In an effort to get his banned app returned to the App Store, AppGratis CEO Simon Dawlat today posted an online petition at save.appgratis.com, asking AppGratis users to send an email to express support for the app.
In an official statement to the Wall Street Journal on april the 8th, Apple said we violated two of its iOS Guidelines.
But we know we haven't.
And we have written our side of the story here.
Today we believe it's you, Apple's customers, who should have the final word.
Today, you can speak up.
Tell Apple that you think different.
Dawlat has made several efforts to reach out to Apple, beginning with a blog post asking for the Cupertino-based company to contact him. Last week, AllThingsD revealed that the removal was both permanent and the first phase of a more expansive crackdown on app discover services.
AppGratis, which earns money by charging developers to feature apps, has been accused of not being on the up and up. 148Apps accused AppGratis of selling top 10 placement, and Conor O'Connor, CEO of hotel app Hot.co.uk accused AppGratis of using bots to artificially inflate download numbers.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Dawlat reiterated that AppGratis has not used shady tactics to game the App Store.
AppGratis has thus far received more than 620,008 emails of support and more than 20,000 tweets.We're in in the business of helping the end users discover new apps, and to serve this mission, we're playing the long run. We're building a community. We've never been in the business of gaming the top charts or anything. This is a very strong statement from us.
Update: Conor O'Connor, CEO of Hot.co.uk, has retracted his original statement and issued an apology to AppGratis for his accusations.
Article Link: AppGratis CEO Simon Dawlat Starts Online Petition Asking for User Support