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A Word From Elaine A few days ago, I interviewed Dong Nguyen, developer of the #1 app Flappy Bird. Dong is a one man team, who built this game in just 3 days using reused artwork. He said he didnt use any promotion methods and he put his success down to his luck. Since then, various people have suggested more sinister reasons for his success. This include scamming the store and using bots, to artificially drive the app up the charts. A main reason for this suspicion is the peculiar spikes you can see in the apps history.

Flappy Birds Rank History

A Word From Elaine Since then I uncovered a viral twitter review competition for the Flappy Bird app which is fueling downloads and viral sharing, and @pewdiepie, the most subscribed person on youtube has also shared videos of the game to his followers. I caught up with Dong to confirm the scam rumors are untrue. Email conversation follows.

From Elaine To Dong Hey Dong, A few people have left comments on the blog, questioning whether bots, or similar, were used in these games to artificially drive up the downloads to reach the top charts. Attached is a picture of the apps rankings. The history of the app would seem to indicate some form of paid traffic was used. Are you sure you didnt use any bots, paid traffic or anything other than organic DLs? It does seem strange that there is no reason at all you are aware of for the sudden rise to the top charts. Thanks again, Elaine

From Dong To Elaine Hi Elaine. Thank you for sharing and the post. I am sure I didnt use any kind of promotion. Regards, Dong

A Word From Elaine Flappy Bird really does seem to be a 1 in a million app. Its chart success defies logic, it has captivated the world with its gameplay, and Dong is becoming an inspiring legend to indie app developers around the world.

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