

I've been following this for a few days, just out of morbid curiosity. I have no stake in the matter since I am not a developer, I am not related to the developer, and I don't use Dash. And no, I don't own any Apple stock either.

Basically Dash got pulled and the developer said he didn't know why. Then Apple (including even Phil Schiller) said they had proof of repeated review fraud, and the developer said he did no such thing.

The latest is that it turns out it's a second account that the developer claims was one he paid for, but gave to a relative to help her get started as a developer. That's apparently where all the fraud came from, and apparently was about apps he didn't actually develop.

So, while not great for the Dash developer, it was a least looking a bit rosier for him, and he could probably get himself out of this mess.

Then the developer pubished a phone conversation he had with Apple. Personally I think this action means he has basically fscked himself over. If you listen to the phone conversation, Apple sounds more than reasonable, yet the developer has broken the trust by publishing a private conversation without Apple's permission.

https://blog.kapeli.com/dash-and-apple-my-side-of-the-story

At this point, if the Dash developer gets back on the App Store, he should consider himself very, very lucky because things are looking terrible for him now.

 

[Tweak155]

Interesting post. I agree Apple was very fair in the phone conversation. I don't know why he made the call public either way?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Interesting post. I agree Apple was very fair in the phone conversation. I don't know why he made the call public either way?

Because the world is full of people who BELIEVE THEY ARE RIGHT.

And if other people saw this situation through their eyes, they would TOTALLY AGREE with how UNREASONABLE YOU ARE BEING.

BECAUSE I AM RIGHT, there is no way this could backfire on me. Impossible.

 

[Tweak155]

Yeah I mean even if he felt he was right though... I still don't get why you'd do that?

 

[quikah]

I can see his point, Apple is being kind of unreasonable here. Apple released a pretty damning press statement that the dev disputes.

http://www.imore.com/whats-happening-dash-and-app-store

He claims he was never contacted. Also the statement indicates that the fraudulent reviews occurred on both accounts when he says that he didn't do that.

 

[Eug]

Hmm...

Apparently this developer in the past has promoted some of the apps associated with the other account. The developer is losing in the court of public opinion.

http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/13/doubts-cast-dash-defense/

Popescu said he "was not aware" his developer account was linked to another until Apple contacted him two days after removing Dash from the App Store.

However, the developer community has presented compelling evidence suggesting otherwise -- which we present as speculation.

Earlier this week, developer Steven Troughton-Smith appeared to have discovered the secondary account, belonging to Mihaela Popescu. A cached iTunes page shows a list of 19 apps belonging to this account, tied to the same com.kapeli bundle identifier, all of which have since been removed from the App Store.

MacRumors forum member frumpsnake dug further and discovered some of those apps were at one time promoted on his website, including iGuard and moveAddict. Kapeli, the name of Bogdan's company, also tweeted about moveAddict, and there is even amoveAddict press release tied to his name.

 

[sxr7171]

So developers are not allowed to promote their own apps? There must be something I'm not getting here.

 

[Eug]

So developers are not allowed to promote their own apps? There must be something I'm not getting here.

The gist of it is that he claims he gave a developer account to his relative to get her started as a developer but isn't responsible for the apps or actions of that relative/developer, as those apps are not his. He claims that he was not aware that account was linked to his, even though it was paid for by his credit card and some of the equipment used was associated with his account. That relative's apps now have a whole bunch of fraudulent reviews, over 1000. Problem is he promoted some of those apps and I believe one of the other apps has his name associated with it.

It seems the Dash developer feels unfairly treated by Apple, because he claims he had nothing to do with those fraudulent reviews, and at one point actually published a private telephone conversation he had with Apple to bolster his position.

However, looking at it as an outsider, it looks to me like the Dash developer has a lot of explaining to do, since there is a lot of evidence against him. At best, things are murky, and ironically, his publishing of that private conversation IMO has harmed him more than it has benefited him. Why? Because first he violated the trust implied with such a private conversation, but also because if you listen to it, it sounded like Apple was being more than reasonable, in fact bending over backwards to get him back on the App Store. I would suspect that the Dash developer may have been angry at the time, but if so, perhaps some of that anger is misdirected. How much has he done to clear things up with that relative of his? We don't know.

As it stands now, as Daring Fireball put it, he may have snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory with his recent actions.

 

[sxr7171]

Ha ha! The Twitter generation. Can't really blame them. Everyone is an activist now. But I wonder how the relative got a 1000 reviews. Surely he couldn't be responsible for that many reviews?