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| Closed for business |
| By special contributor henderson101 on 2012-07-24 23:42:53 |
| "I read earlier this week about a developer who made their Android version free after the $1 game was extensively pirated. Stories like this come as no surprise, but the industry press rarely deals with the core problem - and nor does Google. [...] Whilst the aforementioned story about the Android game didn't surprise me, it did horrify me. Android is designed to be difficult to make money from, and the core issue is that it's open - with the corrosive mentality that surrounds such openness." |
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| RE[2]: Comment |
| By pandronic on 2012-07-25 11:02:47 |
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Well, for my East-European income, 0.99 a track is waaaay too much (0.10-0.15 would be OK). I also keep only music that I like, but still that's thousands of tracks collected over time. Also, I'm not a lost sale, because I wouldn't ever buy music at that price, even if that would mean not listening to music at all. On the other hand, apps are very reasonably priced - so I've bought at least 50 if not more in a little over a year. Unless these "pirates" are from a 3rd world countries (in which case how can they afford a smartphone?) I can't imagine they couldn't afford a few 1-2$ apps. Really, the only conclusion is that these people are assholes. |
 - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Maybe it isn't piracy, maybe it's just crappy apps |
| By r_a_trip on 2012-07-25 11:36:46 |
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You didn't read what I wrote. I said people don't see the need to spend money on apps, because the apps are of very low value. That app developers don't make money isn't predicated on piracy (that's only a small part of it), it's predicated on their less than useful wares. Smart phones are shiny toys, not a new software eco-system. The way current smart phones & OSes are made forces app developers to make unuseful, high volume, low income crap. We can blame piracy all day long for the abysmal performance of smart phone app stores, but ultimately it is down to the useless crap inside the app store that makes people not buy apps (the biggest chunk being people who don't pirate). To make it crystal clear: The bulk of the apps themselves are utter useless, throwaway crap. Not worth spending a penny on. To put it yet another way: The only ones making money from the application markets are Google and Apple. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE[4]: No lost sales |
| By Chrispynutt on 2012-07-25 11:54:06 |
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Weird I don't know a single PC gamer that pirates now, because of steam. Even the guy back in the Amiga days was the go to guy to get pirated games. Then again we all have wages now. |
| - Score: 1 |
| Gifting |
| By Chrispynutt on 2012-07-25 11:59:56 |
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Amongst the options to pay I think gifting would be a great one. If you were really really into a funky new app and you wanted to gift to a friend this would be a great wee way to generate extra revenue. One thing that holds me back is that I am not convinced that my 2.5 year old Acer Liquid with it's 256mb ram will run anything. A better Play Store in general needs to be designed. Seriously that design would just work with thousand apps not a million. I use the web version more often than not and usually via site reviews. Google needs a blog reading app with good Play integration, or something that breaks out of the tired List and Catalog design. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE: Comment by Sodki |
| By Soulbender on 2012-07-25 12:17:42 |
| Could you provide a reference? I really don't want to read all of that slashdot thread (or slashdot at all, really). |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Comment by Radio |
| By Soulbender on 2012-07-25 12:23:47 |
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That's an entirely different issue. That was about users being left behind when the company behind the code was acquired. This is about developers not being able to make money on an open platform. They have nothing in common. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Ugh. |
| By M.Onty on 2012-07-25 12:35:22 |
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> Aside from throwing out the baby with the bathwater, it implies that the best way to prevent moral transgressions is to render people incapable of them ... If breaking people's noses becomes a problem, you don't put everyone in handcuffs so they can't swing their arms Point very well made. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Ugh. |
| By Moochman on 2012-07-25 12:41:11 |
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The article seems to me like it's pretty much a summary of all of his barroom arguments with his open-advocating friend-of-a-friend. As such it's no surprise that it's almost 100% randomly thrown-together BS diatribe. Edited 2012-07-25 12:41 UTC |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Comment by Radio |
| By dvhh on 2012-07-25 15:31:58 |
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Hey it was great business, and proving that good business is not necessary good for end-users. I would point out that open source is probably better for business and end user, citing that Apple is doing great with OS and programs build over open source code (compared to an open source allergic Microsoft). |
| - Score: 2 |
| Locks are available for Android, any kind you want. |
| By tomz on 2012-07-25 16:59:18 |
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If the original author or the author of the article was really worried, they could use any in-app purchase system they wanted, and link the enable code to the ESN or some other hard ID and use cryptographic signatures to lock down the individual app and/or enable it. Or even send a custom APK with "Registered to XYZ". If anything Google is too open - you can lock your apps tighter than iOS if you choose to, use any method for distribution you want to, use any purchasing method you want to. If you can convince people to purchase them under those conditions. Perhaps someone can develop a strong DRM system for android as a bolt-on, but would developers then flock to it and PAY the licensing fees? I don't think there is a market for it. I've bought the "contribute" versions of many excellent free apps. I haven't pirated any android app because there has been no reason to. But I don't do games. iOS has piracy through jailbreaking, and now the MP3 libraries. I'm waiting for a multigigabyte torrent with low quality but recognizable MP3s that will unlock the entire iTunes musicmatch(?) library. Closing things down won't help. You can read the horror stories about Apple's byzantine approval process. Perhaps you can become their prisoner, but it won't necessarily mean you will be well compensated. Some iOS apps provide enough revenue to support developers, others do not. |
| - Score: 5 |
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