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Piracy Threatens App Store's Future
- Thread starter Artofilm
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A cracked app would be a wonderful way of testing out an app before buying it. You can quickly see if your current "wanted list" would be worth paying for. The odds are most pirated apps get deleted, and the guy thanks whoever the devs were that created the system for allowing him to save a bunch of money.
The app store is a joke for the sole purpose of selling people junk. I can easily say that 75% of my purchases (whether free or paid) I have not used for 10 minutes and discarded. In the real world I could at least have the pleasure of throwing the crap back in the face of the store I purchased it from if I couldn't get a refund. The app store should have a section solely devoted to garbage. Tho I believe apple knows 75% of the apps out there would end up there. So they won't clean up the app store under any circumstances.
Just like any other industry crying the blues over piracy, there's little to no evidence to back up the industry. If a cracked app is popular its sales will match. If an app is garbage, then 80,000 downloads that have been thrown in the trash bin with no money's lost to the consumer is money well saved. The sooner the crap gets kicked to the curb the better. A bad app is nothing more then a con artist trying to scam a buck off the unwary...
The industry (any industry) must eventually embrace the new economic model, as whether they like it or not it isn't going away. The industry created this problem by forcing overpriced garbage down peoples throats and now that people who have had enough say no more they are crying foul. Who's the real "pirate" here? Some say the consumer, many say the industry.
I am grateful for the devs that continue to pave the way for JBing. My year with an iphone has taught me a valuable lesson about apple. I like their product and I can't stand their policies or their OS. Everything that I want my iphone to do works just fine as long as I JB. If I leave my phone stock, I am left frustrated beyond belief, treated like a child with my hand slapped every time I want to do something outside the apple "experience" and force fed a thousand app turds 99cents at a time... And you wonder why people jailbreak...
The app store is a joke for the sole purpose of selling people junk. I can easily say that 75% of my purchases (whether free or paid) I have not used for 10 minutes and discarded. In the real world I could at least have the pleasure of throwing the crap back in the face of the store I purchased it from if I couldn't get a refund. The app store should have a section solely devoted to garbage. Tho I believe apple knows 75% of the apps out there would end up there. So they won't clean up the app store under any circumstances.
Just like any other industry crying the blues over piracy, there's little to no evidence to back up the industry. If a cracked app is popular its sales will match. If an app is garbage, then 80,000 downloads that have been thrown in the trash bin with no money's lost to the consumer is money well saved. The sooner the crap gets kicked to the curb the better. A bad app is nothing more then a con artist trying to scam a buck off the unwary...
The industry (any industry) must eventually embrace the new economic model, as whether they like it or not it isn't going away. The industry created this problem by forcing overpriced garbage down peoples throats and now that people who have had enough say no more they are crying foul. Who's the real "pirate" here? Some say the consumer, many say the industry.
I am grateful for the devs that continue to pave the way for JBing. My year with an iphone has taught me a valuable lesson about apple. I like their product and I can't stand their policies or their OS. Everything that I want my iphone to do works just fine as long as I JB. If I leave my phone stock, I am left frustrated beyond belief, treated like a child with my hand slapped every time I want to do something outside the apple "experience" and force fed a thousand app turds 99cents at a time... And you wonder why people jailbreak...
Interesting thread.
I have been jailbroken since day 1 (day 1 when you could at least) and have jb my iPhone, iPhone 3g and now my iPhone 3G. There are tremendous apps available once you have jailbroken (via cydia) and many are pay-for apps. There is not even close to a 1:1 ratio between jailbreaking and piracy. In fact, I would state the vast majority of iPhone jailbreakers DO NOT pirate apps. View any iPhone hackers message boards (reputable ones, hakintosh, macrumors, MacThemese etc) and you will see that it is definitely frowned upon to hack.
Yes, of course there are those that choose to steal apps and there is no justification for that. That has ALWAYS existed in the software industry and always will. Geez, look at Steve Woz for crying out loud
In any event, the ability to jailbreak made a BIG difference in the iPhone popularity as prior to 2.0, web-apps were all that Apple would allow AND THEY SUCKED. Since jailbreaking and 2.0, iPhone adoption as gone through the roof due to the ability to add apps. Apple still have far too tight a grip on the approval process and their sandbox approach so I look to the jailbreak community to provide the apps that apple won't allow. That is 100% legal and within my rites as an owner.
So, for all that say stop jailbreakers, you cost me $80,000, blah blah blah I say shut the f up. Being able to run Apps (only via jailbreaking at 1st) is the only reason you are seeing a penny. And lets not forget that the vast majority of apps on the app store suck and we (the consumers) end up paying for A LOT of apps we use once and discard.
