Phil Schiller on App Store Knockoffs in 2012: ‘Is No One Reviewing These Apps?’

At the time, Temple Run was a very popular iOS exclusive title, and in February 2012, a phony version of Temple Run struck the App Store charts. Schiller sent out an e-mail to Eddy Cue, Greg Joswiak, Ron Okamoto, Phillip Shoemaker, Matt Fischer, Kevin Saul, and others on the App Store team. “How does an apparent rip off of the extremely popular Temple Run, with no screenshots, garbage marketing text, and almost all 1-star scores become the # 1 complimentary app on the store?”
Phil Schiller in 2012, after a rip-off app struck # 1: “What the hell is this?????
… Is no one reviewing evaluating Apps?

Phil Schiller in 2012, after a rip-off app struck # 1: “What the hell is this?????
… Is nobody reviewing these Apps? Is no one minding the shop?” pic.twitter.com/pNaozl6hv1
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) May 3, 2021
Because that 2012 tirade, App Store reviewers have actually continued to fight with knockoff apps that imitate real apps. A 2nd file highlighted Minecraft knockoffs that had actually made it into the App Store not as soon as, however twice, and was eating up Minecraft sales, and in a third 2015 file, Schiller comments that he “cant believe” that Apple does not have automated tools to kick and discover out fraud apps.

Knockoff apps have actually long been a problem in the App Store, with rip-off apps sneaking past customers to take on authentic apps and take sales, and back in 2012, Apples Phil Schiller was definitely furious when a fake app made it to the top of the App Store rankings, according to files shared in the Epic v. Apple trial.
At the time, Temple Run was a very popular iOS unique title, and in February 2012, a phony variation of Temple Run struck the App Store charts. Schiller sent out an email to Eddy Cue, Greg Joswiak, Ron Okamoto, Phillip Shoemaker, Matt Fischer, Kevin Saul, and others on the App Store group.
” Is nobody evaluating these apps? Is no one minding the shop?” he ranted on, before asking whether people remembered a talk about becoming the “Nordstrom” of App Stores in quality of service.

Phil Schiller, 2015:
” [this scam app] is a great example of the things we ought to have automatic tools to discover and kick out of the shop. I cant think we still dont.” …” and PLEASE develop a system to instantly discover low ranked apps and purge them !!” pic.twitter.com/fhFvja7vXs
— Jacob Terry (@jerkob) May 5, 2021
Fraud iOS apps that defraud users and imitate genuine apps continue to be a problem to this day. In current months, designer Kosta Eleftheriou has actually taken to speaking up versus fraud apps and highlighting noteworthy scams in the App Store, bringing additional attention to the issue.