We've already waved our hands frantically to Microsoft to get their attention at the sheer volume of spam that was entering the Marketplace, one developer went as far as to create spam apps which served no purpose whatsoever, but were still accepted and certified. This didn't play well with WP7 owners when the platform had just passed the 20,000 app marker.
Microsoft later responded to the complaints and shouts from the community for them to alter certification and deflect any future submissions (we still don't understand how an app called SPAM which only contained information stating that it was spam got through). They basically told us that the team would be contacting companies and developers who have submitted a large number of apps that share similar functionality to offer advice in scaling down to one or a few apps (remember those real estate apps?) Also, the number of app submissions per-day were going to be limited:
"To avoid the scenario where bulk publishing crowds out other apps in Marketplace in the future, effective immediately, we are limiting the number of apps any one developer can have certified in a single day to 20. Developers creating a large number of apps can still submit all of them for certification, but they will be certified at a maximum rate of 20 per day rather than all at once."
While the response was welcomed, it hasn't proved effective unfortunately. Take a look at these new RSS apps that have flooded in the past two days (we counted 41 in total):
Seems as though Microsoft really does need better detection for spam or multiple apps, I'm not sure how the above RSS apps got through however. Surely one would expect the approval system/team would flag numerous submissions that appeared to be identical or similar to prevent duplication or fragmentation?
C'mon Microsoft, sort this out sooner rather than later. Mango is soon approaching and we need the platform to be spotless to aid conversions and potential buyers in taking the leap for WP7.