Enjoy the free profits and stop whining
I have been jailbroken since day 1 (day 1 when you could at least) and have jb my iPhone, iPhone 3g and now my iPhone 3G
Yes, of course there are those that choose to steal apps and there is no justification for that. That has ALWAYS existed in the software industry and always will. Geez, look at Steve Woz for crying out loud
In any event, the ability to jailbreak made a BIG difference in the iPhone popularity as prior to 2.0, web-apps were all that Apple would allow AND THEY SUCKED. Since jailbreaking and 2.0, iPhone adoption as gone through the roof due to the ability to add apps. Apple still have far too tight a grip on the approval process and their sandbox approach so I look to the jailbreak community to provide the apps that apple won't allow. That is 100% legal and within my rites as an owner.
So, for all that say stop jailbreakers, you cost me $80,000, blah blah blah I say shut the f up. Being able to run Apps (only via jailbreaking at 1st) is the only reason you are seeing a penny. And lets not forget that the vast majority of apps on the app store suck and we (the consumers) end up paying for A LOT of apps we use once and discard.
Enjoy the free profits and stop whining
So, for all that say stop jailbreakers, you cost me $80,000, blah blah blah I say shut the f up. Being able to run Apps (only via jailbreaking at 1st) is the only reason you are seeing a penny. And lets not forget that the vast majority of apps on the app store suck and we (the consumers) end up paying for A LOT of apps we use once and discard.
Enjoy the free profits and stop whining
I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but are you implying that the only reason the app store exists is because jailbreakers thought of the app idea first?
If you remember when the iPhone first came out, you could look and it and just know that the extra empty space below Apple's apps was going to be used for something other than web clips.
I'm sure Apple had the App Store plan idea before the iPhone was released, but they waited until enough people had adopted the product to release the store to everyone.
Awesome post! I agree 100%.
And also, one app purchase can be legitimately shared with 5 different iPhones/Touches. Why don't I hear any complaints about that?
I know I am in the minority but pirating apps has had a reverse trend for me. If their is an app I am interested in and doesn't have a lite version, i download the app for free, If I like it, I go and buy it, if not it's deleted. If anything it has made me buy more apps, as there is prob at least a page or 2 of apps on my phone that i never would have bought had I not tried them first
To be honest I don't pirate for the mere fact that I don't think most of the apps are even worth pirating. The only way I'll pay for a game is if it has a lot of buzz and sounds interesting, Flight Control and Cannabalt have that. The app store is this big sandbox for 14 year old developers to develop their sound apps.
This may seem mean but I think they should change the name from Entertainment to Useless.
This may seem mean but I think they should change the name from Entertainment to Useless.
Not nearly the same thing. Consoles are hard to pirate for because there is a crazy amount of DRM. That is why most game publishers gear their dev towards consoles. The PC platform had head start and it was allowed to grow before rampant piracy came about. Now, in the PC world, they have taken a back seat to consoles because piracy has caught up. You don't even see Madden coming out for the PC anymore.
The iPhone is essentially a beginning for a new kind of platform for cell phones/PMP and it's already starting to get destroyed by piracy.
I call BS, it has absolutely nothing to do with piracy but rather convenience and cost for consumers not to mention it is a whole lot more comfortable gaming from your couch in front of the TV than it is in front of a computer (yes you can hook your computer up to the TV but how many people do you think do that?).
PC games got more and more hungry for expensive hardware so all but the most hard core of gamers gave up on PC gaming as they just couldn't afford the constant hardware upgrades to play the latest & greatest games as they were intended to be played. It is also a lot easier to pick up a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 off an retail shelf, hook it up to your TV and start gaming than it is to mess with a PC.
Only a very small percentage of people even know what jailbreaking is and I'm guessing only a small percentage of those even know about the existence of cracked apps let alone use them. So there is no way piracy is going to destroy the app store.
As another poster said if a game/app is pirated so much instead of bought & paid for then it is likely an indication that game/app is crap and not worth buying. Just like in music piracy doesn't necessarily mean lost sales!
The total lack of "demo" or "trial" apps is a fault of Apple and the app store in general, not that of the developers who have written programs for the phone. Yet that's who has to pay. Not only because of piracy but even those who actually pay, by and large, aren't exactly the salt of the earth. Has anyone actually read any of the "comments" left on the app store? Most of it is mindless bitching about how this app should be free, there's no way that app is worth what it's selling for, etc ad nauseum. I'd imagine 99% of those who thought this might be a way to make a living probably started getting that sickening, sinking feeling a year ago when it became obvious what a pain in the ass this was going to be as far as piracy, whiney users and Apple itself doing everything within it's power to be as big a pain in the ass as it possibly can. Unless Apple actually gets off it's fat ass and does something about all the problems with the app store and stops treating developers like dirt, I see the number of apps, quality of apps and the platform in general starting the slow spiral into oblivion soon.
Oh, and it's not BS that stuff is disappearing on the PC platform. Piracy and general idiocy has killed plenty of platforms and operating systems already and it will kill more in the future. It's killing some right now. I'd bet a paycheck on it. Any takers?
Oh, and it's not BS that stuff is disappearing on the PC platform. Piracy and general idiocy has killed plenty of platforms and operating systems already and it will kill more in the future. It's killing some right now. I'd bet a paycheck on it. Any takers?
