New App: LomoLomo & LomoLomo Pro, approach with caution!!

WARNING: Could this be a new scam from an old friend?

For those of you who have been following this blog long enough, you will remember the Molinker scam just over a year ago, where Chinese developer Molinker was expelled from the App Store, taking with it over 1,000 apps, and all for posting shill 5 star reviews to make people buy their apps.

Not long after their expulsion, they were allowed back in to the App Store, but this time trading as Shining Works, producing camera skinning apps. I can't remember how many apps they produced under this new name, but they all had the same functionality, but just looked different, and whilst there are 5 apps currently listed in the App Store they have not been updated since April 2010, and will undoubtedly disappear over the coming months.

A few days ago I got an email from Patrick Timney [who some of you will know/remember] with details on 2 new apps, LomoLomo [price: free] and LomoLomo Pro [price: £0.59/$0.99/€0.79] from a new developer called MoMoTravel Consulting Inc.  Now who do you think MoMoTravel Consulting Inc. is?  Yes you guessed it, it's the same person [see domain registrant details below] who is behind Shining Works, who was previously one of the people behind Molinker!!

In the interest of readers of the iPhoneography blog I decided to check out these apps, and found that neither offered anything new, they're buggy, produce average looking results, and they regularly crash, and are similar in fictionality to Instagram and Phototreats, but with one big difference, they cost big bucks, $6* for LomoLomo Pro and $10* for LomoLomo [free version].

Now I'm not going to review either of these apps, if you want to read a review, then check out Marty Yawnick's review over at Life in LoFi, but what I am going to do, is warn you, the readers of my blog, that if you do decided to buy into these apps, then buy into them with caution, as there is no guarantee, as with so many apps, that these will stand the test of time.

*Total price if you buy all the in-app purchase options.

My virtual meeting with Mark Cui, Marketing Director of Shiningworks

A couple of weeks ago I had a Skype call with Mark Cui, Marketing Director of Shiningworks (new owners of Molinker), but what did we discuss? and what was the outcome of that Skype call? Well read on and find out.

On Saturday the 9th January I had a Skype conferance call with Mark Cui, Marketing Director of Shiningworks.  This Skype call followed emails between the two of us regarding the take over of the Molinker business by Shiningworks and how they planned to turn this business around.

The call started off with Mark showing me around the companies office somewhere in China via his webcam, and I have to say the office looked pretty impressive with a app developement area, an area for R&D, and a meeting room for what he described as 'their sales and marketing people'; all very impressive for an iPhone app development company, although I do suspect this office contained more than one development company, all using the same shared resources, like developers.

We then went on to discuss Molinker, where I made it 100% clear what I thought of them and their tactics, and made clear that if Shiningworks continued with these tactic's, then I would continue to report it hear on the iPhoneography blog.  Mark agreed with my views, and basically blamed the previous management team for using these tactics to raise Molinker's profile in the AppStore and increase its market value, making it more attractive to Shiningworks; although if I am completely honest, I found this hard to believe, after all who would want to take over a company with such bad press and poor quality apps.

From here we went on to discussed the future of Shiningworks, and the plans they had for future apps.  Essentially they believe there is a market for skinning the iPhone camera app, and adding editing features to those apps, and this is evident in their current crop of photo apps.  Again to be honest, whilst some people may like to skin their iPhone camera, this is not for me, and do we really need 3 or more different styles from the same developer?

Above: The G300-Hypergee skinning appAbove: The G400-Vogue skinning appAbove: The G700-1st Soft Camera skinning appAnyway from here we discussed the bad press this group of companies (Shiningworks and Molinker) had recieved as a result of the Molinker scam and their expulsion from the AppStore and the removal of over 1,000 apps.  They asked for, and I offered up the following suggestions and demands to help improve their press and to prove they really mean to mend their ways.

First the demands:

1. Remove all bogus reviews from the AppStore.
2. Promise to put an end to this method of promoting their apps.

Now the suggestions:

1. Make at least 20 - 30 promo codes available to give away via the blog and not to scam reviewers.
2. Make available all their apps for FREE for a limited time, so that real users can try and review/comment on their apps.
3. Release all their apps with full res support.

