Over the past few weeks, Apple has been much-maligned for keeping apps such as Google Voice off the App Store. These weren’t some random garbage apps; there was no farting, or baby shaking. Google Voice apps are utilities which many have come to rely on, and thus many (including TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington) are none too happy with Apple’s blockade. But what if Apple deleted a completely useless app from the store? What about 900 useless apps – all from one developer? Apple has decided to test those waters: it has revoked the developer’s license of one of the App Store’s most prolific developers, Khalid Shaikh, founder of Perfect Acumen.
Khalid Shaikh has been making a killing off the App Store through questionable means. In less than 9 months, Khalid Shaikh and his 26-employee team (most of which are in Pakistan) have published 943 applications (thank you TapMetrics for validating these numbers). That’s roughly 5 apps a day, every day, for 250 days. All of these apps have gone through the entire Apple review process, sometimes taking as long as six weeks to get reviewed, and have been published on the App Store. Users have bought these apps in droves; Khalid has refused to give official numbers but we gather from his comments that it’s a few thousand dollars in sales per day. This business was making solid money until last Friday, July 24, when Khalid Shaikh was officially banned from the store. Without advance notice or forewarning of such an action, Apple revoked Khalid’s developer license and asked him to remove all of his apps from the store.
Whoa. Wait a second. Over the course of 9 months, Apple has accepted 900 applications submitted by Khalid Shaikh and his team of developers. Then, realizing their mistake months later, Apple tells Khalid he has to delete all of his apps? I’m not going to say that Khalid’s apps aren’t useless (more on that later), nor would I argue that they are providing any value to the App Store (they aren’t). Yet, there are obviously some major inconsistencies when Apple lets hundreds of applications through the App Store, all from one developer, and then suddenly revokes the developer’s license to do business altogether. Apple’s e-mail to Khalid, which is attached to the end of this article, cites copyright infringement and other intellectual property infringement on behalf of Khalid. It is a near-certainty that Khalid publishes material for which he does not have the rights: most of his apps simply re-package online content into an iPhone app on a specific subject. Yet, the fact still remains: Apple has accepted hundreds of these apps into the store; it is a bit misleading to allow these apps to come through and then turn around and cancel the license of the developer who made those apps.
Apple claims that it has asked Khalid about more than 100 of his applications and that it “continue[s] to receive the same or similar types of complaints regarding [his] Applications despite [Apple's] repeated notices to [Khalid Shaikh].” Clearly, Apple does not want to (nor should it have to) expend its resources trying to determine the legality of all of the applications on the store. Still, the fact that Apple continues to play mediator and reject applications on the basis of violating copyright infringement is a signal to developers that it is going to play watchdog on their apps. So even if there is nothing wrong with Apple discontinuing Khalid Shaikh’s developers license, this further highlights the inconsistencies of Apple’s review process.
As we mentioned, Khalid’s apps were of questionable value and quality. He has told us over the phone that he is not concerned about creating particularly valuable apps. Instead, he says, he’s going for “less product value” and “more monetization.” So, instead of developing one or two apps and charging $0.99, Khalid prefers to create hundreds of apps and charge $4.99. The vast majority of his apps simply provide topic-specific news on a given subject. Apps such as “US Army News” and “Skin Care Updates” cost $5, and aggregate articles from various internet sources. He has mastered SEO on the App Store, and uses the App Store’s search as a way to target users (or victims, depending on how you look at it). Many have questioned the value of the apps he produces, and there’s a small contingent of developers who are absolutely furious about his business. Rightfully so, it seems: a review of an app titled “WWE Updates” reveals that the user isn’t just getting updates of World Wrestling Entertainment; he’s also getting breaking news about Michael Jackson. Khalid says that he tests every app he submits to the store, but I can’t imagine that even a team of developers can submit 5 apps a day and sufficiently test each one.
Unfortunately, because all of his apps are off the App Store, you or I cannot see any of them on iTunes. Fortunately, there are websites that keep data from the App Store: a quick search on App Shopper shows a list of 854 of his applications. They include “Top Sexy Ladies: Audrina Patridge,” which (from what we gather; again, we cannot test these apps because they are not up anymore) is an app that takes 5 pictures of The Hills star from online and puts them on your phone. Yes, it costs $4.99. There are hundreds of others like this, including Top Sexy Men apps and various news update apps (ETFs Updates, iSoaperStarsUpdates, and Economical Crisis Updates). And Khalid Shaikh is not the only one littering the App Store. Brighthouse Labs has released over 2,000 apps on the store: each one for $0.99. They, too, seem to be quite successful (we’ve used number of ratings on some of their apps as a benchmark for sales), and are using similar tactics as Khalid Shaikh.
Both Khalid Shaikh and Brighthouse Labs seem to be running a pretty sketchy business. I simply can’t find a website for Brighthouse Labs. And if you search Khalid Shaikh’s name on Google, it is unlikely that you’ll figure out which result is his company, Perfect Acumen. That’s because it doesn’t mention anywhere on his website that the iPhone apps made by “Khalid Shaikh” are in fact related to Perfect Acumen. Furthermore, the website claims that Perfect Acumen has Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and HP as clients. When I asked him about it, he said that “the website isn’t focused on the iPhone company. Those are companies we’ve done services with in the past, but it has nothing to do with the current iPhone company.” That’s all well and good; however, he’s got 26 engineers and all of his apps are supposed to be made by Perfect Acumen, yet his website doesn’t reflect the same company. The problem here is not that Khalid Shaikh doesn’t have a proper website. It’s that when you put out 900+ applications, many of which have bugs, then it should be easy for a user to e-mail you and ask for support on your apps. To top it off, when you e-mail the only contact information on the site, you get an auto-generated e-mail from Perfect Acumen HR about a job at their New Delhi, India, office (see the full e-mail below).
