Apple iOS's closed system has created an unknown gray industry chain

At the end of 2015, with the imprisonment of Xu, a young man from Jinhua, for the "App Store recharge refund" incident, the gray industry chain under the Apple system was once again exposed to the public. As an iOS promoter, the ecosystem created by Apple is absolutely unprecedented, whether it is the richness of products, product experience, or even the product listing review, there are rules to follow. We always complain about Apple's hegemony and inhumanity, but there are always a group of people who live a colorful life by playing with Apple's rules, and even become rich overnight. Is it hegemony, information asymmetry, or lack of motivation for accumulation and learning? At this moment, you who are reading this article should have a clear idea.

In previous articles, Wen Gongzi exposed the gray industry chains such as "expedited review", "sock puppets", and "ranking manipulation", as well as the basic principles and operation paths of these gray operation methods. Today, Wen Gongzi will systematically introduce these gray industry chains from the perspective of the App life cycle chain.

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An Apple developer account

Apple developer accounts are divided into three categories: enterprise developer accounts and personal developer accounts. Apps under these two types of accounts can be submitted for review and listing on the App Store.

Personal developer accounts can usually be downloaded within five working days

The approval time for an enterprise developer account is relatively long, about two weeks or more. There are many materials that need to be prepared, including the DEN number, which will be introduced in detail below.

The third category is enterprise accounts, which are used within enterprises. After the release of iOS 9, Apple banned enterprise accounts. Apps under enterprise accounts cannot be trusted directly. They need to go to "Settings > General > Profiles and Device Management > Click on the original file to trust" to use them. In addition, the enterprise account may be blocked at any time. Once blocked, they need to reapply. This is the fundamental reason why the points wall app needs to be repaired frequently. It also prepares a series of enterprise accounts and registration qualifications.

The industry has spawned a business of agent registration for developer accounts, with fees ranging from 500 to 1,000 yuan. Developers are required to bring their own "international credit cards", such as VISA and MASTER credit cards.

Two Dun Code

DUNS® Number is a unique 9-digit global coding system, which is equivalent to the corporate identification code (just like a personal ID card); it is widely used in corporate identification, business information organization and collation, and can help identify and quickly locate the information of 200 million companies around the world. This number is issued by Dun & Bradstreet, and each number corresponds to a unique corporate entity and will not be reused. In other words, one number represents a corporate entity. Through the DUNS® Number, viewers can quickly obtain original, rich and high-quality information products and services.

The application materials for enterprise developer accounts and enterprise accounts require a DUNS number. The application and approval time for DUNS numbers is relatively fast, usually within 1-3 working days, and 3-5 working days during holidays. The application for DUNS numbers has formed a very complete industry chain, with an application fee of about 500-1000 yuan.

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Three expedited review

To facilitate developers to update apps with major bugs in a timely manner, the App Store provides an expedited review channel. Every developer can apply for an expedited review for the app they submit, and once the application is successful, the app will enter the review process very quickly.

Expedited review effect

Apple provides a queue sequence specifically for expedited review of apps. Once the expedited review is successful, the review result will be issued within 24 hours. As long as your app application is successful, even if your app is rejected during the expedited review process, you will still be in the expedited review status when you submit it for review again, and this status will continue until this version is approved.

Expedited review operation

Log in to Apple Developer Backend;

Click Contact Us (Chinese: Contact Us) at the bottom of the backend homepage;

Contact Us will pop up three selection dialog boxes from top to bottom. Select App Review/App Store Review/Request Expedited Review in sequence. Finally, click Request an Expedited App Review at the bottom of the dialog box to successfully enter the expedited review page.

Current status of expedited review

The expedited review industry chain has been around for more than a year. The Chinese people's wisdom has been well demonstrated in this industry chain. Not only has the business spread to the entire Apple mainland China, but it has also further penetrated overseas markets. In an environment where everyone is rushing to review their work, the expedited review channel has been overused. Apple also found that some developer accounts frequently used this channel to save the necessary review waiting time, so it adjusted the expedited approval.

For example, in July 2015, the application conditions were tightened, including considerations of the number of times the developer account was accelerated, the frequency of App acceleration, IP, etc.; in November 2015, the expedited review channel was almost closed.

Four vests

Vest apps can be defined as tools that have similar functional experiences and assist the main app in attracting traffic. When vests were first created, they were more to keep people who knew you from guessing and creating a sense of mystery. They registered other names in addition to the commonly used app names. Usually the app name, icon, application screenshots, opening screen pictures, keywords, and developer accounts are different from the main app.

