For one thing, it helps level the playing field for those trying not just to make a hit, but a living developing software. While marketing, PR, and word-of-mouth can legitimately play a big part in app sales, it’s also likely that at least some of these apps have been gaming the rankings by using automated systems such as bots to rack up purchases, or by illicit schemes like the infamous Towson Hack.įor many developers, Apple’s warning, and the fact that it appears to be cracking down on apps that take advantage of these means, is definitely a positive. But Temple Jump’s ascent to the top spot was likely one of the factors that prompted Apple’s missive to developers. It, and 58 other games by developer Anton Sinelnikov, were removed from the App Store last week. Recently, a $1 game named Temple Jump-a copycat of the popular game Temple Run-made its way to the number one spot on the App Store’s paid list. Temple of doom: The $1 Temple Jump made its way to the top paid spot despite poor ratings.
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Some have speculated that a weighted average of recent sales might be involved, and that revenue is valued over units sold.īut it’s apparent that some firms have managed to get a handle on at least part of the ranking scheme, because apps that otherwise probably wouldn’t crack the top 100,000 have made their way into the top 100-and even higher. Like Google’s PageRank algorithm for search results, Apple’s system for its charts is a closely guarded secret-nobody knows exactly how the company generates the lists, other than that sales volume obviously plays a part. “I suspected that they were using bots because I heard that it requires about 100,000 downloads per day to hold a ranking in top 15.” “Recently we have noticed that several game companies are using ‘bots’ to keep their rankings in top 15,” Pak wrote. Furthermore, Pak said GTekna relies on banner ads on websites for its promotion, and doesn’t use bots (automatic purchasing agents) to generate downloads, as he suspected other services do. However, we continue providing our promotion service,” said Pak. “Since Apple clearly mentioned that using a promotion service that guarantees a certain ranking is not allowed, we stopped providing a guaranteed ranking service. In some cases, the companies even guarantee that their promotions will help developers get on Apple’s charts.
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Unfortunately, it’s now mutated into a marketing tool that too many people seem fixated on exploiting.”Ĭlimbing the charts: Apple’s Top Paid and Top Free charts are seen as some of the best publicity around.Īnd that’s precisely where companies such as ComboApp and GTekna come in: These firms offer promotional services for developers looking to publicize their apps.
“Early on, we used to view the charts as an accomplishment which reflected one’s success. “As the size of the App Store continues to grow in popularity, so does the power of appearing on one of the top paid/free charts,” said Chris Liscio, developer of iOS app Capo, in an email to Macworld. As such, Apple’s rankings are seen as one of the best-and one of the most democratic-places to get your app out in front of customers. Some proponents might argue that the cream naturally rises to the top, but that’s not always the case when dealing with such an enormous volume of competition.
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