This story highlights dozens of problems with the App Store review process and developing for the App Store. Clearly, Apple doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing. It inconsistently applies its rules and regulations: allowing companies such as Brighthouse Labs (which has the most apps on the App Store) to grow to 2,000 applications that seem to have similar copyright issues as Khalid Shaikh’s 900 apps. Not to mention the fact that it at first accepted Khalid Shaikh’s 900 apps, and then later pulled them all from the store. In addition, it is clear that developers that spam the store with hundreds of apps can win, much to the chagrin of those who toil for months just to get one app out. Finally, there is also an incomplete customer feedback system; developers can put out hundreds of applications on Apple’s store, and yet never have to have a website or an e-mail address for customers to use to troubleshoot.
Now, we open these issues up to you, oh wonderful commenters: what do you think about Khalid Shaikh? About the Apple Review process? About the various developers who spam the App Store?
Apple’s e-mail to Khalid:
From:
Date: Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Subject: Notice of Termination
To: XXXXXXXXX@gmail.comPlease include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.
Follow-up: 79376777July 24, 2009
Khalid Shaikh
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX, California 9XXXXDear Mr. Shaikh:
This letter serves as notice of termination of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement (the “iDP Agreement”) and the Registered iPhone Developer Agreement (the “Registered Developer Agreement”) between you and Apple, effective immediately.
Pursuant to Section 3.2(d) of the iDP Agreement, you agreed that “to the best of Your knowledge and belief, Your Application and Licensed Application Information do not and will not violate, misappropriate, or infringe any Apple or third party copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy and publicity, trade secrets, patents, or other proprietary or legal rights (e.g. musical composition or performance rights, video rights, photography or image rights, logo rights, third party data rights, etc. for content and materials that may be included in Your Application).” Apple has informed you of numerous third party intellectual property complaints concerning over 100 of your Applications and reminded you of your obligations to obtain the necessary rights prior to submission of your Applications. Nevertheless, we continue to receive the same or similar types of complaints regarding your Applications despite our repeated notices to you. The persistent nature of such complaints has led us to conclude that you are entering into the representations and warranties in the iDP Agreement in bad faith by misrepresenting that you have all the necessary rights for your submissions.
As required by Section 12.3 of the iDP Agreement and Section 8 of the Registered Developer Agreement, please erase and destroy all copies, full or partial, of the Apple Software and any information pertaining to the services and all copies of Apple Confidential Information in your and your Authorized Developers’ possession or control. After you have completed those steps, please provide certification of that destruction to Apple, as provided in Section 12.3 and Section 8. Finally, please note your additional obligations on termination as set forth in those same sections. This letter is not intended as a complete statement of fact with respect to the subject matter hereof, and nothing in this letter should be construed as a waiver of any rights or remedies Apple may have in connection with this matter, all of which are expressly reserved.
Sincerely,
Worldwide Developer Relations (WWDR)
Apple Inc.
Auto-generated e-mail from Perfect Acumen:
Dear Candidate,
Thank you for applying to Perfect Acumen Inc.
We develop iPhone applications exclusively using Objective-C and the
Mac. We have a strict work schedule of 12 hours a day 6 days a week.Please read the first two chapters of ObjC.pdf before you can process
to the next stage of this interview process.You should review a PDF we will send before interviewing on-site.
http://www.perfectacumen.com/welcome/indiaPlease review “ObjC.pdf” & “iPhone in Action.pdf”
Our offices are in New Delhi, India.
Please confirm once you have read the 2 chapters that you are ready
for the interview.Best,
Sanchay
I think another thing that this article brings to mind is how overblown app store is. Just considering Khalid and Brighthouse’s crap apps cited here, that makes up nearly 6% of the 50,000 apps apple was touting not long ago. If you consider all developers like this, plus the number or repetitive fart apps and tip calculators, i wonder what number you’re left with in the end?
40,000.
400-1000.
42
In India, labor law says you can not work more than 9 hours a day and not more than 45 hours a week. 12 hours a day work??
Over 9000!!!!!!
India is not Pakistan, “hard work”, learn some geography
@Joe- While the article says the company is based in Pakistan, the email clearly says that the offices are located in New Delhi, India. Learn to read.
I run http://Yappler.com and I just polled my database to try and get some kind of stats for you.
All counts are based on apps with at least 20 comments/ratings. Hopefully a high enough number to counter friends and family.
2 Stars and Over = 5377
3 Stars and Over = 3662
4 Stars and Over = 701
5 Stars = 6
That’s very interesting and it’s a very neat site you’ve got there.
But it’s interesting to note what the highest rated apps were (at least according to your database). If you go into top free apps, and then select to sort by rating, 9 of the top 20 top rated iPhone apps had to do with iMob, Mafia Wars, etc, which, in my opinion is crapware. Several of them appeared to be apps that just give you respect points for another app.
