Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, Jailbreak/pwnage
iCombat's stats on app pirates
Maybe this is strange to my point of view because I used to use hacked and cracked apps -- when I was in college and didn't have $50 to my name, much less to spend on the latest and greatest games (not to mention a line in to a fat campus Internet connection), warez was where I went. But nowadays I've got the money to do right by developers, and especially as cheap as things are in the App Store, piracy doesn't really seem like a viable route. But apparently for quite a few people, it is.
Miguel isn't that angry -- he believes that hackers are a bigger help (people tweeted a lot about playing the cracked app) than a hurt (he definitely doesn't equate all of those hacker numbers to lost sales). And he says that hackers are often early adopters -- look how many hackers jumped on the app right away, and then those numbers tailed off later on. But he does say is that the best solution is to create a lite version for apps detected as hacked, and then push for the upsell. In fact, he even tells us that one of his hackers has become a big evangelist for the app, creating demo videos and contests. Hackers and crackers are the folks who are most interested in getting to your app early and fast, and If you can convince them that it's worth it to pay the buck, or even just spread the word, they could serve you pretty well as a developer.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
dagamer43 said 1:48PM on 5-15-2009
With the amount of time I've spent on my app, I'd rather not have people grabbing it for free. It just kills my motivation to spend hours tracking down bugs if I get nothing to show for it. =/
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BigB said 1:57PM on 5-15-2009
This isnt true for everyone, but generally people who pirate stuff would not have bought the app anyway.
At least i've found that true for music and PC/OS X apps. I assume it to be true for iphone apps also.
mark said 8:08PM on 5-15-2009
And you believe that's a rationale for piracy? That's a rationalization, if I've ever heard one.
How about the fact that if the apps weren't somehow "crackable," they wouldn't be able to play them at all? Then, if they wanted them badly enough, perhaps a small percentage of the would-be pirates would "break down" and purchase the app. But the fact that they can use it for free almost guarantees that they will *never* pay for it.
Beanie said 2:12PM on 5-15-2009
I don't understand why people can't shell out one dollar! I'm pretty sure most of the crackers just like the thrill that comes from the act of cracking/using software you haven't purchased.
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timepilot84 said 2:57PM on 5-15-2009
It's Apple's fault. By letting in garbage software, all a user has to do is purchase one $0.99 turd to justify pirating software. If users could trust the iTunes app store to put have well written software and most of the piracy wouldn't have ever taken foot.
Beanie said 3:02PM on 5-15-2009
I don't know about you, but I read reviews, and don't make a decision unless there is a large amount of reviews to weed out the fake ones. I agree that a Lite version of an app helps immensely.
Tired_ said 6:03PM on 5-15-2009
I can't shell out a dollar because Apple won't let me. I can't speak for the rest of the pirates, but in Canada, Apple will only allow App Store purchases with a credit card (which I don't have). I have a $50 iTunes card ready to go, but until they change their policy, I'm out my money and have no legit apps.
string said 3:42PM on 5-15-2009
unique is per device BUT some buyers might actually have more than one device capable of running this... probably not factor 5 but anyway...
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Todd said 3:57PM on 5-15-2009
The number for pirated uses is far higher than I would have expected for a dollar app. And the clickthroughs are an online marketer's wet dream, though the conversion rate is certainly not. Great reflections in Miguel's blog post, as well.
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Aaron Ardiri said 4:23PM on 5-15-2009
i have the same system within my own games; but; i only do tracking when people submit highscores; the statistics are similar.. 82% pirates, 18% legit users. it started off worse than that; but, overall it has steadied around 80/20
// Aaron Ardiri
Mobile 1UP
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Christopher said 11:01AM on 5-17-2009
It's humorous to see someone who stole all their ideas from Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery talk about piracy....
ds said 4:37PM on 5-15-2009
I think the numbers may be skewed. If Pinch is using iTMS accounts, then the numbers would be correct. However, if they're using unique iPhone/iPod IDs (serial numbers, etc.), then the stats don't work: one copy of an app can be shared to any phone authorized on the account, which is not piracy (since it's in the iTunes TOS). I have a dual-iPhone house, and we share apps through iTunes. It's not piracy, as far as I know. If it is, I can't imagine Apple would rest on its laurels this long about it.
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Gazoobee said 5:37PM on 5-15-2009
This result sure puts the lie to those arguing that jailbreaking is all about honour, justice and freedom etc.
It's about stealing.
It's about hacking into the OS so you can get 1,000's of free apps cause you're a lying cheapskate with no sense of right and wrong.
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artifex said 7:39PM on 5-15-2009
Where's your proof that that's what all, or even most, jailbreakers do?
Weak troll is weak.