During this part of the discussion Mark kept saying he would have to discuss my suggestions with the board, which sadly left me feeling this is the same company (Molinker) operating under a new name and possibly with a new front man.

So, 2 weeks on and what have Shiningworks delivered?

Well I have not looked at the US AppStore to verify if my 2 demands have been met, but I am sure many of you will be able to provide feedback on these 2 things.  As for the suggestions, there has been no word on the promo codes and no sign of the apps being made avaibale for free, but they have updated their camera skinning apps to support full res, so whilst it's good to see full res, on the whole I am unimpressed with their actions, which won't come as any real surprise to many of you.

What I find really frustrating about this company and the whole situation, is they do have some talented developers, who could produce some realy first class apps that many of us would use, and that would not need any scam reviews to make people buy them, however for me they are still shackled to Molinker, and it is this and the failure to deliver on my suggestions that will keep me away from their apps for the time being.

I was asked by Mark Cui to review their apps, something I am not prepared to do until they fulfill my suggestions, however I have tried 2 of their camera skinning apps, and have produced the following screen-cast (see below) of their Shiningworks G700-1st Soft Camera app to give you an idea of how it looks and feels.

Having played with 2 of their camera skinning apps, all I can only say is "they are not for me, but that's not to say, they're not for you".

Shiningworks, new start or damage limitation?

A few days ago I received the following email from Shiningworks Marketing Director, Mark Cui.

"Hi Glyn,

I am Mark Cui, Marketing Director of Shiningworks. 

Shiningworks is a startup company with management team in US and China.  We have been merging a series of companies in app development field in Asia, including Molinker, recently. 

We are taking over Molinker’s app products on Apple App Store and its photo processing technology from the company behind it, Asmartvision, who decided to switch their business focus away from iphone platform.

Shiningworks believes the future of mobile internet and mobile app, we will do our best to develop better products, and will be do our best to contribute on building a healthy developer community. 

The take-over process is going on and will be finished this week, we will keep public informed. 

Best Regards,

Mark Cui

Marketing Director, Shiningworks"

I replied to Mark asking him if it was OK to publish his email, and he replied with the following email, saying yes.

"Hi Glyn,

Thank you for your quick response.  It would be a great help if you could make it public.

We are working hard on team building, product roadmap planning, as well as product reviewing.  We believe we could present much more attractive apps for app users in the coming new year,  and we are determined to do our best to turn Shiningworks be a strong brand in mobile app market.

Happy New Year!

Mark Cui

Marketing Director, Shiningworks"

Now on the face of it, it would appear that Shinningworks [Molinker] are trying to mend its ways by being taken over by Shiningworks, but as has already been pointed out by Patrick and other readers, Shiningworks apps has already been spotted with what appear to be bogus reviews and ratings.

So is this a new start or damage limitation by Shiningworks? At the moment I am sat on the fence waiting to see just what Shiningworks will do next with the Molinker merger and their apps, and I will be watching their app reviews and ratings, so if you see anything that looks suspicious from this developer, then please let me know, and we will investigate.

WARNING - made in China: Molinker morphs in to ShiningWorks to scam again

*** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING ***

Following the app review and ratings scam that was uncovered by Patrick Timney [a.k.a. SCW] and exposed by me [Glyn Evans] here on the iPhoneography blog, comes another warning from the AppStore whistleblowers.

As you probably all now by know, Patrick is very passionate about his photo apps, checking just about every photo app released, either by buying the app or as a beta tester, so it will come as no surprise to you that he smelt a rat whilst checking out a new photo app called "R & B" from as new developer called "ShiningWorks". Patrick decided to check out the developers website and was amazed at what he found. First off the website appeared incomplete, which in itself is not uncommon, as a lot of new apps have incomplete or even no supporting website what so ever.  No, it was the website site header itself that set the alarm bells ringing, as it clearly and blatantly said "molinker" "LINK LIFE THROUGH MOBILE", which If you look closely, you will notice they are planning to release travel apps "City Travel Guide" and "Tourist Attractions Guide"...

