8 ms·

I don't agree at all. It doesn't matter if someone copies your product, they will be marked as the "<your app> clone", and as long as you have a stable, good lo

I don't agree at all. It doesn't matter if someone copies your product, they will be marked as the "<your app> clone", and as long as you have a stable, good looking app and with good feedback from clients you don't have to worry that much. Yes, you may loose a margin of profit that might be redirect to your cloned app, but if your app is really good you are safe. People tend to use the original, not the copy-cat. Look at Angry Birds, the cloned games tend to be called "that game that looks like ANGRY BIRDS" even if they don't even have birds, but pigs or elephants.

creamyhorror 14y ago
About Angry Birds clones - surely they're called clones only because Angry Birds was a breakout hit? In the case of more modest successes, their copycats may be the first thing that many people browsing the App store see. Then they never see the original in the first place (especially if the copycat has gamed the placement or search results). Then they'll never know it was a clone of something that came earlier. (If you have an app that is clearly better and is at the top of the marketing pile, then there's no problem of course. Let others clone you all they want - you'll still stay ahead.)
- bermanoid 14y ago
  Absolutely - look at PapiJump as compared to Doodle Jump. I've heard on too many occasions to count that PapiJump is just a less polished clone of Angry Birds, despite the fact that is predates it by more than a decade. People probably look at Farm Town and assume it's just another FarmVille ripoff... First to market only makes a difference if you're huge, otherwise you might as well be doing market fit analysis for your competitors. Then again, games are an area where success is particularly easy to track, so you gain very little by keeping sales figures private. In other areas, you might be giving away a lot more information by letting people know that your weekend project is selling 10k a day.

creamyhorror 14y ago

About Angry Birds clones - surely they're called clones only because Angry Birds was a breakout hit? In the case of more modest successes, their copycats may be the first thing that many people browsing the App store see. Then they never see the original in the first place (especially if the copycat has gamed the placement or search results). Then they'll never know it was a clone of something that came earlier. (If you have an app that is clearly better and is at the top of the marketing pile, then there's no problem of course. Let others clone you all they want - you'll still stay ahead.)

bermanoid 14y ago
Absolutely - look at PapiJump as compared to Doodle Jump. I've heard on too many occasions to count that PapiJump is just a less polished clone of Angry Birds, despite the fact that is predates it by more than a decade. People probably look at Farm Town and assume it's just another FarmVille ripoff... First to market only makes a difference if you're huge, otherwise you might as well be doing market fit analysis for your competitors. Then again, games are an area where success is particularly easy to track, so you gain very little by keeping sales figures private. In other areas, you might be giving away a lot more information by letting people know that your weekend project is selling 10k a day.