Apple has made a concerted effort to ensure its App Store is a pure meritocracy. But that hasn’t stopped fringe vendors from promising to help developers buy their way to the top of the rankings.
Developers say it’s common to receive come-ons like this one from a fellow named Jevan from Nepal: “Hello! We can now make 100k + downloads of free apps in US store…also we can promote app to top 100/50/25 in overall free category in US iTunes store.”
And despite Apple cracking down on the practice of companies like Tapjoy selling paid app installs, San Francisco-based CyberZ still promises “personalized campaigns based on your desired number of installs,” as James Armfield, the company’s business development specialist, put it in a recent pitch.