I would prefer for this comment to be posted anonymous by you. I wrote more than I planned so if you want to crop out a lot of it, that would make sense. I am also an app developer and absolutely DO NOT want to get caught in the storm. However, as you’ll read below, I had my own suspicions of her/them in a completely unrelated manner that I thought I would share.
I just wanted to say that I don’t know much about Smarty Ears. I hear a lot of good things about their apps and read a lot of bad reviews about their apps. But that is neither here or there. I find it very odd that I found this post about them and their owner posting reviews on her own product. I had an experience recently with them that put them on my radar. I am a member on LinkedIn and joined the GeekSLP group. Not knowing much about Smarty Ears and being new to the group, I thought this was just a place of discussion for all things tech related for SLPs (this is exactly what the title says: GeekSLP discussions: Apps, technology & gadgets for SLPs). Nowhere did it state that this was a Smarty Ears group… I guess some would know it by GeekSLP or by the name Barbara Fernandez, but I did not. Well, the funny part is, I am app developer and left a comment in response to someone’s discussion looking for apps. My comment never got posted as Barbara moderates and approves all posts. After digging around a bit and asking a co-worker, I realized that my comment was probably never posted because of who ran the group. I went ahead and removed my request and have pretty much realized that participating in that group won’t happen. I do see some others getting their comments posted, so I guess she just doesn’t allow big or direct competitors thru. However, that LinkedIn group is ALL about self-promotion for Smarty Ears (I wondered why that stuff was everywhere, but thought everyone just must love them. Hah, NOT! It was them posting their own stuff.) Anyway, my point is that I think Smarty Ears probably has great apps but their marketing tactics are deceitful and all wrong. And I think Barbara hides behind her name and thinks that is being honest, because, why of course EVERYONE must know who she is! I had never heard the name until last week. Bottom line: it’s bad marketing and shady business to promote yourself in that manner.