An iPhone developer is highlighting an issue in the App Store that he calls "sockpuppet reviews" — negative reviews presumably written by competitors disguised as customers.
Njection, developer of NMobile, an iPhone application that alerts drivers of speed traps, claims that a negative review left for its app is clearly working with the developer of a competing application called Trapster.
"Boy do I feel stupid wasting my $10," writes Jimjim3 in his review of NMobile, which currently costs $5. "Then I found Trapster on App Store which is much better app … and Trapster is free. Duh."
As the App Store continues to proliferate, recently surpassing 15,000 applications, competition is getting heated, and tensions are running high among some developers. In the past, for example, Wired.com reported on what appeared to be an iPhone developer bribing customers for positive reviews to gain an edge in the App Store.
To further back its sockpuppet theory, Njection lists several articles written about NMobile, where the same user appears to be posting similar negative comments about the app while promoting Trapster.
"We’re not a big iPhone development shop, and we have a limited market, so a visible review such as this one that is basically an advertisement for a competing app is a problem," Njection wrote in a blog post. "All signs point to this review as being from our competitor."
Pete Tenerillo, owner of Trapster, denied allegations of sockpuppeting. He said Njection was using its sock puppet theory to gain media exposure and boost sales.
"Trapster has already got 280,000 signed up, and I don’t even care what [Njection is] doing," Tenerillo said. "This whole thing is just a marketing stunt."
Whether or not Njection’s claim is true, the App Store is prone to having the same problems that user-review web sites frequently encounter. Restaurant review web site Yelp, for example, often has issues with colluding businesses shooting down competitors while promoting each other. To rectify that problem, Yelp has a staff of moderators scouting for abusive reviews and deleting them when necessary.
If sockpuppet reviews become a major problem in the App Store, the clear solution is for Apple to implement stricter moderation tools or hire moderators.
[via TUAW]
Updated 11:30 a.m. PDT with a response from Trapster.
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