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It’s likely that we won’t see a ton of fake mobile games in the Android Market (Google Play) in the future. Nope, Google won’t introduce an app review process, but developers should now be more wary, since they could end-up paying for their deeds.
According to a BBC report, an unnamed Latvian developer who posted fake versions of popular games on the Android Market has been fined 50,000 GBP and told to repay 28,000 GBP to victims, marking the first of its kind fine in the mobile industry.
It’s important to note that the mentioned developer (we don’t have its name) has not only used infringed on the respective companies’ intellectual property, but has also hidden a malware in the software.
The apps in question were designed to look like legitimate versions of games like Angry Birds, Assassin’s Creed and Cut the Rope. However, after downloading these fake titles, customers weren’t able to open them up and were instead forced to sign up to a premium SMS line that charged 5 GBP per message received.
All of the fake apps were promptly removed from the Android Market…
[Via: PocketGamer.co.uk]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
