Open letter from an Android developer to the Google Play team
I'm the developer of a relatively popular app (50M+ on the Play Store) and have had very disappointing experiences with the Play Store, but in a rather opposite way from the OP:<p>Once an app reaches a certain level of popularity, you begin to see "knock-off" apps, which are apps with a curiously similar name and icon (and screenshots and description), but which in fact don't do anything except blast the user with full-screen ads at every turn. It's literally just ads; they don't perform any actual function; they just exploit the SEO boost to serve ads to unsuspecting users.<p>I have tried "reporting" these apps numerous times (there are dozens of them), but Google has done nothing at all to remove these apps or suspend the accounts of these bottom-feeding "developers".  The only conclusion is that the ad revenue benefits Google as well as the bottom-feeders, so Google drags its feet in taking any action.  I would bet that if these apps were doing something malicious <i>without</i> a financial incentive for Google, then Google would take them down in a heartbeat.