Where is Expando?

[nattylux]

Hi all,

Just noticed that Expando is no longer on the top 100 paid games list, although I'm pretty sure it was in the top 10 yesterday. It's still very high on the Puzzle category, however - higher than Monkey Ball. Anybody know what's going on here? Has Apple fixed the free-to-paid trick? Has anybody seen other examples of this?
_________________________________________
http://www.imangi.com

 

[yoman]

yes

omm nomm (snake) ?

Crazy disco

and others..

It appears that Apple may reset its download count when it switches from free to paid.

 

[Rojo]

I definitely think the "free-to-paid" trick of getting a high placement on the "Top Paid Apps" list is unfair, and Apple should be doing something about that. However, I don't know if resetting completely to "0" is exactly the best answer, especially for EVERY app that does this.

What about apps (like SimplifyMedia, for example) which proclaim from the get-go that their app will be free only for a limited time? Does that mean as soon as they're not free, they disappear completely from any top list? That doesn't quite seem fair either. Not all developers who offer things free at first, and then paid later, are trying to "cheat" the system.

Unfortunately I don't really have the best answer as to how to solve this problem. Maybe instead of resetting completely to zero, it's set to only half? Or perhaps some specified percentage -- calculated by how well certain free apps do compared to similar paid versions?? I don't...that might be too complicated. I just hope this doesn't backfire on consumers, and it makes developers less likely to offer their apps for free for a limited time...