The popular vest strategy nowadays usually involves different developer accounts; if resources allow, the backend used is also different. In order to reduce the cost of vest development, many developers directly use all the resources of the main App and simply change the developer account. Another strategy is similar to the Himalaya and Wantu series. The vest uses some of the functions of the main App. Vests with different functions each have their own target users, and then collectively guide users to the main App. There are many original intentions for making vests. Some are to test a certain function of the product, some are to cover more keywords, and some are to test Apple's bottom line. Gray means are used, and the ultimate goal is still to acquire users.

5. Apple ID Account Transactions

Accounts are the greatest wealth created in the Internet age. Accounts support the studios and hacker compatriots scattered across China. For Apple, Apple ID is the mark and identification of users. Because of the uniqueness of Apple ID, account transactions are extremely rampant.

Apple ID is divided into new accounts, weighted accounts and high-weighted accounts.

New accounts are basically useless and need to be cultivated later. Account registration is very simple. First, register 163 mailboxes in batches or purchase directly. You can register Apple ID through the mailbox. Only Apple IDs bound to bank cards have payment functions (one bank card can be bound to three Apple IDs).

Weighted accounts refer to accounts that have normal user behavior, including app downloads and simple paid purchases. These accounts are mainly used to brush free lists, paid lists, popular search lists, keyword rankings, and comments. These accounts are very valuable. At present, machine brushing operations are popular on the market, and these accounts are used; due to Apple's algorithm adjustments and irregular account closures, there are fewer and fewer weighted accounts, forcing people to go the path of raising accounts. Some people even steal accounts in order to quickly obtain weighted accounts. The news of account theft that breaks out from time to time is just a drop in the ocean. High-weighted accounts mainly have very high stickiness operations and appropriate and reasonable recharge accumulation. These high-weighted accounts are basically in the hands of old players. There is a saying in the industry that "it's hard to find an account at a high price". These high-weighted accounts are mainly used to optimize the ranking of the best-selling list.

Six mobile games recharge

The recharge of mobile game turnover is a well-known secret in the industry. Its knowability is the same as that of cheating. As long as you are in the industry, you cannot avoid this problem. The original intention of each company to recharge the turnover is different. Some are to get more users for the best-selling list, some are for brand effect and listing, and some are for the purpose of showing it to the client market, etc.

There is a powerful industrial chain behind the recharge of mobile game turnover, and this industrial chain is "account creation and refund". Its operating principle is relatively simple, but it is closely linked. There are Apple device providers, players, Taobao recharge service sellers, professional refunders, and professional account makers; generally operated in large-scale studios. A standard refund chain involves four links: account creation, recharge, order placement, and refund. Each link is operated by a dedicated segmented practitioner. The account creator is responsible for "cultivating" the Apple account, the order person sells props, and the refund person is responsible for applying for a refund from Apple.

Apple customers receive thousands of similar refund applications from China every day, most of which are created by the "refund for account creation" industry chain. If you are a veteran player, you should have the experience of buying props on Taobao. The prices of these props are generally lower than the prices in the Apple App Store. The possible reason is that a small amount of low-priced sales are made to agents within the game, and the other part is born through "refund for account creation". Use your own account to buy props, and use Apple's "only order numbers purchased within 90 days can be refunded" rule to apply for a refund. Apple officially allows new accounts to have one refund opportunity. Generally, the first refund has a high chance of success, and the second one is slightly lower; after the refund is successful, the money has been returned to the account, and the props can still be used. At this time, the props can be sold on Taobao at a price lower than the price on the App Store to earn violence.

As the scale of this industry chain grows, it seriously affects the income of game developers, including giants such as Tencent and NetEase. When it touches their core interests, legal prosecution may follow. The imprisonment of Xu from Jinhua is the best example. Although the law has taken some action, it is still unclear. With the trend of huge profits, more and more studios are joining in. No one knows how far the road of "refund for making accounts" will go.

Wen Gongzi has been committed to clearing up these asymmetric information, writing useful information, and sharing them. Although the methods are different, the original intention remains unchanged, which is to restore a real iOS ecosystem to the public. Due to my limited personal energy, I cannot share the latest Apple news and useful information with you in the first place. Here, I sincerely apologize to all my friends.