You can’t go by the ratings people give the apps to judge good ones. For example, I use ReQall, which has boosted my productivity at work and helped me stay on top of all my tasks, while at the same time being frickin’ awesome. I mean, you talk, it types, and it recognizes due dates.
I’ve used it a month, it’s crashed twice. No big deal. I restarted the app, it worked, I moved on.
Needless to say, the ReQall website, along with the app, is a fantastic service. It’s totally worth the $25 a year for push notifications (if you aren’t already running prowl+adium like I am)
However, the app is rated 2.5 stars. Most of the negative reviews are from people who did not read the description of the app and are upset that push notifications aren’t free forever. So unfortunately you’re dealing with the low-attention-span masses who are rating these things.
In all honesty, I bet there are 1,500 good apps on the store, about 200 excellent apps, but a lot of them are buried in low ratings.
From the stats, i would be happy that Google ban this developer as he damage the apple store due to the crap apps.
Definitely. Would be interesting to see what number you get. Not to mention all of the eBooks on the App Store, each of which is a separate app.
Honestly, the other interesting take from this is that NONE of these apps would be selling worth a DAMN on Android.
Why? Because you have an open-source, free operating system, developed by a company that never charges the end user for any of its services, and an app store that began its life by only accepted free apps for the first few months.
So, still after 1 year, the app store is more of a community than a marketplace. For example, if someone created an application to track traffic, that just gathers already available data and puts it into one place, they’d be very likely to give it away for free. On the iPhone, they would typically charge for this.
So, if I were developing and looking to make money off users, I’d be writing apps for the iPhone. If I were a user, I’d rather be part of the Android community (for this and a number of other reasons that have become obvious recently).
Google == Open Source now?
BTW back to the point on the article, not that this seems at all important right now… Kudos for Apple for respecting other’s people content.
> If I were a user, I’d rather be part of the Android community
Shouldn’t that be,
If I were a user and I wasn’t willing to pay for any apps no matter how good they were or how much I wanted them, I’d rather be part of the Android community.
While I think it sucks the way Apple is handling the app store and the acceptance and rejection process, and while I would certainly prefer a more open environment where I could get apps anywhere, I would still rather be on the iPhone right now because the number of apps on it that I want far exceeds the number of apps on the Android.
> Honestly, the other interesting take from this is that NONE of these apps would be selling worth a DAMN on Android.
That’s because NO apps are selling worth a DAMN on android, but I’m getting off topic…
Who cares about Android? :)
“Honestly, the other interesting take from this is that NONE of these apps would be selling worth a DAMN on Android. ”
The problem is that they ARE. The Android Market has a much lower entry barrier, and it is FLOODED with complete shit apps like this! I see page after page of stupid Family Guy soundboard apps, “sexy girls pics” apps, and other complete trash.
Khalid’s exit strategy is to be acquired by Palm, so he can get them from a handful of apps to 10,000 apps in a month.
Sounds like a plan.
Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap.
Look, as an App developer I frequently scan the App Store for stuff similar to the things I’m working on, and I can tell you that the number of reasonably decent apps within almost any category I care to name is quite overwhelming, and based on reviews they’re not just garbage. I’m guessing there’s at least 100 solid indie developers (with successful Mac OS X apps) and 500 serious indie developers (who at least know what they’re doing) and then there’s major players like EA. This quickly gives you around 5000 serious apps, and yes — the other 90% are (as you’d expect) crap.
The sad thing is that the same is true for the other smartphone software markets (Pre, Android, Blackberry, WinCE, etc.).
Don’t forget there are many apps that are also outdated which are written by all types of developers. Even solid developers have outdated apps.
Here’s an example list of outdated election apps
http://www.yappler.com/Search/Advanced.aspx?Search=election&SearchIn=2
and
http://www.yappler.com/Search/Advanced.aspx?Search=obama+mccain&SearchIn=2
Hopefully what you’ll be left with will be ‘quality’ apps. Even though few of the recent decisions taken by Apple can be considered as ‘questionable’, I think this specific one will actually benefit the App Store. I’m tired going through many ‘illogical’ apps before finding the ‘right’ app. Hopefully, now I’ll have to go through lesser crap than before ;)
I have filed for a lawsuit against Apple in USA and India. I do hope to win against these decadents and bring democracy to Apple App Store.
Also, I will be needing your support. Please do keep all discussions civil and you can reach me on twitter.
Regards,
Khalid Shaikh.
http://twitter.com/khalidshaikh
HAHAHA!!!! DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS!!!!!!!!!
This is not Khalid Shaikh speaking he is not going against Apple in USA or India
Stop acting like you want to be Khalid Hater
I have filed for a lawsuit against Apple in USA and India. I do hope to win against these decadents and bring democracy to Apple App Store.
Also, I will be needing your support. Please do keep all discussions civil and you can reach me on twitter.
Regards,
Khalid Shaikh.
http://twitter.com/khalidshaikh
go away. no one cares. I’m glad you stuff isn’t on the app store!
quit your crying…
You’re done, scumbag. Go back to poppies.
quantity of quality eh apple?
Hard to tell. The link to app shopper shows search results for “unit converter” and not the list of Khalid’s apps.
Here’s a full list of his apps http://www.yappler.com/Developer/98920/Khalid-Shaikh.aspx
Looks like the link is now fixed.
