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People were stealing a $0.99 app? Holy shit! What pathetic losers. I going to have my kid buy it when he comes home. Sounds like a great game for his little

by dhimes 18y ago

People were stealing a $0.99 app? Holy shit! What pathetic losers. I going to have my kid buy it when he comes home. Sounds like a great game for his little brother.

joecode 18y ago
As a developer, I really don't mind the pirates, as long as theirs is a marginal activitiy. Most of them would probably never pay for the apps they download anyway, so they don't make a significant difference in my sales. In fact, they kind of act like reviewers and may help popularize good apps. Good thing to keep it illegal, tho, or else it wouldn't be a marginal activity anymore.
jcl 18y ago
As the article mentions (and as I've heard from some other developers), pirates are generally the among the first people to buy any app -- they pirate everything, regardless of price. ...It's a pity that Apple probably wouldn't let you submit thousands of applications, as you could make a fair amount of money off of the pirates before anyone noticed.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Did we read the same article? I read that he has a ZERO PERCENT conversion rate for pirates. They're "adopting" the title, but they aren't paying for it. [Ick, he's right, I misread the comment. Sorry.]
  - olefoo 18y ago
    He's talking about the very first sale. His idea of doing a financial DOS on the pirates by releasing thousands of apps intrigues me. It is mildly surprising to me that Apple hasn't stepped up to help with some form of watermarking embedded in the app, so you could tell who had made the first purchase...
    - silencio 18y ago
      There is. However, that gets stripped out in the process of cracking an application. Compare: (downloaded from appulous to make a point :P) http://img.skitch.com/20090508-amctwf48bn1ng7mhexbsjbtdg.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090508-amctwf48bn1ng7mhexbsjbtdg.jpg with (purchased) http://img.skitch.com/20090508-xt1m8rqwrm96wedr8rn9s5mie6.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090508-xt1m8rqwrm96wedr8rn9s5mie6.jp...
- gcheong 18y ago
  As far as I know, there are no limitations to how many applications you can submit to the app store, but getting them all through the approval process is another thing.
wmeredith 18y ago
For crackers, it's not about the money. It never has been.
- tptacek 18y ago
  There's a 1:1 steady state ratio of pirated users to pay users for his title. There are, what, 10 people who actually cracked the title? For crackers, it's not about the money. But he has a 0% (ZERO PERCENT) conversion rate for pirate users. For deadbeats, it's clearly about the money.
- utku_karatas 18y ago
  ... much like rapists, it's not about sex. It has never been.
- branden 18y ago
  For crackers, it's not about the money. For people who download cracked games, it's probably about the money.

by dhimes 18y ago

People were stealing a $0.99 app? Holy shit! What pathetic losers. I going to have my kid buy it when he comes home. Sounds like a great game for his little brother.

joecode 18y ago

As a developer, I really don't mind the pirates, as long as theirs is a marginal activitiy. Most of them would probably never pay for the apps they download anyway, so they don't make a significant difference in my sales. In fact, they kind of act like reviewers and may help popularize good apps. Good thing to keep it illegal, tho, or else it wouldn't be a marginal activity anymore.

jcl 18y ago

As the article mentions (and as I've heard from some other developers), pirates are generally the among the first people to buy any app -- they pirate everything, regardless of price. ...It's a pity that Apple probably wouldn't let you submit thousands of applications, as you could make a fair amount of money off of the pirates before anyone noticed.

tptacek 18y ago
Did we read the same article? I read that he has a ZERO PERCENT conversion rate for pirates. They're "adopting" the title, but they aren't paying for it. [Ick, he's right, I misread the comment. Sorry.]
- olefoo 18y ago
  He's talking about the very first sale. His idea of doing a financial DOS on the pirates by releasing thousands of apps intrigues me. It is mildly surprising to me that Apple hasn't stepped up to help with some form of watermarking embedded in the app, so you could tell who had made the first purchase...
  - silencio 18y ago
    There is. However, that gets stripped out in the process of cracking an application. Compare: (downloaded from appulous to make a point :P) http://img.skitch.com/20090508-amctwf48bn1ng7mhexbsjbtdg.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090508-amctwf48bn1ng7mhexbsjbtdg.jpg with (purchased) http://img.skitch.com/20090508-xt1m8rqwrm96wedr8rn9s5mie6.jpg http://img.skitch.com/20090508-xt1m8rqwrm96wedr8rn9s5mie6.jp...
gcheong 18y ago
As far as I know, there are no limitations to how many applications you can submit to the app store, but getting them all through the approval process is another thing.

wmeredith 18y ago

For crackers, it's not about the money. It never has been.

tptacek 18y ago
There's a 1:1 steady state ratio of pirated users to pay users for his title. There are, what, 10 people who actually cracked the title? For crackers, it's not about the money. But he has a 0% (ZERO PERCENT) conversion rate for pirate users. For deadbeats, it's clearly about the money.
utku_karatas 18y ago
... much like rapists, it's not about sex. It has never been.
branden 18y ago
For crackers, it's not about the money. For people who download cracked games, it's probably about the money.