I agree that application titles should be unique. I'm surprised that's not the case as it makes sense and is easily enforced.
> the straw that broke the camels back was when another dev released two apps with the same name as my apps whilst they were in the Top 5… Apple did nothing about it.
If someone can compete with your product with little effort, then how good was your product in the first place? If their product is not as good and yours already sits front and center in the top 5, who cares if carbon copies exist? If theirs is better, then be glad you made it to the top 5 first.
The problem isn't that he can't compete, it's that his potential customers can't tell which one he is! They hear from their friends that 'xyz app' is awesome, they search the market and find 2 of them... And 50% download the wrong one!
Of course, ratings and that top-5 spot should help shift that percentage in his favor, but it's still really ugly that it's even possible for people to do that.
Correct. It's not the quality of the competing app, or it's closeness to my functionality. It's the consumer confusion, and the blatant piggy backing off of others success which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm more surprised Apple doesn't deal with it.
Here's a good one I was told about a Twitter client I developed: "The links in the tweets just open up a webview when you press them..." - It was rejected on this basis, and this was the appeal board telling me this... :(
> the straw that broke the camels back was when another dev released two apps with the same name as my apps whilst they were in the Top 5… Apple did nothing about it.
If someone can compete with your product with little effort, then how good was your product in the first place? If their product is not as good and yours already sits front and center in the top 5, who cares if carbon copies exist? If theirs is better, then be glad you made it to the top 5 first.