Apple Removes 1000+ iPhone Apps from App Store Following Ratings Scam

Has it ever happened to you that you are so impressed with an iPhone app after reading through its reviews only to find after purchasing it that your own experience with the app is not even close to what the reviewers said?

Folks at the iPhoneography blog have now unearthed an iPhone ratings scam that has wiped off close to 1% of the entire App Store.

The reviews and ratings scam comes to light after one of the readers of the iPhoneography blog revealed that a relatively less popular iPhone app, 'NightCam Pro' had nearly 44 reviews with 5 star ratings. What's more, each of these reviewers had posted all their reviews on iPhone apps released by just a single app developer - China based Molinker Inc. The issue which was brought to the notice of Phil Schiller from Apple resulted in an immediate removal of all the 1011 iPhone apps developed by the company from the App Store.

While the removal of 1000+ apps should come as a bolt out of the blue, not many should find the scam itself surprising. Most iPhone users would have come across reviews that appear shady at least once in a while. How does this actually happen? In this particular case, it is possible that the app developer made use of the 50 promo codes that Apple offers to the developers for every approved app to create these ghost reviewers. Ironically, one of Molinker's apps, ColorMagic which had nearly 203 fake reviews was till recently on the iPhone apps front page as an App Store 'Staff Favorite'.

[via iPhone Hacks]

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iPhone OS 3.0 coming on June 17; Brings Movie Downloads, Faster Safari; But No MMS or Tethering in the US

There were speculations that Apple will launch its iPhone OS 3.0 at WWDC today. Apple has done the next best thing, it has announced that their next generation iPhone OS will be available to users on June, 17th.

iPhone OS 3.0 will be free for the original iPhone and iPhone 3G user but will cost $9.99 for iPod Touch users. During the keynote address at WWDC, Apple provided some more details about iPhone OS 3.0

As we already knew, iPhone OS 3.0 includes 100 new features, many that we were already aware of and some that come as a pleasant surprise. Here is a run down on the features that were announced today:

Cut, Copy & Paste: Users will be able to cut, copy and paste text. The blocks of text could be selected from application and web by simply taping the content. You can check this page to find out how it works.

Landscape Mode: iPhone OS 3.0 will allow users to use iPhone's virtual keyboard in landscape mode in mails, messages, notes.

[via iPhone Hacks]

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Apple's New iPhone Specs Leaked

A poster at Chinese Apple fan blog WeiPhone has posted specs and screenshot of what he claims to be Apple's new iPhone.

The tipster also claims that there will be no major changes in the physical design of Apple's next generation iPhone but will come with a faster 600MHz processor (up from 400MHz in the current iPhone), 256MB RAM (up from 128MB), a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and a larger storage capacity of up to 32GB (up from a maximum of 16GB).

The tipster claims to have used prototypes of Apple's next generation iPhone thanks to a friend who works at Foxconn, Apple's manufacturing partner.

According to the poster, Apple's new iPhone will have the following new features:

* 600MHz CPU Speed (up from 400MHz) - We had heard that Apple's new iPhone will use multi-core processors. If the processor speed is 600MHz it will be slightly faster than the 2nd generation iPhone which was quietly boosted to 532MHz.

* 256MB RAM (up from 128MB) - This is new information. According to the tipster thanks to the faster processor and increased RAM, the speed of using the iPhone has "really improved" versus current models.

* Digital Compass and FM - Folks at BGR had discovered debugging menus in the beta version of iPhone OS 3.0, indicating that Apple's new iPhone could come with a built-in magnetometer (digital compass). It might also have FM Radio as iPhone OS 3.0 beta had revealed support for a new Broadcom chip BCM4329 which supports reception and transmission of FM radio signals.

* 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus - We have heard several rumors that Apple's next generation will have a much better camera (in fact, 3.2 megapixel camera) and support video capabilities.

* 32GB size - We had heard rumors Apple is working on a 32 GB high-end iPhone and Low end 3G version.

* No major changes in battery, screen and external casing - Let's hope the battery part of the rumor is not true, Apple needs to improve the battery life of their new iPhone as it is one of my biggest gripes about iPhone 3G. There was a rumor that the new iPhone might include an OLED screen made by LG to improve battery life. Someone had also leaked a photo of the back cover of the new iPhone which revealed that the new iPhone case would shed its shiny black finish for a matte look.

[via iPhone Hacks]

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AT&T in Discussion with Apple to Extend Deal to be Exclusive Carrier of iPhone?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, is in discussion with Apple to extend the lucrative deal to be the exclusive carrier of iPhone in US.

It's speculated that the current deal is expected to expire next year (2010) though reports back in 2007 had suggested that AT&T had cracked an exclusive deal for 5-years.

Wall Street Journal is reporting:

"But AT&T's exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. expires next year, according to people familiar with the matter, and Mr. Stephenson is now in discussions with Apple Inc. to get an extension until 2011."

AT&T had added whopping 4.3 million iPhone subscribers in the second half of 2008; of which about 40% were new customers. So if the exclusive deal with Apple is indeed expected to expire next year then I'm not surprised that AT&T is looking to extend it further.

Continue reading @ iPhone Hacks

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iPhone Developer Introduces Anti-Piracy Feature; Turns Cracked Apps into Demos

Developer of iPhone app, Full-Screen Web Browser has figured out a way to turn cracked versions of his iPhone app into demos.

This is the latest attempt by an iPhone developer to fight piracy of their iPhone app after Crackulous was released; a jailbreak app which strips copy protection from iPhone apps and render them free for distribution.

RipDev, the folks behind the Installer app have also released Kali Anti-Piracy recently which is a service to protect iPhone apps from being pirated.

 

Ben Chatelain, developer of iPhone Full Screen Web Browser received a very good response to his iPhone app after it was release on the App Store. It has already been downloaded more than 65,000 times and ranks in the Top 100 Paid Apps lists in ten countries.

However, Ben got an alert within 4 days of the release that his iPhone app was cracked and was made public on Appulo.us, a site that claims to provide a solution to the flawed App Store by allowing users to try an iPhone app before buying, but as ReadWriteWeb (RWW) points out "in reality it mostly serves as a way to download pirated copies of paid iPhone applications for free".

Read the whole article @ iPhone Hacks

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RipDev Releases Kali Anti-Piracy Service to Protect iPhone Apps from being Pirated

We had reported about a jailbreak app called Crackulous which strips the copy protection from iPhone apps and render them free for distribution.

At that time, we had commented that this was bad news for iPhone developers and that cracking iPhone apps or installing cracked iPhone apps was crossing the line which had resulted in an interesting debate among iPhone Hacks readers.

We now have some good news to report for the iPhone developers. RipDev, the folks behind the Installer app have recently released Kali Anti-Piracy which is a service to protect iPhone apps from being pirated.

Read the whole article @ iPhone Hacks

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Free iPhone Video Recorder, Cycorder Now Includes Audio

Saurik is at it again, this time with an update to his free iPhone video recording software labeled “Cycorder“. The audio recording feature that we’ve all been awaiting is here and FREE. Saurik had been debating whether or not he would bundle audio in with some sort of paid version of Cycorder. Luckily Cycorder is still free and can be installed on any jailbroken iPhone or iPhone 3G via the Cydia app installer (Note: Saurik is also the creator of Cydia).

Recent Updates/Changes:

• Audio Channel Recording
• Colorized Navigation Buttons
• TV Out Supported Playback
• No AutoLock When Recording
• Minor (REC) Badge Fixes

Here is a demo it took using Cycorder, another great in the “Alias420’s La-Z-Boy POV” series:

Read the whole article @ iPhone Hacks

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