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I feel like the problem has more to do with big players owning the app stores. They have access to all of the data that allows them to know which apps are popular and profitable. It's easier for them to know which apps to knock off; the own the data that tells them that.

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I don't know, I feel like they just have access to this data so they're using it.

There are many 3rd party app store intelligence products out there. And you can buy incredible datasets from some tracking companies. There are only as many popular things out there, have a hard time believing that they fundamentally wouldn't be able to do it without the more privileged access.

Wouldn't be surprised if they are actually using a ton of 3rd party data too, but only this kind of usage makes headlines as it seems "wrong".

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