14 DAY TRIAL // BlackBerry recently launched its famous BBM app on both iOS and Android, with Windows Phone users likely to receive their very own version in the coming months.
Windows 8 developers are trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of BBM with fake apps published in the store and requiring users to pay before downloading.
An application that’s simply called BBM is now listed in the store and is available for only $2.49 (€1.90), but instead of getting the well-known messaging app, users are only receiving a rather minimal interface displaying BlackBerry news.
The problem with this app is that it uses the same name as the original messenger, trying to trick people into believing that they are downloading the real deal. At the same time, there’s no trial version available, so users who want to give it a try have no other option than to purchase a fully working license.
What’s more, the amount of information published in the store is rather limited, with only two screenshots showing almost nothing also included.
As usual, make sure you check twice before buying any app from the Windows 8 store until Microsoft finally decides to address the issue of spamming and starts blocking fake apps.
Paradoxically, Redmond says that it’s very proud of the quality of apps listed for download, even though it’s pretty clear that some are only trying to trick people into believing that they are purchasing a completely different program.
“The Windows 8 platform has an ever-expanding number of high-quality apps that we’re incredibly proud of, and this new addition is testament to that,” Tina Flammer, Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft Australia, said recently.
At this point, there are more than 125,000 apps available for download from the store and with more users making the move to Windows 8, Microsoft clearly needs to address these issues as soon as possible.