App flop of the year

Smartphones can help you record video, compose music and find the nearest restaurant.
But they can not cure acne, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had to determine.
Developers of mobile applications that are claimed to treat acne, has reached a settlement in a case where the FTC charges developers for selling these apps without proof that they work as promised.
Under the proposed settlement prohibits sellers of Acne Pwner and AcneApp (among which is a dermatologist involved in AcneApp) to make allegations about the treatment of acne without scientific evidence, the FTC said Thursday.
"Smartphones make our lives easier in countless ways, but when it comes to treating acne, there is unfortunately no app for it," said Chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, said in a statement.
Both apps promised to treat acne by using colored light from the mobile device screen. App providers instructing users to keep the screen up in front of the affected skin area for a few minutes daily.
The case is the first that the FTC has brought against manufacturers of health-related apps in the mobile market.
Many have jumped taken in aAround 3,300 people, according to FTC paid just over five dollars for Acne Pwner on Google's Android Market, while about 11,600 have paid about 10 dollars for AcneApp on Apple's iTunes App Store.
"This app was developed by a dermatologist," claimed the developers of AcneApp.
"A study published by the British Journal of Dermatology shows that treatments with blue and red lights kill p-acne bacteria (which is a main cause of acne) and relieve acne by 76 percent."
Dermatologist dr. Gregory Pearson of Houston worked according to documents from the FTC developer Koby Brown to produce AcneApp. AcneApp received considerable media attention in late 2009 and early in the year 2010, just after the app was released, including the New York Times and on Fox News.
The claims of both apps to be able to cure acne are unsubstantiated, says the FTC. Brown and Pearson interprets the survey of British Journal of Dermatology about phototherapy wrong.
Light therapy may help in treating acne but not at low light intensity, as a smartphone emit, other dermatologists explained.