Employees praise browser without full disclosure

A trio of App Store user reviews for Yahoo's new Axis mobile browser appear to have been written by Yahoo employees. Staff at TheNextWeb looked at the app's user ratings, finding three five-star reviews from Yahoo employees included. The reviews are just a few among a number of positive reviews for the app, which has been generally well-received.

Axis now stands at a 4.5-star average rating, with 1,206 reviews to date, though it could be that some of the others are also from (as-yet-unidentified) Yahoo employees. Yahoo staff rating the app include Yahoo's Patent Counsel David Ishimaru, Network Operations Center Engineer Brian Coch, and Product Management Director Ethan Batraski, none of whom acknowledged their roles or employment at Yahoo. It is possible that the review-stuffing was serendipitous, and done without the company's knowledge.

The three five-star reviews that are known to be from Yahoo wouldn't have too great an impact on overall rating, as the app still averages a 4.5-star rating with the known employee submissions removed. Still, the revelation of the employee reviews serves as yet another gaffe from the company, which has had a rocky recent history.

Shortly after its release, Yahoo was forced to temporarily pull Axis from the App Store due to a security vulnerability, though it posted a fixed replacement version very quickly. [via TheNextWeb]

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone apps, Yahoo, App Store, iPad apps, Axis