...and a quick look at the website footer revealed "© Copyright 2009 - Molinker - All rights Reserved" [editor: "how stupid do these developers think we are?"].

So Patrick donned his dear stalker and headed off to in to the AppStore and internet to see what he could fined, and here is his findings.

In the AppStore

At time of writing this post, ShiningWorks [a.k.a. Molinker] had 23 apps that dated back to October 2009, ranging from firework apps!!! to what looks to be some nice photo apps [editor: we've heard this before, haven't we?]. Apart from the photo app "R & B", none of the other apps looked like anything special, but it came as no surprise when Patrick discovered a 5 star review for one of the £0.59/$0.99 firework apps, possibly made by the developer himself [MarkItunes].

Who is ShiningWorks?

To back up his suspicions, Patrick looked up the domain registrants information, and you guessed it, the registrant of ShiningWorks website go2camera.com is Mark Ma, who just by coincidence is the same registrant of molinkerinc.com [see registrant details below]

ShiningWorks website go2camera.com registration details:

Domain Name ..................... go2camera.com
Name Server ..................... dns17.hichina.com
                                  dns18.hichina.com
Registrant ID ................... hc245252355-cn
Registrant Name ................. Mark Ma
Registrant Organization ......... aSmartVision
Registrant Address .............. ShenZhen NanHaiRoad No.27, BHVI sub-Building, Room 201
Registrant City ................. shenzhen
Registrant Province/State ....... guangzhou
Registrant Postal Code .......... 518067
Registrant Country Code ......... CN

Expiration Date ................. 2010-12-09 12:30:01

Information Updated: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:27:19 UTC

This and more information about this domain and its registrant can be found here.

Molinkerinc website molinkerinc.com registration details:

Domain Name ..................... molinkerinc.com
Name Server ..................... dns25.hichina.com
                                  dns26.hichina.com
Registrant ID ................... hc876693113-cn
Registrant Name ................. Mark Ma
Registrant Organization ......... aSmartVision
Registrant Address .............. ShenZhen NanHaiRoad No.27, BHVI sub-Building, Room 201
Registrant City ................. Shenzhen
Registrant Province/State ....... Guangdong
Registrant Postal Code .......... 518067
Registrant Country Code ......... CN

Expiration Date ................. 2010-09-12 04:01:12

Information Updated: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:32:32 UTC

This and more information about this domain and its registrant can be found here.

As you can see from the information above, the evidence is clear, and Molinker have wangled their way back in to the AppStore and are poised to take your money with their new range of apps.

Apple and this new developer

I have emailed Phil Schiller with all the information that Patrick Timney has provided me, but at time of writing this post there has been no comment from Apple, which is a shame, but with Molinker back in the AppStore, the question is, "what are Apple going to do about it?"

Note: We had planned to hold off on this post until this reborn developer had started scamming the reviews and ratings again, but in the interests of everyone decided to bring this post forward to protect you the consumer from this known scamming developer.

Click here to download screenshots of the information collated by Patrick Timney

How the AppStore came to be 1 developer down and over 1,000 apps lighter

Just over a week ago I posted news that app developer Molinker had been banished from the AppStore and all their apps (over 1,000 of them) had also been removed.  It didn't take long before this news was buzzing all over the internet, and whilst there was some accurate reporting of the events that lead to this happening, there was a lot of inaccurate reporting, so in my final post on the Molinker scam, I wanted to clarify the people involved and the roles they played in the downfall of this prolific app developer.

It all started back on the 28th of November following an email from Patrick Timney (a.k.a. SCW), one of the iPhoneography blog regular readers and contributers, as well as a friend, where Patrick had uncovered what he believed was evidence of a reviews and ratings scam taking place in the US AppStore. The information supplied by Patrick was so overwhelming that I passed on Phil Schiller's email address to Patrick so he could email his findings to Apple to investigate.  To back up Patrick's email I also forward his original email and details of the scam to Phil Schiller and Phil Shoemaker to ensure the details reached the right people.  I quickly got a reply back from Phil Schiller confirming he had already received Patrick's email and that Apple would be investigating these allegations, and so my first post on this possible review and ratings scam went up on the blog.

