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Well its an interesting story but not one that has been a true surprise.  I found it interesting since there is so much controversy over the Apple App Store that this seems to be a catch-22 for Apple.  What Do I mean?  Let me outline.

1. Molinker had about 1% of the apps on the App Store, thats over a 1000 approximately.
2. Apple did so with little fanfare, even tho many of these apps were purchased by users no words of refunds (Since Apple gets 30% of the revenue)
3. Apple was willing to do this to a large developer.
4. This seems to add fuel to the fire that Apple’s app approval process lacks anything other than an arbitrary method.
5. Apple did nothing about this until iPhoneography advised Apple’s Phil Schiller about Molinker giving out promotional codes –free versions– for 5-star reviews
6. Most of Molinkers apps were copycat programs for the most part, showing very little innovation.
7. One app actually became a staff favorite, bringing doubt into whether these picks are ‘staff’ picked at all.
8. Apples silence is deafening.  Now we can see that Apple is trying to hold all the cards without being upfront about it’s policys and enforcement.

This simply shows that Apple App Store Consumers are trapped in a proprietary and dictatoral process, with no recourse or dispute mechanism.  Granted I’d say that in fairness Apple did this to show developers they will not tolerate abuses of their store however it’s lack of openess to disclosure to it’s customer base (and this isn’t the first issue, many security related issues come to mind also, and defective hardware problems) shows that if you do not accept Apple as “We know better than you, trust us” ruler of all iPhone, you may just have enough doubt to reconsider any Apple purchases.

Note:  I like Apple a lot, but this issue with not allowing the market to decide purchasing needs, develops a system that begs to be exploited.  And since there’s money involved I don’t see this improving.  Maybe Apple will, it certainly can but it’s a matter of desire to change.

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