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.