This is where I laugh whenever anyone brings up the whole, “We have more apps than the other guys!”
If you look at the collection of apps, you’ll see a basic puzzle-type game where you have to move blocks around a reassemble a picture. Of course, there’s a version where the picture is of Jessica Biel. There’s a version where the picture is of Katherine Heigl. There’s a version where the picture is of Marisa Miller. And if I looked a little longer, I’m sure I could find other ones. In other words, here’s 3 apps that are basically the same app with different content.
Another example of this is “Iceberg Reader.” This is an app that will display text from books. It’s a pretty nice app. But if you look up “Iceberg Reader” in yappler, you’ll find hundreds–maybe even thousands–of “apps” that just contain one book.
In some ways, this is Apple’s fault because that’s how the world worked, pre-3.0. You couldn’t buy an e-book reader and then buy books. You had to have a different app for each book–same app, different content.
bookstores should be closed down since they are all the same app and just different content
Apple has become more of a dictatorship.
So do i !
I think this is a good move on apple’s part. Have you seen the apps this guy was uploading on appstore? They were absolutely ridiculous. Rather there are many more developers uploading random $hit, which should be taken off the appstore.
Good work this time.
While I don’t disagree with you that his apps where total shit, and for one I’m glad they’re gone, Apple should’ve rejected them to begin with. This is just another example how messed up their approval process is.
Apple’s letter states that they received complaints. The implication is that he was stealing software and selling it as his own. It’s near to impossible to divide that during the approval process, unless it’s blatant theft.
As I understand it, he wasn’t stealing software per se. The software was his own. The problem was that he didn’t own the content.
I could write an app that downloads celebrity pictures from TMZ.com. The problem is that I don’t own those photos, TMZ does, and I don’t have the right to resell them in my own app.
Apple doesn’t even know if someone steals their own sample code. (some of it which is quite nice, IMO)
And to the general: App’s don’t have to be thousands of lines of code to do work and be useful. It simply has to accomplish a task that can be made easier for someone, or provide enjoyment, etc. That said, stealing code: he deserves it so badly!
I disagree. Khalid admitted he produces garbage. And it is well known he has no ownership to the content he repackages.
Its a win for Apple and the consumer. I don’t see the problem.
what so ever. If those applications were reviewed by apple team and approved then those were not garbage. Apple should review their decision and Khalid also comply with Apple’s requirements
apple has always been a dictatorship
It is comments like this, “apple has always been a dictatorship”, and the original comment that make discussions like this pointless.
If you don’t like them, ignore them.
I dislike a lot of stuff but find better things to do with my time than post comments about my dislike.
“I dislike a lot of stuff but find better things to do with my time than post comments about my dislike.”
You just did.
Actually no, I didn’t. But you help prove my point about how meaningless these discussions can be.
I bet you really feel like you caught me with that one don’t you?
Am I taking part in a meaningless discussion? Yup, sure am. Did I spend time posting about something I don’t like? No, not really.
But I’m guessing finer details don’t matter to you, you’re more about catching people and being witty.
Someone else… What the heck? This is a public discussion.
If you don’t agree with what is said, say so. Don’t go on a random rant about how meaningless the discussion is. Like you said yourself, “If you don’t like them, ignore them.”
So, you saying that, if someone rapes your daughter, you should ignore it, cos you dislike it, why bother, let your daughter be raped more.
America works with certain rules and laws, everyone has to abide by it, it does not matter if you a genius or a billionaire.
The rules must be same for everyone.
Clearly, Apple has been acting like a Third world dictator, where rules does not apply to certain people and they can get away with anything.
Well, the App Store belongs to them.
What the phuck? If the apps were approved, they should stay there. Wow, this blatant elitism for apple. They don’t want their app store to display apps from this guy anymore because it will make it look cheap?
Talk about the 10s of fart apps … this is ridiculous, i think this guy should take Apple to court. Adds another point of investigation for the FCC
Huh? What part of copyright infringement do you not understand? Why should an app that is blatantly ripping off someone else’s IP be allowed to remain? Apps should NOT stay there forever if they are breaking the law….
no they should be removed if they did violate IP rights. plus, in this case they should remove apps one-by-one, which they did not. why ban the developer?
Now this user can sell his apps to someone else who will be able to upload 1000 new apps to the store, and sell them until apple decides (or doesn’t) to ban them a year later. Rinse and repeat.
Are you kidding me tenthings? Read the letter Apple sent to this guy, it says: “The persistent nature of such complaints has led us to conclude that you are entering into the representations and warranties in the iDP Agreement in bad faith…” i.e. in plain English, he was breaking his contract with Apple. That’s why they “banned” him. Every registered Apple Developer has a contract with Apple Corp., and not doing business with Apple is the price you have to pay for breaking that contract.
It’s pretty straightforward, really. Apple should NOT have to take the time to enforce copyrights on an app-by-app basis. What they did is the best thing they could have done.
Reading the letter it sounded more like Apple has been trying to work with the developer to get him to clean up his act and this was the “last letter” so to speak. I’d like to know if the dev is willing to share “all” apple communication that he received.
If this is Apple’s first attempt, shame on them, but I think this is more likely to be a developer issue.
Speaking from firsthand experience, Khalid’s apps were garbage. I’m proud of Apple for taking his worthless apps off of the App Store. I would rather 1000 quality, useful apps in the App Store over 100,000 mixed apps that we, the users, have to try to sort through to find the “diamonds in the rough.”
