You might consider those pirated copies as advertising for your app, not lost sales. I doubt that the people who pirated your app (as others mentioned, these are probably kids who can't buy apps for one reason or another) would have bought anything from you otherwise. You haven't exactly lost sales, you've gained a large group of testers who will probably tell other people about your application. Yeah, it would be nice if all of them bought a copy, but they wouldn't know to tell other people (people with money) about your product if they hadn't pirated it. So, there's two ways to look at it. You can certainly take the RIAA stance that piracy is bad for you as a developer. I'm just not convinced that that's true.
The huge success of an AppStore failure
21–30 of 55 posts
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#22[deleted]
To be honest, almost none of the people who pirated your App would've bought it in the first place, so it's not as if there's lost revenue, you wouldn't have got it in the first place. Common pirate argument #1. Prove it. Surely this is a falsifiable claim; do you have sources to back it up? The people who pirate your app, act as advertisers, others see them playing the game, and then some people go any buy the game…
>though how did they get an iOS device?
This is, incidentally, kind of a silly question. It's like assuming that owning a car means you can afford to eat a $20 restaurant meal every night. Sure, cars cost way more than food, but that's not the point.
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest, almost none of the people who pirated your App would've bought it in the first place, so it's not as if there's lost revenue, you wouldn't have got it in the first place. Common pirate argument #1. Prove it. Surely this is a falsifiable claim; do you have sources to back it up? The people who pirate your app, act as advertisers, others see them playing the game, and then some people go any buy the game…
>though how did they get an iOS device? This is, incidentally, kind of a silly question. It's like assuming that owning a car means you can afford to eat a $20 restaurant meal every night. Sure, cars cost way more than food, but that's not the point.
An LG VX8300 or whatever is also "a car". An iPhone is a midrange Acura or something--not the most expensive car out there, but if you can buy one, you can afford the seat covers (which is a tortured analogy to apps, but work with me here).
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest, almost none of the people who pirated your App would've bought it in the first place, so it's not as if there's lost revenue, you wouldn't have got it in the first place. Common pirate argument #1. Prove it. Surely this is a falsifiable claim; do you have sources to back it up? The people who pirate your app, act as advertisers, others see them playing the game, and then some people go any buy the game…
>though how did they get an iOS device? This is, incidentally, kind of a silly question. It's like assuming that owning a car means you can afford to eat a $20 restaurant meal every night. Sure, cars cost way more than food, but that's not the point.
> It's like assuming that owning a Ferrari means you can afford to eat at a $20 restaurant meal every night.
Fixed that for you. iPhones are a luxury item. Cellphones are arguably necessary, but nobody's forcing you to drop $400 on a smartphone when there are perfectly free (subsidized) feature phones on every single carrier.
So yeah, I agree with the assumption that iPhone users have a little extra cash to burn.
Edit: Ok, maybe Ferrari wasn't quite a fair comparison, but certainly a car that's a little more than just getting from point A to point B.
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#25The OP is complaining about Game Center being usable for pirated games. The problem there is though: How would Apple be able to find out that your installation is pirated? Checking the signature? That can be patched out. Make it so that only accounts who have bought a game can be used in Game Center? That's the obvious solution, but it would really hur people sharing an itunes account in a household. My girlfriend al…
Why not check the Apple account? If it's in your purchase history, you're validated; otherwise, no.
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#26I don't get it. What's the real reason people hack a game that doesn't even cost a single dollar ?
I often read the lack of income as a motivation, here on HN as well, but come on... If you don't have even a dollar for entertainment, how did you manage to get an iPhone ? I don't think that's the real reason.
So, what's the thrill ? Is it just an habit to get as much free stuff as you can ? Or do people just not care ? Has any dev taken time to reach his 'stealers' and discuss that ?
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#27I don't think developers understand that pirates aren't customers, they are thieves. It is a crime of opportunity. If they can just take something for free they will, because they are probably 10-20 years old and they don't have enough disposable income to make buying a game easier than pirating one. So, they trade their extra time for their lack of money and go the pirated route even though it's a PITA. Yes, there i…
whining won't get you sales Are you sure? It drives page views. I mean, I had never heard of this game until this HN post, and I never would have heard of it otherwise. There are many, many thousands of alternatives in the App Store, and I don't play a lot of games. So why stop complaining, necessarily? It doesn't cost much, and it helps your paying customers feel righteous, which provides additional value for the do…
You're talking like it was planned by the authors of the game. What you're describing might happen but doesn't have to necessarily. I'm sure the authors would be happier if there is 80% of paying customers not 7% and they wouldn't have to blog about that.
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#28The piracy numbers don't surprise me; as a long time game developer, I've come to expect that kind of piracy turnout. What surprises me is that gamecenter allows cracked apps to appear on leaderboards. Maybe I'm missing something, but since gamecenter requires an iTunes account, and iTunes knows what apps you've purchased, why would gamecenter allow data from iTunes accounts it knows don't own the game?
It's really not a one-to-one. You are allowed to purchase an app and install it on multiple devices, say for your family members. There may be several AppleIDs that could legitimately play a game besides the one that purchased it.
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Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#29This amazes me. What I find more amazing is that there is 1) Not a way to detect and brick these installations and that 2) Apple allows users in the Game Center without associating with a purchased e-mail address (or an alias, for multi person households).
The motivation of pirates interests me. I can't see anybody with an iOS device and plan optimizing a 99c expense - surely the motivation would be deeper, and would make some interesting studies.
It's not marketing, 9 times out of 10 a pirate is a pirate. It will be a sad day when the quality of apps goes down, because it is no longer a fiscally responsible route.
Re: The huge success of an AppStore failure
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
>though how did they get an iOS device? This is, incidentally, kind of a silly question. It's like assuming that owning a car means you can afford to eat a $20 restaurant meal every night. Sure, cars cost way more than food, but that's not the point.
> It's like assuming that owning a Ferrari means you can afford to eat at a $20 restaurant meal every night. Fixed that for you. iPhones are a luxury item. Cellphones are arguably necessary, but nobody's forcing you to drop $400 on a smartphone when there are perfectly free (subsidized) feature phones on every single carrier. So yeah, I agree with the assumption that iPhone users have a little extra cash to burn. Edi…
...did you just equate an iPhone with a Ferrari, or am I missing some fundamental point of comparison here?
iPhones and other Apple products are not very expensive. They're not the cheapest products on the market, but that isn't really the point; Homo economicus ( http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2095 ) might consider it a luxury item, but that just doesn't describe the purchasing decisions and ethos of the vast majority of today's consumers.
Consequently, it's kind of a ridiculous assumption.