Mobile pains: When apps go bad

by Aloysius Low | 9 February 2012 6:56pm SGT

The Android Market on a smartphone. (Credit: Jacqueline Seng/CNET Asia)

Smartphones may probably be the greatest thing this century (and also more fun than a barrel of monkeys) but it's the apps that help drive the experience. Remember when Apple was boasting about its app numbers while Android was still lagging far behind?

Do you also recall how some felt Microsoft's Windows Phone OS would take awhile to succeed because of the lack of apps? Sure, it's a valid point, but now that mobile platforms have a substantial amount of apps, perhaps it's time to look at another metric, one that's much harder to quantify: Quality.

Apple and Microsoft both try to maintain a reasonable amount of quality in their app stores by curating submitted apps. So while duds do slip through, both companies are usually quick to react by pulling said apps from the respective stores.

Strict control over the apps that appear in its store can be a good thing.

Google's Android Market, however, is pretty much a free-wheeling wild wild west scenario when it comes to apps. Google doesn't actually go through every individual app (which is also why the Android Market has managed to catch up with the Apple App Store in numbers), but this is also why there are lots of terrible copycat and ~~>malware~~aggressive ad apps in the store.

In fact, just over the weekend, an app masquerading as a port of the popular iOS Instagram app appeared, fooling plenty (including me). The app did nothing but install shortcuts on the homescreen, while also telling you to "give them a 5 star rating in the Android Market" to access the Instagram filters when you tried to take a photo.

"Fake-stagram". (Credit: dk.sg)

Obviously, the fake app was leveraging on the fact that Instagram had (for the last two years) announced that an Android version would be available soon. As the Android Market isn't policed by Google zealously like Apple, expect to see plenty more of such fake apps. Users can report fake apps to get them taken down, but should users be made to shoulder this responsibility?

On the other hand, even with strict guidelines, Apple's App Store can still sometime throw you a curveball. Case in point, my experience with local cinema chain Cathay Cineplexes and its iCathay app. The app lets you check movie listings and make a booking through the app, but the process was extremely glitchy (probably due to the payment server timing out) when I was trying to make my booking.

Not only did the app tell me my order didn't go through (when it did), I had to find out when trying to get a refund that the S$1.00 booking fee was not refundable. And Cathay's service manager was insistent that the booking fee was none of the company's business.

While it's just a dollar, it's the principle of the matter that irks me. I wasn't the only victim, as a quick check of the app's reviews on the App Store shows (and no points for guessing which is mine). Cathay did not respond to my request for a comment.

A sample comment from the reviews.

However, I did get in touch with Golden Village Multiplex, Cathay's competitor, who informed me that its iGV app avoided this issue by making the app a reservation-only system. This looks like it will change, as the spokesperson told me that the company is "working on the enhancement of (the) iGV app" with the ability to do "a confirmation booking with payment gateway". This could mean a similar situation happening, unless the cinema operator is confident of its payment process.

Generally speaking though, my experience so far with both app stores in general has been a pleasant affair. However, as much as it goes against Google's "open" policy, the company needs to do a lot more work to ensure that malicious apps are kept out of the Android Market. It's not the first time imitation apps have appeared, and it won't be the last.

About the author

Aloysius Low is a Senior Writer at CNET Asia and covers all things mobile. A former World of Warcraft addict, he now dabbles in social media to stave off the withdrawal symptoms. As a lover of all things furry, he's also the unfortunate slave/minion of two adorable cats.

Aloysius Low, Senior Writer

Mobile pains: When apps go bad

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