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AppGratis CEO Simon Dawlat Starts Online Petition Asking for User Support
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ahh didnt know that part. But I still run it and it works perfectly.
Do you know the reason why it been pulled?
AppGratis and similar services are good for users, they are scam for developers.
I never understood, why a developer pays for them.
A friend of mine paid 10.000 dollars for making his $0.99 app free and received 3000 downloads. Actually less, than when it was a paid app.
I am not sure if I am sorry for them.
If you want apps for free and want to help developers and you want earn some money, you can use https://promodispenser.com and https://giftmeapps.com
I never understood, why a developer pays for them.
A friend of mine paid 10.000 dollars for making his $0.99 app free and received 3000 downloads. Actually less, than when it was a paid app.
I am not sure if I am sorry for them.
If you want apps for free and want to help developers and you want earn some money, you can use https://promodispenser.com and https://giftmeapps.com
Wow he really knows how to throw his toys out of the pram doesn't he? At the end of the day, he broke the rules. Allowing developers to pay for downloads, and thus, increased ratings in the actual app store, is against the rules (and so it should be).
Alternatives like AppsGoneFree are out there. Rather than monetizing it, they simply scan the App store for apps that were paid yesterday, and free today.
Alternatives like AppsGoneFree are out there. Rather than monetizing it, they simply scan the App store for apps that were paid yesterday, and free today.
There are plenty of other advertising opportunities. It's clear the CEO makes a lot of money from Devs paying him to 'feature' their app. They don't actually care about promoting quality apps fairly. That's just plain bias and greed.
Yes let us here from people who are too cheap to buy a 99 cent app that they will instead be spammed to get free software to then screw up the ability of people who actually buy software.
No thanks joker and no thanks to customers who support you. Well they aren't really customers they are all tools. Tools appsgratis uses to monkey up the rankings. So no I don't want to join these tools.
In fact I want to support apple
No thanks joker and no thanks to customers who support you. Well they aren't really customers they are all tools. Tools appsgratis uses to monkey up the rankings. So no I don't want to join these tools.
In fact I want to support apple
Well you could say it better in that a lot of these apps (not all) promote free apps of the day or week. Yes even iTunes does it.
But that is the primary reason people use appgratis to download free apps, not for a better discovery system. Apple could read your mind and download the app you want before you realize it and these app giveaway apps would still exist.
So agreeing with someone 110% on something that will not actually work is 10% worse than just being wrong, right?
If people want crappy Wild West app adventures get an android device, and use protection.
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Oh yeah he should just give free apps to everyone who signs the petition or tweets. He has developers he works with. Give us free apps.
I will sell my soul for 99 cents nom nom nom
I would feel sympathy for the guy if he admitted he took a calculated risk and ended up with snake eyes.
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Let us not get it twisted either. I am all for devs promoting and advertising their apps. However I think that should be in exchange for something of value. Appgratis provides no value except to give away free apps so devs can boost their rankings. As someone who owns a marketing company I don't like it
I compare it to many years ago when people would create keyword landing pages full of google ads. There was no real content or value, not even a choice but to click on an ad.
This whole thing is like "psst buddy over here. I will give you this dollar if you help me out."
If appgratis had real editorial content or legitimate reviews and ratings that were not a part of the giveaway I would not care. Apple still would but I would not.
Before offering any more uninformed opinions I'd recommend reading the 148apps blog post.If true(we'll know soon enough)Apple absolutely did the right thing.If anything they were a little slow to act.
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Google"payola"
same thing.
I never said that what Apple did was right or wrong. If you read my post, you'll see that there's a whole lot of uncertainty there. It's my opinion, which I'm free to express, and I never passed it off as fact. It's just a discussion.
I still agree with Cougarcat. If Apple made App Discovery better than it is now (it sucks royally) services like AppShopper and AppGratis wouldn't be used as prominently. Simple as pie.
I don't want the free-giveaway-app-services just because they have free crap, but because sometimes, the deal-of-the-day ends up being a good or useful tool. AppShopper as a reminder service or AppGratis as a new-daily-app alert are both useful. Often, I won't get apps until a certain update, fix, or patch comes out - or unless new functionality is added. A push notification of just that is very useful.
All I did was agree with someone else. Calm yourself.
That's a fairly extreme and odd standpoint. The app downloads are real, and being downloaded due to advertisements and promotions. In the real world advertisements and promotions are legitimate ways of growing your business. It is in Apple's world too, however you have to pay Apple for it (iAds).
Dawlat Is Going About This Wrong
I have to preface that I am an Appshopper fan and think that AppGratis sucks.. but they are both apps that are violating the terms Apple says they are violating - they display apps in a similar way that the App Store does. Dawlat can't argue this, can he? What needs to be argued is that Appshopper (or Appgratis) doing this doesn't compromise the integrity of the app store in any way.
I'm off to sign the petition. I'm VERY thankful I still have Appshopper loaded on my iOS devices and it still functions beautifully!
I have to preface that I am an Appshopper fan and think that AppGratis sucks.. but they are both apps that are violating the terms Apple says they are violating - they display apps in a similar way that the App Store does. Dawlat can't argue this, can he? What needs to be argued is that Appshopper (or Appgratis) doing this doesn't compromise the integrity of the app store in any way.
I'm off to sign the petition. I'm VERY thankful I still have Appshopper loaded on my iOS devices and it still functions beautifully!
Does App Gratis promote itself as a pure view of the app store rankings? Or does it show applications within its own app based on who promoted them? If it's the latter, and the promotion works (i.e. converts to sales and downloads), this is simple advertisement. It's not gaming the charts any more than an author appearing on the Daily Show to promote their book games the NY Times Bestseller list. People go to a service that's advertisement-based, see an ad, engage with the product and the neutral list (the App Store) reflects the after-effect of that advertisement.
Whether it's a description of advertising or not, this is NOT allowed in the App Store (y'know, the whole issue up for discussion).
So no, congrats to you. You who understands how to read yet not contribute anything but a failed witty retort. I do believe that's called failing at being a smart ass.
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No, it's not odd. It's a result of Apple being gatekeeper for all things in their store, including advertising apps within their own store.
You both want more evidence? http://www.148apps.com/category/news/page/2/
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You asked how it was "NOT gaming the charts". I responded that someone listing something higher because they pay them IS advertising. I doubt CBS cares much for Colgate or Crest, but if either of those companies wants to send them money to care, they'll feature an advertisement of theirs on their TV shows.
That said, if App Gratis (an app I've never seen or used, mind you) does duplicate app store functionality in terms of the way they list applications, then yes they're in violation. If Apple is against application makers paying another application maker to feature their apps, that seems like a net loss for the developer community in terms of ways to get their applications displayed to potential customers.
As for me being a smart ass, I don't know where the random hostility came from, but at least I was being smart. What's your excuse?
