

Apple’s App Store Rankings Algorithm Changed  - srebeck
http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/23/apples-app-store-rankings-algorithm-changed-to-favor-ratings-and-possibly-engagement/

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coldcode
Fiksu, quoted in the article, is also in the business of pay for position. We
tried them once and all the downloads came from Egypt, China and similar
places but none of the users actually used the app. It did artificially boost
the ranking but only as long as you keep paying. I hope Apple stops these type
of folks.

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awjr
There is an immense amount of redundant 'crap' in app stores and I really wish
they would get away from boasting about how many apps are in the app store.

I do wonder if the solution is to 'wrap' the app inside a container that
reports some sort of user id/app id hash back to the store when it is fired
up.

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zulfishah
Just to add to the "anecdotal" evidence: I watch App Store rankings for my app
like a hawk, and aside from the comment about rankings not changing as often,
maybe once in 2-3 hours, I haven't noticed any other changes. My app is rated
very highly (4.5 for most recent version), and it's ranking inside Business
category is consistent with revenue as before. Haven't noticed anything
different.

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nasalgoat
Our app, which is also highly rated, jumped significantly while our lower-
rated competition dropped.

I think this is a good move - it will make everyone work harder to make a
better quality product.

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gyardley
Bad for the 'buy downloads' industry, good for the 'buy reviews' industry.

Of course, since you have to download an app in order to review it, the 'buy
downloads' industry and 'buy reviews' industry are one and the same.

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jliptzin
I never understood why they let this behavior go on for so long in the first
place.

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nsxwolf
Pay for downloads was shady, but what do the little guys have left now?

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threeseed
Making a great app.

Are you implying that it is impossible to do that anymore and be successful ?

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nsxwolf
No, but it's a lot harder to be successful when not many people are going to
get a chance to see it.

