Over the last few months Google has been getting the most attention and has been under the most scrutiny when it comes to the quality and consistency of apps offered for their Android OS. The major problem with Google appeared to be the fact that it was too open with its app store, that it didn’t perform enough due diligence to ensure all of the apps posted to their store met certain quality standards and were legitimate, non-spyware, programs. By contrast conventional wisdom stated that Apple’s app store offered a greater level of quality and consistency due to the company’s notoriously strict standards and one-by-one scrutiny of all apps aiming for a spot in their store. Yet this tight scrutiny hasn’t made Apple’s app store perfect and blemish-free.

While the major problem with Google’s app store is quality control, the major problem with Apple’s app store involves app developers attempting to game their system and inflate their rankings. This systemic gaming is nothing new and it isn’t solely a problem with Apple, but it is a problem the generally on-point company hasn’t been able to eliminate from their service.

To perhaps oversimplify the matter- if you are an app developer then you will naturally want your app to appear as high in the rankings for your search terms and functionality as possible. The higher your ranking, the more people will see you, and the better choice you appear to be. In essence, the higher you can get your app ranked, the more positive attention your app will get, and that positive attention will translate directly into increased sales and increased profits for your app.

Most of this “system gaming” was performed by using bots, automated programs that will repeatedly download an app, which makes the app appear increasingly popular, which moves it up in the rankings very, very quickly, regardless of whether your app was ever downloaded legitimately by an actual smartphone or tablet user.

Apple doesn’t have a good way of dealing with this problem because right now there’s no effective way to determine whether a legitimate user downloaded an app, or if an automated program downloaded an app. Until they come up with a more precise and effective approach, Apple is resorting to big threats and some measured bluster. Apple has officially announced their intentions to block and ban any app developer caught using automated means to promote their apps, whether they are doing so on their own or if they hire an external company to do so for them.

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