This is the dumbest argument I've ever heard - just because other people are doing it makes it alright!
I don't see anything morally objectionable here, but I don't think I would use this app even if it was free.
AppShopper is developed by Arnold Kim - the same person behind MacRumors and TouchArcade. Therefore a recognised brand with a proven track record.
AppShopper is only one. But AppShopper doesn't provide reviews by a reviewing team. Here,just two examples: App Search: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/app-search/id364828116?mt=8 (0.99$) App Sniper: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/appsniper/id294706770?mt=8 [0.99$)
??? !!! Developers, especially developers of free apps, crave positive publicity more than anything else in the world. But I make you this absolute cast-iron guarantee - if we ever get an email from a developer asking us to stop giving them free advertising by telling people that their app is great, we'll be more than happy to remove their app from our list within one hour. We're not expecting a lot of requests.
They don't make money with their proucts. They are making the money with their own product: an app tracker with reviews and links.
But without developers churning out free games, they have no product! There'd be nothing to track, review or link too.
Still waiting on this list of recognised industry stalwarts that are on the review panel of Free-App Hero.
loooool.... what you are saying here is the most ridiculous stuff I heard these days! Look - devs make their apps free to promote them. The Free-App Hero Team takes the best games and writes reviews for them. For this, they get paid. From users, who want a few more or less professional reviews instead of the AppStore review crap. Heck - are you saying that hundreds of writers for gaming magazines worldwide are doing questionable, immoral stuff? Sheesh... just imagine a dev saying: "Hooray, I made my game free and the downloads are going up to almost 400.000.... but wait - these Free-App Hero is featuring my game and reccommending it.... oh noes! They generate even more downloads... sh!t, it climbs in AppStore rankings! No, stop, no!"... rofl....
I give up - those that are defending this app are massively missing the point. And do be fair, this app will probably disappear as quickly and as quietly as it appeared so it's not worth getting worked up over. You've already mentioned there are plenty of competitors out there so this space is already cramped, and those are backed by bigger brands or already have an existing user base - oh and the biggest advantage they have, they are free.
Why do you continue discussing when you are giving up? As I said... look at this like a digital gaming magazine. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just to help us out, can you explain what this "point" actually is? Because it seems to keep changing every time you post. - Is it wrong to make money out of reviewing and discussing and publicising other people's work? (Because if so then almost all websites, magazines, TV and radio shows and almost all media in general is evil. Including AppShopper and AppSniper and all the others.) - Or is it only wrong if you do it by charging honestly and openly upfront for your product, rather than making your money through ads and in-app purchases? (In which case the BBC and all paid newspapers are evil, but ITV and Sky and Metro are fine.) - Or is it only wrong if you're anonymous? (In which case Edge is evil but Gamesmaster is okay.) - Or is it only wrong if you're not "established"? (In which case, how do you ever get established, if nobody who ISN'T already established is allowed to do it?) - Or is it only wrong if you actually provide your own original content that you work on every day, rather than just printing out an automated list-scrape? - Is it actually MORE honourable to alert people to free apps because you've been paid to by their publishers (FAAD etc), rather than because you honestly believe they're really good and worth people's attention? If we can clear up exactly what it is that you're so unhappy about, maybe we can all work on a solution.
To be featured in a gaming magazine or on a gaming review site (an industry recognised one like Edge or TouchArcade) in almost all circumstances the developer, or the publisher on behalf of a developer contacts that site and more often than not pays for that privilege. There by giving their consent for their product to be featured in that magazine or on that site. It's then therefore irrelevant whether or not that publisher (mag or site) charges it's userbase a one off fee, a subscription or provides the content for free because when the developer enters into this agreement they are aware of these factors, but they are offset because they are reaching a gauranteed exposure. If you made you app free, and therefore it's content free then it would not be such an issue because you are not profiting from anothers work (whether or not you agree with this is irrelevant as its a fact, without games you have no product) - even in the case of it being ad supported as the end user makes a conscious decision to click the ad, but if he/she never chooses too they still get your content for free. You however are charging for your app, yes in the same way a magazine does, but it's a very different concept. Firstly as I've outlined above the developer has direct input in his/her app being featured in a magazine and secondly, as a consumer I can stand at the magazine rack and flick through the pages, making a conscious decision to purchase based on content I can see in front of me. And it's not a case how do you become established if you can't do it this way, it's just that in my opinion you've gone about it the wrong way - you haven't contacted the developers, you're charging up front and you've not named your review panel so we can see whose opinions we're relying on and why they're any better than those who have already downloaded these apps and been kind enough to leave a review in the app store. And as already mentioned, I feel in places your app description is a little misleading.
I'm genuinely curious - why not? Why wouldn't you want to hear about dozens of great free games you might have missed?
As someone with over 8 years of personal experience in writing professionally for magazines, I have to tell you you've been very badly misinformed if that's what you believe.
Don't expect an answer. Most people who take promo codes anonymously doesn't answer anymore after that. Next time be sure to give out promo codes to responsible people - per PM. Just posting these codes here will give you seldom something in return.
Free-App Hero CE (free) now available! http://itunes.apple.com/app/free-app-hero-ce/id413863332?mt=8 "Free-App Hero does a wonderful job. 9/10" -The iPhone App Review. Get over 50 great games for free right now, and keep getting more every day! ** IN RESPONSE TO HUGE DEMAND, THIS IS AN AD-SUPPORTED FREE EDITION. THE FULL VERSION IS STILL AVAILABLE, WHICH HAS NO ADS AND FEATURES 100 ADDITIONAL FREE GAMES. ** Free-App Hero isn't another dumb tracker - we're here to save you from wasting your money OR your time on bad apps. (And also to save you trawling through about two dozen different freebie sites and apps every day hoping to find something worthwhile.) One of the best things about the App Store is the way that thousands of apps are available for free, and hundreds of new ones are added every single day. The downside is that its almost impossible to find the good games in the daily avalanche of fart apps and flashlights. Thats where we come in. Free-App Hero is maintained by experienced professional games reviewers with an encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of apps already, and every day we filter through many dozens more to sort the dross from the diamonds, because its our job. So why not reap the benefits of all our hard work and take advantage of Free-App Hero's unique features? ** Unlike other free-app trackers, Free-App Hero recommends ONLY THE GOOD STUFF. Why waste your time downloading and playing 30 games to find the one good one? Let us do the filtering for you. ** Unlike free-app websites, we recommend something because we like it and we want to, not because someone's paid us $2000 to promote their crappy app with a freebie day. ** Unlike other trackers, we only feature proper full games, not Lites or ad-strewn freemium versions. In fact, we NEVER feature apps with in-game ads, because we hate them as much as you do. ** Unlike other trackers, were human beings whove actually played the games, not robots dumbly scraping the App Store servers for any old rubbish with a price cut. Free-App Hero has a Permanent list (featuring 20 of the best always-free apps), and every day our Recent list also lists dozens of the newly-free games that are worth your precious time - and well even tell you why, with handy reviews. So you can enjoy great stuff instead of wading through an ocean of garbage to get to the gold. Free-App Hero gives you over 50 top-notch free games straight off the bat, and it keeps on giving forever. (Weve got lots of exciting update plans too.) And now you can get it for nothing! What have you got to lose?
Free-App Hero v1.31 out now http://itunes.apple.com/app/free-app-hero/id403095549?mt=8 To celebrate passing 15,000 downloads, and the release of Free-App Hero CE (the free edition): BUMPER UPDATE! - 20 new games added to the Permanent list, bringing the total number of free games featured to over 150. - game size data also newly added to all games in the Permanent list. - numerous reviews updated. - shiny new App Store icon.
