I have to chime in to agree with this- I've jailbroken my device, and I have no pirated apps on my iPod. Every app is either from the App Store or from Cydia- mostly from the App Store- and I've even paid for one Cydia app. Bottom line, jailbreaking != piracy. (that's "does not equal" for those unfamiliar with code. ) And personally, I must say that the thought of pirating something that sells between $1-$5 is rather sickening. The argument "but I can't afford it anyway" just doesn't apply here.
I'm not so high and mighty to think I'm automatically better than someone who downloads something off a torrent, a movie, a CD, etc. As a college student, hell, I can understand, that stuff is expensive, it really is. Not to mention it's hard to empathize with these big conglomerates trying to tell me that by downloading a movie, I'm hurting everyone involved, except of course for the people who get paid the big bucks. But man I find this app store pirating kind of lame and pathetic. Paying $13 for a CD that lasts for 40 minutes, yeah, sort of feels like a rip off. Or $10 for an hour and a half movie, it just feels like I'm being squeezed. But paying a dollar or whatever, for some of these little independent apps, unlike the big companies, I feel like I can actually support the people and all the work they put into their products. Even paying $10 for some of the big name apps from EA, etc. I at least feel that I'm getting my moneys worth. So boo to app piracy.
I can vouch for the issue of piracy. I see it in many of my high school students that I teach, who own iPod Touches. They don't see any issue with getting apps for free, just like they don't have a problem getting their music for free ("why should I pay for it when I can get it for free?"). I'm happy to report that after teaching these students over the year, they have come to understand through many off-topic discussions every now and then in class that they should pay for their music (and why), and most are now using iTunes to do so, which is great, but more importantly for our developers, they are no longer just using ******** and the like to download their apps for free. Many of them understand that just because you can get software for free doesn't make it right. I'm feel like I've made a contribution raising awareness with this small selection of teens, so that's kinda neat. As for me, I used to get annoyed that people in these "crowds" would say they should be able to trial the full app and then pay for it if they liked it. Fair enough, but now they can do that through in-app purchases, yet many haven't changed their attitude or methods at all. This stinks, and it sucks for the developers who pour hours upon hours of their time into these efforts. I'd like to see Apple do a bit more to make the IPA cracking scene go away (e.g. better in-built system). Jailbreaking != pirating as mentioned, and I've bought a stack of apps from Cydia (and use free ones/features: SSH, wifi+bluetooth tethering in Australia, SBSettings toggles) such as Intelliscreen, PGBackup, Stacks, Orbit (my favourite now), Backgrounder+Kirikae, elert, Adblock, 3GUnrestrictor, etc. For the record, I buy all of my iPhone apps, and although have regretted some (e.g. Monkeyball, boo!!!), LOVE others and would happily pay more (e.g. Soosiz).
cathead- I just wanted to say I have huge respect for you doing that with your students. A CD lasts just 40 minutes if you only listen to the CD once. I know I'm detracting from the point you were making about the morality of pirating App store apps, but I don't think you can compare the value of entertainment on its running time. You don't look at the running time of a DVD and say, "ooh, this movie lasts 6 hours, so I'll definitely be getting my money's worth compared to all these rip-offs that are the same price but only last 2 hours."
I paid $15 for pizza and wings last night. It only lasted about 20 mins. Damn it, I want my $15 back.
Next time order deep-dish pizza and bone-in wings! Lasts much longer, so you won't feel ripped off Anyway... the whole argument of cost per hour of entertainment is turned on it's head with iPhone apps. Thankfully some people still realize they're getting an amazing bargain. Unfortunately a lot more are starting to expect everything for next to nothing, or indeed, for free. And here we are. What is the next step?
It's worth checking out the XBOX Live posts by banned players; most say how they would pay for games if they were $20 instead of $60, but surely the iPhone situation shows that to be false?
It's BS. The thing is, there are plenty of $20 games, whether you're buying in sales (I picked up Modern Warfare 2 for £26), pre-owned, or just wait for price drops (Half Life orange box is now $20.) Just like there are plenty of free gaming experiences on the App store, but still plenty of pirates claiming they need to pirate because they can't pay for it. There are a hundred things that prove that a pirate's monetary arguments to be false.
