Are the app store / Google play rigged?

2 points by ixacto ↗ HN
Judging from links like this http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=app+store&x=-1198&y=-125 it looks like there are quite a few people tying to game the app/play store. This looks like the tip of the iceberg. Taking the idea to its logical extreme I imagine call centers full of people in some third-world country solving captchas and posting positive reviews 24/7.

So is this as much as an issue as my speculation leads me to believe, or are Apple/Google taking steps to prevent this?

2 comments

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To the best of my knowledge, app store ranking algorithm is not heavily weighted by ratings, rather mostly by downloads, velocity of downloads, active users etc
Technically, the bigger threat is download bots who can drive rankings up. I really don't think ratings count for much anymore.