So you’re one of his customers, ha? I bet you paid $5 for “top sexy ladies”!
I’d like to sell you some oxygen, Shawn!!
I am uncertain as to the legality, but if somebody finds an aggregation application application useful, why is that a problem? My opinion is that applications on the iPhone are an extension of the web in many ways.
Undeniably, this is ridiculous. Either approve applications or do not. Playing god is tiring.
Yes, Khalid.
The problem is that the people who publish stuff on the web have the right to do it. He was basically taking their stuff and using it in an iPhone app which he was making money from.
For example, one of his apps, “iBaby Blues”, will show a daily comic from the “Baby Blues” syndicated comic strip. You can go here, for example, and view today’s strip via Arcamax publishing.
Now, Arcamax publishing pays Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott–the creators of “Baby Blues”–to publish their comic strip. This is a good thing for Rick and Jerry. Arcamax places advertising on the web page so they, in theory, make money publishing it. Everybody is happy.
What Khalid did, in essence, is write an app that would download the comic from Arcamax web page and show it on the screen. He’s not paying Rick and Jerry for the right to do this. Arcamax doesn’t get any benefit. So he pays nothing for the content and gets $4.99 (well, $3.49) from people who want to see Baby Blues comics on their iPhone.
What part of this is hard to understand?
It might be a screwed up process, but you do agree to generally not violate IP rights.
Apple did the smart thing this time by eliminating all of his apps.
@tenthings – Apple would win, hands down. The letter in question, compared to those apps, show he violated an agreement. He should have read it.
I wonder how much money Apple made of someone else’s IP rights by taking 30% of the sales of these apps. They don’t seem to concerned about that.
If the apps are shite, they should refund the money of all that purchased them. Afterall, by approving these apps in the first place, they more-or-less endorsed them, no?
This is simply an exercise in the risk/reward calculation for participating in this type of controlled ecosystem. You get what you get.
I don’t care if he’s writing spam-tastic apps every 7 minutes or if he has put blood sweat and tears into a single, useful, quality application; it’s irrelevant.
Apple is the iPhone overlord. They will pull the rug out from under you without a moment’s notice.
If you based your entire business on this potential risk point, that’s your problem.
As an Apple App Store Developer, and a developer working on other apps for other device I’m really glad that Apple has taken this step. I also hope they take care of Brighthouse and any other companies that are spamming the App Store.
I agree they should have done this earlier before they let 900 apps through, but these apps need to be removed. If I paid $5 for my first app and it was garbage I wouldn’t necessarily return to the app store to buy more. That’s really bad for Apple, other developers, and consumers. I liken these apps to the ringtone/picture scam commercials they run on MTV all the time.
What is the big deal? it is staying right there that Apple contacted him several times about copyright problems… after that, they terminated him… OH WOW, a bank took over your hourse after constantly telling you to pay the mortgage HOW MEAN is that bank.
Well, either Khalid or Apple took down the apps that had copyright issues. Or at least the ones for which Khalid got caught. Not to say that there aren’t plenty of copyright issues with the remaining apps, but just that nobody complained about them.
This is the one good thing to come out of Apple’s control over the app store… the entire reason they are there, to keep this crap out.
This shows that Apple wants quantity and not quality in their App store so that they can tout to the world for selling their iphones.
Now when they have achieved their objective of creating a big hype and buzz about 50K applications on the store, they are now silently removing such apps. Normal public won’t know much about this. People tend to remember only the 50k number, and not these tactics played by Apple.
I am sure that this kind of App review process is not random, or mistake, but its purposely done and well thought process to market their app store.
The action Apple took increases my respect for them. One of their proudest achievements is the number of apps in the App Store–they report it in keynotes, earnings reports, and press releases. The number of apps in the App Store is followed and monitored by several groups. It is the envy of their competitors and like other posters have said, the Palm, Blackberry, Verizon, and Microsoft are likely eager for crappy apps just to boost their numbers and to diminish Apple’s lead.
Yet Apple was willing to “shoot themselves in the foot” and reduce their total store offerings by several percent for standing up for the principles of intellectual property and rule of law.
Clearly this developer was carpet bombing the Appstore in hopes of making a profit, which I am sure they were making. 5 applications a day of very poor quality ? Are you kidding me ? Everyone is upset at Apple about this !?
Give me a break. Apple made the right call here.
which only took them months and probably thousands of dollars in their 30% cut
Yes, and we all know how much money “thousands of dollars” is to a company. More likely they wanted the 900+ apps to reach the magical 50 000 apps
why is this an issue? The apps were crap and clearly an exploit of the system. They were pulled out of the appstore with a reason. I dont want SEO spam in the AppStore or made for adsense equivalents.
I agree there has to be some kind of consistency in the approval process… but hey it looks like it has become cool to bash Apple whatever they do in the last few days. Lay off for a while and see how it goes.
“He has mastered SEO on the App Store..”
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on AppStore? FAIL!
Interestingly, it works. If you think about it, search is one of the most likely ways that users can find apps on specific subjects. So, treating your App descriptions as a way to SEO is actually effective in driving “traffic” to your app description.
It’s bad enough, actually, that Apple is currently in the middle of banning that. Description search is out, being replaced with keywords.