That is a very silly idea. The jailbreaking and modding are totally different. The mods do nothing except let you play pirated games (though some argue that they just use it to play backups), while jailbreaking is a way to expand legitimate functionality to the device. I tried out a jailbreak a while back (made my iPod a bit too unstable for my taste) and I did it to see what else I could do with my iPod. I hadn't even heard about pirating app store games at that point. I think there are lots of people with jailbroken devices who are only doing legal things. It is stupid to punish those people. What's more it would be a shot in the foot, because the dev's would be losing lots of potential customers.
Hi, I have to agree with the post by jonlink. I only jail broke my Touch was so I could add some of the functions of the today screens from ppc to my lockscreen. I bought a great program that Apple, and I guess, some people here, would not want me and others to have the option to use. Have I and others done such a heinous thing by wanting our devices to do more? Piracy sucks, in all forms but do not talk of punishing the people who do not pirate apps. I would be curious as to how many companies develop for the Iphone format and have a device that is jail broke. Might be kind of surprising to know numbers on this. David
Looking at Jet Car Stunts and comparing sales figures and the number of Openfeint users that we have roughly 70% piracy - that sucks I'm just hoping that game sales can break away from the number of jailbroken devices. If Apple don't sort this problem out by making their systems more secure then the developers will move on and the App Store will dry up an implode. (I hope Apple get to read this thread) I mean what chance do developers have to make money - a game released will have to be such a massive hit to soak up all the money lost from pirates. Our game has the right ingredients for success but I hold judgment on that. I'm looking at a PSP dev kit right now and it's starting to look very attractive to me... Sure we will build on Jet Car Stunts and add to the game but only for the reason of cross platform development.
Listen. I hate to beat a dead horse as much as the next guy, but let me just repeat what has been said numerous times already: 1) You can't stop piracy, and neither can Apple. 2) You can't calculate how many sales you're losing due to piracy. 70% piracy != 70% loss 3) Given the App Store's immense popularity, you won't make nearly as much money if you develop for the PSP, Android, or any other system in today's market. With that said, congratulations on releasing such a fantastic game.
Jet Car Stunts is really new, and the initial numbers always look really bad with regard to sales vs piracy. Your piracy numbers shouldn't be increasing as fast as your sales figures after the first couple weeks.
That's what we figure will happen It's just a shock to the system when you see this for the first time...
TrueAxis, our game is under submission right now and I'd love to know what protection have you used to prevent piracy on your app?
We used none because the hackers will get in eventually and it's just a waste of dev time trying to prevent it. The only thing I regret is detecting and disabling the leaderboards; but then again they can fix that as well. I think you need to hope that it gets beyond the jailbreak devices in sales...
Hi, When companies figure numbers of people pirating their apps, do you take into account that some households share apps and it may give a certain slant to the numbers? I am planning to buy a new Touch and pass my current one on to my son or wife, most games will likely be on both devices, showing two users but one purchase. Does this get figured in when numbers are put out there, in regards to the amount of piracy going on? Just curious. BTW, it sucks that your game, Jet Car Stunts is showing such high numbers of piracy when you should be basking in the warmth of it being released. I just bought it earlier and I am glad I did, nice so far. Probably should drop in here, I am one of these cursed users who have a device that is jail broke. David
I think human nature really sucks. How cheap does a game have to be before people will pay for it? The argument used to be that software is too expensive so we have to pirate it. Well maybe at £40+ a pop. But come on nobody should be pirating itunes apps theyre so reasoably priced. People are shooting themselves in the foot or indeed killing the golden goose. Cheepskates!! Come on give the devs the reward they deserve for giving us the apps and games we want!
There is a simple way, difficult to bypass : Every iPhone has a unique ID. Every sold game unit can provide that ID (unless I'm wrong). So every time a game is sold, its bound ID is registered on your server, and people will have to activate their product with that stored ID before being able to play the full version of it. It is very transparent as the user has nothing to do but letting his device connect with the server, once. Now there are other stronger solutions, but this one seems easy to create.
