Do they factor in people that buy the app and then share it with family/friends by way of the 5 device limit? Not saying piracy didn't cause it, but I wonder if they factored that in or jumped straight to piracy. If the pricey thing was the case, I'd believe they'd have a way to block those devices from accessing their servers.
'Deus Ex: The Fall' Prevents Players With Jailbroken iOS Devices From Firing Guns
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Do they factor in people that buy the app and then share it with family/friends by way of the 5 device limit? Not saying piracy didn't cause it, but I wonder if they factored that in or jumped straight to piracy. If the pricey thing was the case, I'd believe they'd have a way to block those devices from accessing their servers.
ImageWrangler
macrumors regular
Grumpy Cat, Take it Away
If the company provides free services then yes, users who purchased legally or illegally most likely won't cost the company directly (ignoring the potential for ad-block, etc.). I'm more confused by the statement
If the company needs - and expects - revenue to maintain servers, respond to users, etc. then pirating is a direct cost to the company.
donutbagel
macrumors 6502a
inkswamp
macrumors 68030
Every single person who has ever asked me about jailbreaking their iPhone (I'm sort of the tech go-to guy amongst my friends and family) was doing so specifically to pirate apps.
There may be legitimate reasons to jailbreak but most people are doing it to pirate.
A little over a year ago, I published a game title on the App Store for .99. Sold a fair number but it was really disappointing to me to see how many more players showed up on the leaderboards than copies I had sold. I know that could be due to multiple Game Center account per device but I think piracy is the more likely explanation.
Regardless, I have little sympathy. Game developers have to protect their interests and their investment in their work, and if it means blocking out the jailbreak crowd, I can't say I blame them.
enigma2118
macrumors regular
Hilarious!
Oh come on now. I mean, I understand trying to protect your work, but really? Plus, when Evasi0n released their last jailbreak, almost 7 million people used it in the first 4 days! You're going to have to think of a better way to protect your work that doesn't cut out such a large base of your clientele.
There are some wonderful reasons to jailbreak your phone. All totally legit.
Hope they don't make it hard for people to get a refund. Jailbreaking is not illegal, and unless they made it crystal clear that this would happen, not cool.
Oh come on now. I mean, I understand trying to protect your work, but really? Plus, when Evasi0n released their last jailbreak, almost 7 million people used it in the first 4 days! You're going to have to think of a better way to protect your work that doesn't cut out such a large base of your clientele.
There are some wonderful reasons to jailbreak your phone. All totally legit.
Hope they don't make it hard for people to get a refund. Jailbreaking is not illegal, and unless they made it crystal clear that this would happen, not cool.
phuocsandiego
macrumors member
So why even make such an inane comment?
donutbagel
macrumors 6502a
Well I just said, it is a direct cost if they're maintaining servers for people to play on with pirated copies. It's not if the app doesn't do that. And the fact that companies lose sales that they need to pay their programmers from piracy is simply not what I'd call a "direct" cost.
SnowLeopard2008
macrumors 604
Yes. I can't remember the exact figures but it was something like 100K purchases, over a million server users. That means for every purchase, there are 9 family members or whatever who are sharing? Highly unlikely. I can't speak for detecting pirates and blocking them from the server but it was so bad they had to stop offering the app.
Ursadorable
macrumors 6502a
donutbagel
macrumors 6502a
I agree. I can't see them taking any legal hit from this since Apple does warn that jailbreaking can make your device unstable, but this kind of artificial limitation with no warning on people who may have paid money for the game is scammy.
LOL I love all the comments on here like this. Everyone I know pirates... except me, of course.
inkswamp
macrumors 68030
People who pirate apps are not clientele. They wouldn't have paid for your app in the first place. I don't follow your reasoning.
It's not illegal, but it's also not officially supported. If you choose to do it, you choose to accept the liabilities that come with it. I don't think anyone who buys this app for a jailbroken device deserves a refund any more than someone with a hacked X-Box deserves a refund for buying a game that suddenly won't work. The developer is selling it to you on the assumption that you're running it on the hardware they support. If you hack or jailbreak a device, that's no longer the case and it certainly isn't the developer's fault.
blackhand1001
macrumors 68030
You don't need root to pirate apps on android. You can just sideload the app. My galaxy nexus is rooted and running cm10.1. I do not pirate apps. The majority of the apps I buy are root tools anyway and I like to support the developers since they do great work for the community. It also sounds like apple needs to get better authentication tools. On android its literally one checkbox when putting it on the playstore that makes it verify with google that you have rights to run it. It works even with sideloading.
donutbagel
macrumors 6502a
I didn't say that I don't pirate, just that I don't steal paid apps from the App Store. I pirated a free app's old version and am looking for an old pirated copy of the FiOS remote (another free app that got a bad update). I also think that downloading 90s Nintendo ROMs is legal, but I'm not sure.
Right - so there is, in fact, a way to "spin" it so that piracy directly costs developers.
Direct or indirect, doesn't matter: piracy hurts developers. Maybe not direct (e.g. cost the developer money) but 100s of 1 star incompatible reviews (indirect) might cost you sales from legitimate customers.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not arguing against jailbreaking - just the idea that *piracy* doesn't cost the developer money (direct or indirect)
CaptHenryMorgan
macrumors regular
More like Deus Ex: The FAIL....amirite?
Menneisyys2
macrumors 603
x86 desktops, but not iOS mobile devices.
irDigital0l
Guest
Eh most people I know jailbreak to get free apps, even did it before really long ago (iPod touch 1st gen).
Now I just buy everything, its easier and supporting devs is awesome.
Now I just buy everything, its easier and supporting devs is awesome.
Ursadorable
macrumors 6502a
Yes, but far as I know, you still need to unlock the bootloader.
I wonder whether any European buyers have already encountered this problem, as this feature seems to be inconsistent with European consumer law. At least in the country where I live the seller of the software (e.g. the App Store) would be in default and the consumer would be entitled to full refund. If it can be proven that this feature was programmed this way on purpose - e.g. with the intent that it would work even when purchased legally - financial consequences could be much worse as this would imply a breach of contract.
I find it sort of rude as well. What's the next step: if I sync a jailbroken iPhone with the audio system in my BMW it won't start?
I find it sort of rude as well. What's the next step: if I sync a jailbroken iPhone with the audio system in my BMW it won't start?
F123D
macrumors 68040
I jailbreak because I want more features and functionality with my iPhone. I decided to give a Galaxy Note II with stock Android and now am able to have all the features and functionality I wish I had with an iPhone.
Point? It's not all about stealing apps.
With apples limitations with iOS and possible future limitations with games on jailbroken phones, it makes it easy not going back to an iPhone.
Point? It's not all about stealing apps.
With apples limitations with iOS and possible future limitations with games on jailbroken phones, it makes it easy not going back to an iPhone.
I "root" my Android devices not to pirate but to control my device.
I can now backup, block callers and texts at a very low level.
There are many reasons to jailbreak or root a device and piracy is but one a minority of people do. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for doing it.
All with rooted or jail broken devices are not pirates.
Sounds like you need a new class of friends with some ethics.