That may be because we humans behave on two levels -- even those who lack standards like hackers, want to pretend outwardly that they have them. It's a wink-nudge characteristic where everyone knows it's mainly for show, so as to appear more reputable (ironic, I know).
If they really and truly didn't want to encourage pirating via hacking, they just would ban all hacking forums and all talk of such a thing within them. This is partly the problem in our world where "free" as in speech has translated to mean no restrictions, i.e., free everything. Responsibility is passé in our generation.
As for me, after downloading many mp3s for much of my youth, I am 100% legit today. I download all my music from iTunes and purchased almost all of my 3000 apps (yes, that's not a typo), save the few I got through codes.
I really really like this feeling that Apple gives me of finally being legit.
Or maybe it's just called growing up.
While convenience is a factor for consoles, that is not the reason why some games are no longer being ported over to the PC. As for the the gaming requirements, consoles are not demanding in that area. PC hardware has always been far ahead of consoles. Consoles usually have dated hardware and cheap parts to reduce cost. The average PCs more powerful than any dedicated gaming console which is why ports are aren't demanding on hardware. It is dedicated PC games like Crysis that try to push graphical limits. Piracy is the main reason why you see gaming devs slowly stopping support of the PC.
A for the idea that it's only a small few who actually jailbreak, it is more significant than that. If you count the incredible amount of iPhones & iPod touches, even a small percentage is still a huge amount of people.
As to your last paragraph, that is ridiculous. The rally racing game was pirated at a 95% rate in the first 24 hours. It is a well respected game and it just came out so there was very few reviews and people were stealing it. It makes no sense that people are to go and steal a lousy game.
And to the statement that piracy may not mean significant lost sales, it cuts both ways. We never know how many sales they would have had because they are stealing. It's not the devs fault but the pirates fault.
If Apple really wanted to stop the madness, they would start by removing the incentives to JB. Give users what they really want, open the App Store up to innovation and stop trying to decide for us what we want on our phones.
It is clearly a supply/demand issue that Apple is coyly toying around with. On the one hand, it serves Apple to suppress JB, it assures dev community that they are about protecting the IP of the developers. On the other, it serves them to have a sandbox for users trying cutting edge things. If they are not using the JB community as a research tank, they are fools (yet they have consistently proven they are anything but fools). The demand is for innovative apps, the supply is carefully weighed to give Apple a degree of control over the experience. Are there JB apps that should be mainstream? Sure, as well as the other way around. The systems are not perfect, but they get the job done.
The JB community is largely made up of early adopters, the very folks who will jump to a competing phone in a heartbeat if it offers compelling features. This is a relatively small group, and the complexities of JB serves as a natural barrier keeping the masses out. If piracy exists in the JB community, at least it is somewhat contained by the natural forces that prevent the other 90% of iPhone users from going the JB route. While I empathize with developers whose apps are pirated, it seems apparent that if the 90% of users who are mainstream are not buying, that perhaps free is the right price for their apps.
Apple enables the dev community to participate and help make the iPhone the success it is, that is truly what made it successful. As the community finds even more innovative solutions, they will have other platforms to offer their wares on, but if Apple liberates the App Store rather than suppress these, they will give owners even more reasons to keep rather than switch phones.
There is my $.03 worth.
Very interesting perspective, and I tend to agree. I didn't think twice about paying $6.99 for WunderRadio, $4.99 for iXpenseIt, $2.99 for Tweetie, $2.99 for ESPN Radio, etc. Those apps routinely rank up near the top of the iTunes lists as well. So if people just aren't willing to pay for an app and the majority of users who have that app have pirated it instead, something's up with either the pricing of the app or the quality of it.
This is funny, How the hell are consoles hard to pirate?
Ps1 modchip or action reply device
ps2 external HDD and softmod
Xbox modchip
Xbox360- modchip or flashed dvd firmware
Wii-Modchip or softmod
PS3-The only console that hasn't been cracked.
I could modify a console as fast as I could jailbreak an iPhone.
Don't you get banned when Live finds out you nodded your console? With a PC someone can always get the cracked app and play on cracked servers. With consoles, they provide the total experience which means it is much harder to do anything and not get caught.
You are not getting it. This has very little to do with jailbreaking and a lot to do with the people who are stealing. We've been through this and not everyone is guilty. In fact it is a small percentage but that small percentage is an extremely large amount of people. Jailbreakers should be mad as any because pirates are ruining a good thing.
TBH, I would rather the iPhone dev team not make a version for the touch. There is far less benefit to jailbreaking for the touch because there are products that work over 3G and the touch is rarely connected because it's only wifi. Also, because of the monthly price of the iPhone, it is geared more towards an older crowd who will probably pirate a lot less.
Apple also has a part in this and I think they're paying attention to what features that people are jailbreaking their iPhones for. People are going to have to wait, I believe, until 4.0 to see most of those features come to fruition.
I guess I should have put a smiley/roll eyes on my response.
I 'get it' much more than the average everyday anybody. I work (self employed now more than 7 years supporting a family and mortgage) in the graphic design and photography industry, which is one of the most pirated/copyright infringed industry of them all.