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: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.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 without a financial incentive for Google, then Google would take them down in a heartbeat.