Yes. SEO for the appstore.
There is a search in the appstore that can be optimized based on Title, keywords and description.
You know what’s worse than coming off as an arrogant, immature, armchair commentator yelling “FAIL”?
Coming off as an clueless, arrogant, immature armchair commentator.
I would reply in turn but I tend to agree with Anil on this one (http://dashes.com/anil/2009/06/the-end-of-fail.html)
I like “craplets”
You can buy craplets in the Crapple Store.
Get it? He said Crapple instead of Apple ’cause crapple sounds like crap. That is funny.
TeeHee.
Any they say there is no witty repartee on the internet.
Yes, everyone gets it, idiot.
His attempt to sell Android applications has met with even more anger and contempt.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=503997
this one is burning :P … I got an Android, never paid for any application, glad that will never get one of his applications…
Hell yeah… We need a way to mark devs as spam ourselves since the market is supposed to be open.
This will all blow up on Apple’s face eventually. When you’re at the top there’s nowhere to go but down. Knowing Khalid, he’ll definitely bring this to court.
When you’re at the top you shed yourself of extra weight and keep flying higher.
Portia,
“Knowing Khalid”? may I suggest that you re-evaluate your process for choosing friends….
No kidding, this guy sounds like a real piece of trash.
Good old Facebook lists all of Khalid’s friends on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/khalid.shaikh
including Portia:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Portia-Vicente/725786160
OMG, Khalid is gonna sue Apple?!? Their army of lawyers must be shaking in their boots.
Got confess that I understand Apples point of view for creating a better quality of service for it’s costumers and even knowing that this action might generate some bad feelings about Apple Store, it will surely generate better apps and a smaller search for the app that the user is really looking for.
Khalid Shaikh is a scoundrel — bad for Apple, bad for developers, bad for customers, and bad for his employees. Apple did the right thing.
As anyone knows who has ever designed anything, design is a continuous process of iteration. The same applies to the AppStore.
Apple took a great first stab. But, they’ve got improvements to make. Let’s hope they make them. Let’s hope they play God. And let’s hope they do it fast.
This guy released hundreds of apps that use copyrighted images. He’s selling content that he doesn’t own or license. He was warned by the owners and Apple before they took actions and he clearly ignored their request.
It’s Apple’s responsibility to remove the content if they get enough complaints and the author is not responding. Just like if a hosting company was receiving the same such complaints and the company didn’t remove the content. Also, Apple could be pulled into a lawsuit should any of these companies sue.
Apple did the right thing is revoking this person’s license and removing their apps from the store, it was a clear case of abuse and copyright infringement.
While I have not downloaded any of his apps, as I understand it, his apps were nothing more than an over-glorified web browser. Assuming that is true, why is it okay for Safari to display these copyrighted works, but not his apps?
His business certainly does seem a little sketchy, but on the topic of copyright infringement, there seems to be a double standard at play here.
Perhaps because Safari isn’t trying to pass the works off as its own (hence the copyright infringement) or making a profit off the content of the site.
Dont use the “p” word… People HATE that word profit these days. You dont want to tell people you’re actually in business to make more money than you spend, do you?
There’s no problem with has apps displaying the copyrighted works, as long as he has licensed the right to do so.
For example, I can go to http://www.arcamax.com/babyblues and see today’s Baby Blues comic. Arcamax sells advertising on that page and they make money, some of which they use to pay Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, the creators of Baby Blues.
This guy was doing the equivalent of downloading that page, stripping out everything but the comic, and displaying just that. Arcamax didn’t make any money. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott didn’t make any money. The only one who made money was Khalid Sheikh, who made $3.49 from someone who bought the application so that they could see the Baby Blues comic every day.
There’s no double standard. If he paid Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for the right to display Baby Blues every day and if he paid for the hosting of the comic, there would be no problem. However, according to the complaints, he didn’t.
And Apple is not charging $4.99 to look at the copyrighted images
He sounds pretty much like the Sigmund Solares* of the iPhone App Store world.
* http://www.rootfest.net/squatters.html
Check this out: http://www.perfectacumen.com/welcome
Woah… That makes $210 for 300 hours of work a month, or 70 cents an hour. Is life that cheap in Islamabad?
They’ve been lucky up til now. A nation that protects Osama will get the wrath of Obama. Its coming, Pak-ee-ston!
And all the books from APress and other publishers available for free with the dude’s own password… LOL! Bah, it’s not like anyone paid 70 cents an hour could afford to buy them anyway, so maybe the publishers can just consider this as a donation for education (without the tax benefits).
I want to create an intelligent comment on this article but all I can think of is “Wow Apple, your just screwing your self every time you make a decision.”
So then you admit you’re incapable of creating an intelligent comment?
searching khalid shaikh in google says he is in gitmo, or this is a different guy?
Yeah, I didn’t get to that in this article – but there is a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a terrorist, and people often confuse the two. Khalid mentioned when I talked to him that it was a huge issue after 9/11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_Sheikh_Mohammed
It’s eerily fitting. Most people probably don’t realize the extent to which guys like this terrorize the system — they slow everything down, make everything harder to find, and kill good reputations.
Khalid is actually the co-founder of file sharing site YouSendIt.
He left YouSendIt suddenly in 2006.
Search for “khalid shaikh scumbag” you’ll find the right one.