Fast forward to Saturday the 5th of December, and a quick check of the US AppStore by Patrick revealed that ColorMagic (one of Molinker's apps) was still on the front page as one of the 'Staff Favourites', and OOF (another one of Molinker's apps) was still listed in the top 20 photography apps section.

A day later on Sunday the 6th December (just over 1 week after my initial post and our emails to Phil Schiller) I got notification from another app developer that they had noticed that all of Molinker's apps (over 1,000 of them) were no longer listed in the AppStore, so I pinged Phil Schiller another email, and he replied confirming "this developer's apps have been removed from the App Store".

Upon confirmation from Phil Schiller that this developer and its apps had been removed from the AppStore, I posted the following article "Breaking News: Molinker expelled from the AppStore". The very same day this news got picked up by appfreak who posted "The AppStore ratings scam. How the commitment of the app community kicked out developer" on their blog.

The very next day appfreak posted an email response (see below) they had managed to get from developer Molinker, who said "we do not know what's wrong so far".

"Hi Julen,

Thank you for your message about it.

We got email from Apple yesterday [Sunday 6th] which told us our contract is changed to pending status.

Actually, we do not know what's wrong so far. We had contacted Apple for such sudden changes, hope we can get quick response and actions from Apple. 

Thank you for your support!

best regards,
Ma Kun"

A few other blogs picked up this story, and one of them, iPhone Savior, interviewed Patrick for their blog, which can be read here.

Following appfreak's and iPhone Savior's posts it wasn't long, just a day later, on Tuesday 8th December, that the big news and tech sites caught wind of the scam and the heavy blow Apple had given this developer, and so this news appeared on sites like CNN in the USA and Sky News here in the UK. Now whilst some of these sites researched and reported on this story correctly, I was surprised just how many had ripped the story from sites that had inaccurately reported the events, those involved and the roles they played, so below I have listed they dates, those involved and the roles they played in the downfall of Molinker.

• Friday 27th November and I get an email from Patrick Timney (a.k.a. SCW) asking for my help in getting details of a scam in the US AppStore publicized.
• Friday 27th November and Patrick and myself email Phil Schiller about this possible scam.
• Saturday 28th November and I post news on the iPhoneograohy blog about this possible scam.
• Saturday 5th December and Patrick checks the US AppStore to see if any of the Molinker apps are still listed, and they are.
• Sunday 6th December and I get tipped off that Molinker are no more, and that all their apps have been removed from the AppStore.
• Sunday 6th December and both myself and Patrick email Phil Schiller for clarification on the app removals and we both get confirmation that Molinker have been removed from the AppStore.
• Sunday 6th December and I post news of Molinker's expulsion.
• Sunday 6th December and appfreak pick up on the story and post news of Molinker's expulsion on their blog.
• Monday 7th December and appfreak post the reply they got from Molinker regarding this situation.
• Monday 7th December and iPhone Savior pick up the story, posting an interview with Patrick Timney.
• Tuesday 8th December and this story goes global appearing on news and tech site everywhere.

During this past week I have seen a lot of comments on this and other blogs expressing how crap the Molinker were, and how people had been deceived and ripped off by these fake reviews, and people have been asking if there is any way they can get their money back, well there may just be a way. Over on a blog called App Rejections, they covered this news worthy story, but added the following comment...

"for the non-developers among you, note that Apple sends out revenue checks on a 1-3 month delay. With minimal effort, they could withhold/cancel up to 3 months revenue from Molinker, so this could be a serious blow financially as well as reputationally."

...so there may just be a way of getting your money back after all, but don't ask me how to go about it, but instead check out the iTunes support page.

So to summarize, Patrick Timney was the person who uncovered the scam, and it was me (Glyn Evans) via the iPhoneography blog that publicized the story that lead to Molinker being banished from the AppStore for ever, but oh, in Steve Job's fashion, there is just one last thing.

• Thursday 10th December and Patrick got interviewed by CTV / A-Channel News, which you can watch below.

So that's how the AppStore came to be 1 developer down and over 1,000 apps lighter.