Pinch Media, who provide analytic software for developers on Apple's phones, are estimating that piracy rates are as high as 60% on the iPhone (reports Pocket Gamer). You can be sure that this number is matched on Symbian, Windows Mobile other mobile platforms. The level of piracy nowadays is incredibly high. Apple's iPhone may be pointed out here, but a little bit of exploration online and every games console can be found to be exploited. Read on for my thoughts, though.
Read on in the full article.
...I'll never pay for Farmville cash, but my friends and I (all Aerospace majors) have become mildly addicted. You know you're an engineer when you start plotting Farmville return rates in MATLAB for various trees and animals...
> So what can be done?
Embrace filsharing, embrace a copying free for all, embrace piracy. Wholeheartedly with open arms. Take that step into the light. Make that your (as a content producer) founding principle. And then come up with a business model built on that foundation.
Make a business model that thrives on free copying and piracy. Go with the flow. Harness the power.
Honestly, in all seriousness, it's the only way. And the media and software industries are going to be forced to very painfully accept that if they will not do so willingly. The writing's on the wall.
How can you say pirating helps distribution for apps on Iphone when most pirated apps come from the legitimate App store, and are then copied to a pirate App store?
From the point of view of the user, the app is equally availiable from both places!
Piracy will always exist as long as people don't have the money & motivation to buy content. Agree or not, this is one of the results of developed countries' treatment to other countries as their colonies.
Wanna example? People in far-eastern countries work as slaves for the people in western countries, now guess why piracy rates are awesome there...
If device manufacturers and operators have an interest in selling apps, because they take a percentage, it will be in their interest to see that apps are actually sold and not nicked. It is all very nice to have a big App Store with lots of functionality, but if it is only used to distribute free apps, that is a lot of money to spend with only device sales to compensate. You would make more money if apps were harder to nick.
Up until recently, device manufacturers and operators did not have a financial interest in selling an app, but with the success of App Store, that has changed. Each additional sale of an app is additional money for the App Store owner, with no extra cost for the App Store infrastructure.
So I do not think that the paid-for standalone app is dead right now.
My phone( not me) needs apps, so nokia/apple needs to pay for the apps I downloaded
Piracy is also encouraged by the pricing and protection policies of a number of the software companies. I can purchase a lot of really good software on the iPhone/iPod Touch for one or two dollars. Similar quality software (if available) on S60 is often twice the price. In addition, if I buy a new S60 device, I am often faced with roadblocks to moving software I've purchased to the new device. For example, I purchased QuickOffice for an N95-1 and later wanted to move it to an N95-3. I contacted QuickOffice and they were GREAT about providing me with a new activation number. All they did was ask me to remove the copy from my old device. However, when I contacted CoreCodec about moving the copy of CorePlayer that I'd purchased, they informed me that they wouldn't do that and I'd have to purchase a new copy. The end result is I'm happy to pay for and support QuickOffice. I won't purchase CoreCodec products any more and if a pirated copy of the software finds its way on to my device, I don't feel particularly bad. I paid for it, despite the fact that the company may consider it to be a pirated version.
Embrace filsharing, embrace a copying free for all, embrace piracy. Wholeheartedly with open arms. Take that step into the light. Make that your (as a content producer) founding principle. And then come up with a business model built on that foundation.
How convenient for you, the leech.
In the long run, if investment in content production is not rewarded, then that investment will go elsewhere. Content will still be produced by the wealthy (who do not need to be rewarded) or amateurs (who do not want to be). A lot of talent will be lost.