Or just change the TV Ad to: “yep, there is an App for crap”.
Seriously though; is this a surprise to anyone? Did anyone really think there are over 50k “useful” applications on the iPhone? Or that Apple wouldn’t eventually get rid of the ones they don’t like?
“We develop iPhone applications exclusively using Objective-C and the
Mac. We have a strict work schedule of 12 hours a day 6 days a week.”
…with such flexible work hours, you’d be stupid not to apply for a job.
Just that line should tell you that the company is a crap sweat-shop ’software’ company. I can’t agree with apple on this one, even though I think apps like that need to be not only taken down from the appStore, but also have the source code erased from existence.
Scumbags like Shaikh need to be dealt with, otherwise we will be faced with a new problem(similar to the email spam we get now) except with all the crappy apps on the market.
I mean, for god’s sake it takes less time to develop one of his apps then it takes a Comp. Sci student in college to write something simple as a tic-tac-toe game.
Hi,
khaild and sarosh(wife of khalid), this is what you want…always threatening their employees and not giving them relaxing time with 6 days a week and 12 hours a day..not only day but they want their employees to work around the clock..and always running behind the $’s..if someone asked for brake then they said, we dont need you..you can leave..and giving the examples of Microsoft that engineers work for 36 hours without a sleep..and they warn their employees by telling them the unemployment rate..
in the end “well done”, Apple…
Facebook has thousands of crap apps
Yep it does, but they don’t cost $5 each.
This guy is a scourge in the Android app store too.
Apple have been pretty terrible recently but, even being an Android owner and zealot, this is one thing that Apple has done that I can agree with.
The Android app store still needs major improvements, and one of them should be a “Filter out Khalid Shaikh’s” applications
5 * 250 ~= 943?? Did I miss something in the article or is my math just really bad?
12 hours a day for 6 days a week… wow!
(talking bout the automated email reply)
It’s their store, they can decide what to stock, just as they do in their retail stores. And if someone publishes junk and fails to abide by a written agreement then zap the sucker.
This is what the app store review process is designed to do. About time Apple go around to banning this guy. KS, Brighthouse, and a bunch of others are no different than the lowly e-mail spammers of the world.
Three cheers for Apple.
Good for Apple. I would expect more rejections in the future. Their catalog has turned to crap with sheer volume.
Wait, were they auto-sending a PDF of the copywritten “iPhone in Action” book published by Manning?
What happens to the people who already bought the apps and are somewhat enjoying them and now apple is taking those apps away from them?
Any refunds?
Doubt it. But Khalid repeatedly told me that he has given refunds to those who complained about his apps to him. Of course, that doesn’t include refunds to those who tried to find him but couldn’t.
> But Khalid repeatedly told me that he has given refunds
how? apple handles all the transactions – as a developer you have no control over issueing refunds for software. i doubt he would be paying them back directly over paypal..
Gagan Biyani – you on his payrole?
// Aaron Ardiri
We have given refunds to people over paypal.
Indeed, you have no evidence that an individual has purchased your application. My line is sales are through Apple, you want a refund you have to go through them as all I see is units sold, price, and country.
Apple are removing the apps from the App Store, not from phones. Those who already downloaded the apps will keep them.
Guy deserved to have his permissions revoked.
Steve Jobs gets a new liver. Khalid Shaikh’s apps get pulled from the App Store. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
Not only is the liver amazingly efficient, it can type at 75 wpm. It’s pretty much been running the show lately.
No it’s not, both are scumbags.
As someone that just barely paid the 99.00 developer fee, I’ve been pretty disheartened by recent events with GV. When I first read the title of this story I was even more worried that I had just pissed away 99.00. However, after reading the full story, it sounds like Mr. Shaikh had received multiple warnings from Apple, yet never headed them. So for this story, I say “good ridance.”
Like everyone else, I’m tired of the crap in the App Store. So eliminating a developer that was obviously ripping off other peoples content and packaging it into crap apps that end up spamming the store, I say good. Finally, an app (or set of apps) that SHOULD have been removed.
Funny :)
Pakistani company pretending to be in India.
I think its the other way around. an Indian pretending to be a Pakistani company…. that is ultra funny.
like someone else said his blog says he’s canadian + pakistani:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://shakenet.com
revealing details there about his ethics if you can make your way through it all.
Internet Explorer only for the above link it turns out, you remember that browser don’t you?
I’m happy with Apple’s decision. It was the right thing to do.
The issue isn’t that this vendor needed to be booted from the store , the issue is that this kind of action from Apple, with the background of news about other highly functional apps form other vendors being tossed, just creates unpredictability for developers about very little recourse they have on actions that Apple could unilaterally take even after approving their applications.
It only create unpredictability for developers trying to game the system. And that’s exactly how it should be.
Quite the contrary if you’re actually trying to develop something of value. There will be less clogging the system, meaning faster and steadier approvals. Discovery will be easier, meaning more sales. And customers will be happier, meaning a better future.
Lame. This guy was violating copyright law. He should have been booted.
The simple answer then is don’t write crap apps. Write highly functional good working apps which have a use. If you notice, every app in their commercials has a function, and is innovative in some way. The apps this guy and his team were putting out were absolute garbage, and have given developers in other categories less traveled the idea to do the same thing… It is turning the App Store into an absolute mess.