United States of Generica said 10:58AM on 5-16-2009
That's exactly what the people I know with Jail-Broken iPhone do ... download cracked versions of App Store products so they don't have to pay a cent for them. I showed a friend 'Zen Bound' and he said "hold on" and proceeded to download a pirate copy direct from his iPhone; he's never paid for a single App but has all the latest games.
These people do the same with their games consoles, warez (Mac and Windows flavors), music and video too. For example, I know several people with Xbox 360 who have never bought a game for it, not one, but they have every major release.
Michael said 2:14PM on 5-16-2009
@Gazoobee and United States of Generica
I completely disagree with you. I have a jailbroken iPhone3G and I have not downloaded a single cracked app on it. Every app I have either was purchased legit from the App Store or is not available in the app store.
I jailbroke my iPhone for backgrounder and winterboard.
(I've also found a few cool things like putting the weather in the status bar, the 5 icon dock, changing my carrier tag, Flashlight--the one that actually increases brightness!, Cycorder, Supreme Preferences and SBPreferences to name a few... ok, well, all that I use anyway.)
In fact! I even purchased another app just yesterday, with my Jailbroken iPhone. So don't tell me the only reason people Jailbreak is to hack apps.
Sam said 2:50PM on 5-16-2009
Do you have any evidince to suppport you claim?
I can't put it kindly, but you don't know what you're talking about. At all. Listen, I have a jailbroken iPod Touch, and let me tell you something, jailbreak is not about stealing. It's about adjusting your iPhone or iPod Touch to your liking. I don't use cracked apps, and a good amount of jailbreakers don't either. I first jailbroke my iPod Touch in July of last year. I'd had my iPod Touch for about 2 months, and, being a geek, decided to jailbreak. I still bought App Store apps, and I aslo used the addon hacks from Cydia. But about 5 months later, I learned about cracked apps. I then decided I wanted to be a cheap bastard. To clarify, I didn't jailbreak to use cracked apps. I used cracked apps later on. Anyway, I looked around the web, and found out what to do. You can't just have a jailbroken iPod or iPod Touch, you have to do some extra things. I added the "Hackulous" repository to Cydia, and installed the "MobileInstallation Patch", which is what makes the iPhone OS think that cracked apps are as valid as ones you bought from the app store. Then I had to install "Installous". That's it. I downloaded cracked apps for a while. That lasted for about a month and a half. I eventually realized that the developers desearved money for their apps, and cleared the cracked apps from my iPod Touch. I restored and rejailbroke my iPod Touch, and bought all the apps I stole, and I don't use cracked apps anymore. I still have a jailbroken iPod Touch, I buy legitimate apps from the app store, I use hacks from cydia (most of those are free, but there a few (I can probably count them on my fingers, seriously) Cydia apps that aren't free, I have bougt one (Cyntact), and I havn't stolen any of those. I only know a few people who use jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch (I know a lot with unjailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch. Most people are two afraid and/or not geeky enough to jailbreak), and the ones I know who do jailbreak, none of them use cracked apps. So to put it simply:
Jailbreak= Customization and Extension, and is good.
Cracking= Piracy of apps that cost almost nothing, and is bad.
Jailbreaking≠ Piracy
Tjp said 7:58PM on 5-15-2009
As someone with an App that was much more heavily pirated than sold, I still think most pirated copies are not lost sales but for 99 cents or $1.99 it is still aggravating that the pirates claim the motivation is the poor Apple App store experience. Well they hurt me with 70% of their infliction of pain. And I'd love to actually transition to the App development full time, which I could if even 10% of the pirated copies where converted to sales. Oh, and Gazoobee. I have multiple jailbroken devices pre-SDK restrictions against for developers, and 0 pirated Apps. I just prefer custom wallpaper, a few cool Apps that are against Apple policy for the App store and much much better management of SMS and call logs. For example, I really don't need to keep my business partner's SMS about being 5 minutes away from arrival but do want to keep the one saying a client is coming in on a particular flight. And I also like global cut and paste (which is coming soon I know, finally). Oh, and DS... You can tell during app execution if your app is pirated. So the stats _could be_ very accurate.
Tjp
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mark said 8:12PM on 5-15-2009
How are apps being pirated? I thought one had to download an app from the store, which then authorizes one's device to run that app. Are pirates taking one, legit copy of an app and somehow stripping it of its copy-protection? Or somehow fooling the device into thinking it's authorized to run the legit copy of the app?
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llanthomas said 7:41PM on 5-17-2009
That's more or less it, they strip the DRM from an app they've bought and release it to the masses. Of course, the people releasing the cracked apps to the masses have to pay for it, but by "contributing" to the piracy they feel less like they're just taking advantage of others' hard work. Pretty warped logic, but it's how The Pirate Bay etc. works, and only a select few need to actually buy the apps, the rest are just leechers.