Business | Mind the app

Crafty app developers are ripping off big-name brands

Like legitimate app developers, they make money by selling adverts

THE new app for an upmarket British department store certainly looks the part. Released on Google Play, a shop for Android software, on September 5th, it has the right logo, the correct vibrant colour and offers fashionable clothes and accessories. But the app is not authorised by the brand, is littered with pop-up ads and is painfully slow (furious users gave it one-star ratings). Its developer, Style Apps, has also launched apps for other clothing brands that are household names in America.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Mind the app”

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