Read the license, it says you must have permission to use any content or imagery in your application. Those of us who follow the rules are very frustrated with those people who don’t and have no apparent action taken against them.
I would like to congratulate Apple on doing this one RIGHT.
There is an app that I know of which uses the logo of a government agency — and the developer does not have permission! I want to know why that one hasn’t been brought down.
Finally, the people who are approving apps may not generally realize that a certain developer has put so many apps into the store. I am sure there is more than one person reviewing apps, and if the apps are spread widely, the issue at hand could be very easy to miss. So with that, I can see how the inconsistencies would arise. This is also just the first year of the App Store. It is still new, and I’m sure that not everyone in the app store review process has been there the whole year. Newbies make mistakes, and they have been staffing up a lot (partially because of jokers like the one mentioned here)… Is it an excuse for Apple? Well no, but it could be a logical reason.
Everyone is so happy to bash Apple at every turn because of decisions they are making… I want to know, of the complainers, who could have done a better job creating the wonder that is the App Store today?
No doubt the App store makes it so easy a caveman could install an app, but thats besides the point. Infact some of your points actually prove the whole ‘inconsistency’ point even better such as:
‘There is an app that I know of which uses the logo of a government agency — and the developer does not have permission! I want to know why that one hasn’t been brought down…’
I’d like to know why too. But guess what? You never really will know until it is simply taken down from the App store.
I’ll agree that the apps in question are useless garbage, but they should have been stopped in the first place before letting hundreds of them in. It makes the point that ‘his apps are crap, I’m glad Apple got rid of them’ pretty much moot. For the developers of useful apps, it probably drives them nuts knowing that they may spend an eternity to develop it only to have it possibly rejected (or allowed temporarily).
Peter, it makes it clear in the article that Apple warned them about the complaints numerous times before they took more drastic action. I think Apple should be commended for giving them the benefit of the doubt, and fair warning.
Kudos to Apple for doing this. The underhanded Apple-hate weaved throughout the article is pretty pathetic, though. Apple is slowly starting to listen to App Store criticisms and implement changes, and now that they are, you try to tear them a new one for it – while sorta/kinda-agreeing-but-not-quite-because-Apple-is-the-”big guy”-and-we-must-always-hate-the-”big guy”. WTF.
Now that they are at it, they should just get rid of the other spammers as well…! Companies like
Molinker
Plaveb
PTAJ Marketing
Splaysoft
and several others…! It’s become almost impossible to find decent apps because those lazy greedy *bleep*ers keep spamming the App Store with all kinds of dumb worthless crap and/or variations of the same app over and over again…!
I had concerns about some of the rejections that we heard of over the last few months — but this time I’m all for it…!
I thought that guy was at Guantanamo?
Yup, He was operating from Guantanamo. After Apple revoked his license he is shifted in US and now he is fighting the case of Apple terrorism.
Interesting point about quality vs. quantity of apps in the App Store. Khalid (and people like him) are clearly helping the App Store hit ‘the numbers’ – but it also begs the question – what percentage of apps in the App Store are bogus?
Good thing what happened to this guy !
Well done apple !
Now, what about the users (your customers) that paid 5$ to get those apps ? No support anymore. No updates any longuer ?
What about the copyright infrigments ?
Do you, Apple, consider this guy a `stealer`. What about your 33% margin ? Could you be considered as helping that guy making money robbing YOUR customers ?
It is really a bad thing that Apple have a full control over the users. When you buy an iPhone, nobody tells you you you will have to give Apple you credit card number just to place phone calls. Apple want to have a full control on what you can do with your phone. Great they want to be sure there customers can use their phone with a good experience.
Bad Apple has the right to decide who can do what with their phones.
There should be a way for every customer to decide if they want to stick to Apple only selected applications, or to be free …
Do you really think a company making five useless apps every day for months is interested in supporting their users? I suspect they don’t update the apps ever – once they’re done, they’re uploaded and forgotten about.
They’re thieves because they’re taking copyrighted material that’s not theirs. Apple’s 33% margin is hardly the same.
The concept of such a huge market in a single walled garden app store is still extremely new. Clearly Apple has some work to do deciding what it envisions this concept to be and they need to didicate appropriate resources to realize that vision. Right now it seems incredibly halfassed
Personally, I think it’s a good step by Apple. The guy was conning the system and they did warn him about it in advance.
Good work Apple.
TC’s arrogance is over the top. Comments like “testing waters banning 900 apps” just because Arrington is unhappy about Google Voice and hates Apple.
It is Apple duty to get rid of litter in the App Store as they are so overwhelmed. This Khalid Shaeikh character from the Pakistan the epicenter of global terror needs to be thrown out as this sort of crap makes it hard for honest developers. He ought to be booked for fraud and racketeering.
Regarding Google Voice they are another arrogant mafia. They viciously violate user privacy ever day and suffer from God complex.
Time to kick them out along as every app of theirs is nothing but a NSA computer building your profile so they know you better than your mother or your wife.
That’s a stunning amount of paranoia in a single post. I tip my tinfoil hat to you, good sir.
LOL
He actually had maybe one good point but it got scrambled in communication. Or maybe that was the intention….
Only the paranoid survive, Andy says…
This world isn’t B&W. Google can be good. But Google can also be evil. Don’t fool yourself.
Are you mixing business with politics? Typical disgruntled Indian i Presume?