iphone app store ripp offs

Developers trying to benefit from the success of others on the App Store is nothing new. The most common method thus far has been to use the names of some of the more popular apps in the description of a different app, so when an individual searches for the more popular app, the seedy developer’s application comes up as well. To date, Apple hasn’t done anything about this tactic.

Chances are that if you have browsed the iTunes Store or watched prime time television, you have at least seen the popular eBook reader Classics at least in passing. Apple has featured it in one of its iPhone application advertisements and the UI has drawn some critical acclaim from end users. As a result, the application has been doing well; well enough that it has essentially been copied, right down to its images.

Brought to our attention by a reader, we bring you Classics: Jane Austen by Diego Dominguez Ferrera of Ubiklabs. The application is a collection of ebooks by Jane Austen bundled together in a $2.99 package. Look familiar? It should, as the visual styling is very similar to Classics as seen in these two

The visual styles are too similar to be coincidence. Let’s take a look at the wood rendering side by side without any of the books or shelves, torn from the .ipa of each application.

See the difference? We don’t either. That’s because they are exactly the same; the files only differ in their size because the ripoff has been compressed a bit more than the original. Mr. Ferrera might deny it’s the same image and perhaps even claim they were both pulled from the same royalty free service (we were unable to contact Ferrera, so we are merely speculating about his answers to these questions). However, the file name for this and other files are mirrored from Classics, which seems to point to a direct rip. Update: The developers of Classics have let us know that all of the art, including the bookshelf, UI, book spines, and more were created specifically for Classics by David Lanham.

This doesn’t end with graphics either; the all out copying extends to the page flip sounds and even the app’s feature list.