android Android fans: pay for your apps, please

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

As I've said before, while big corporations can deal with piracy, it hurts small companies like these, some of which suffer over 90% piracy rates. I've known enough people who stopped buying things altogether simply because they can get them for free, whether it be apps, games, music, movies, etc. The excuse that "most of them wouldn't buy it anyways" simply isn't true.

[44MLX]

I pay for my apps both on my android phone and my iPad.

[simplezz]

As I've said before, while big corporations can deal with piracy, it hurts small companies like these, some of which suffer over 90% piracy rates.

What a load of rubbish. How can it hurt a company if people wouldn't have bought it anyway? It annoys me when people automatically assume a download equals a lost sale. This is MAFIAA propaganda.

The excuse that "most of them wouldn't buy it anyways" simply isn't true.

It's verifiably true. There have been studies conducted that prove it. In fact you only have to look at France's own figures to realise that stopping piracy had no effect in reducing falling physical music sales, in fact it's still falling. This alone blows a huge hole in the download = lost sale fallacy.

I couldn't possibly afford to buy all the stuff I download. And I wouldn't want to. If I couldn't get access to it, I'd just go without. It's really not that important to me.

[HawkMan]

I pirated a game on Android because I'd already given the developer my money when i bought it on iOS, didn't really wanna pay again just for changing ecosystems.

Yeah, because they're so expensive and android and iOS use the same code so the dev didn't need to do any work at all when porting the iOS version...

[Depicus]

As a developer if* my apps are pirated then so be it, not great but if you need it that badly and are not willing to pay ?1 then just take it. Its affect on me is that it just means less money to buy new stuff to develop for which means it takes longer to update or create new stuff as the motivation isn't there. It does take time and it does cost (got to test on devices) but people will always develop for Android because it has such high numbers.

* yes they are :)

[ichi]

4) Have a realistic price.

Yes, many apps are as cheap as chips. But there are many which are completely overpriced. That is the main reason people pirate surely? Because they can't afford to buy the app. Cutting the price may encourage more people to buy.

I don't think people really "need" the apps they pirate, if they can't afford them (which I find strange considering the average price is well below 5?) they could either not use it or find a free/cheaper alternative.

IMO, if certain app is not realistically priced, then don't buy it. I've yet to find any expensive app that is an absolute must have, so either buy it or skip it.

So far I've bought every app I've felt like installing and that hasn't set me back more than 20?. I'm sure some people might not be able to afford spending 20? over a couple of years on apps for their 100?+ phone, but I don't think they are a majority.

I'd guess most pirates are either a)cheap, b)scared of using their credit card number on online transactions, or c)kids without a CC whose parents are unwilling to spend money on cellphone games.

[neo1911]

I might have spent more than Rs. 53000 ($1000) on apps alone :(

Highest I spent on any app is Zynga Poker which was around $50. But realised that it was addiction and promptly deleted it. Saved me some money :D

[.Blaze]

I buy probably about 60% of the apps I use (the rest are either free, freemium, or i've found them free on offer)

[DevilsNotDead]

Funny how many here dont even have owned Android come here to bash...

[LightShadow]

My opinion still stands that the problem remains with how easy it is to install pirated apps on Android. I mean with the .apk it's pretty easy due to Android allowing you to use apps from outside the Play store.

I know iOS has a lot of pirated apps, but you need to jailbreak to do that, which limits the number of devices, Android doesn't need a jailbreak, the ability is there in stock.

[Detection]

My opinion still stands that the problem remains with how easy it is to install pirated apps on Android. I mean with the .apk it's pretty easy due to Android allowing you to use apps from outside the Play store.

I know iOS has a lot of pirated apps, but you need to jailbreak to do that, which limits the number of devices, Android doesn't need a jailbreak, the ability is there in stock.

Yep, true. Although I guess it wouldn't really stop many people given how easy it is to root and flash custom roms / recovery etc on droid devices

And the fact you can buy an app, back it up, then get a refund

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

On the iphone front I know around 15 people who use them and all of them have the phone jailbroken and use Installous to download apps for free, none of them have ever bought an app for their phones. Of the 11 Android users I know , including myself, all have bought all of the apps in use.

I think that they are somewhat inflating the statistics there.

[123456789A]

Make Windows Phone apps. We pay for our stuff if it's a quality app.

[Eminem25]

They should blame pirace for this, take me for an example had my Galaxy S1 for over a year now, never installed one pirated file/game/app.

I always use free apps and if I didn't find an app that does what I need then, I don't need to do it.

[Manish]

On the iphone front I know around 15 people who use them and all of them have the phone jailbroken and use Installous to download apps for free, none of them have ever bought an app for their phones. Of the 11 Android users I know , including myself, all have bought all of the apps in use.

I think that they are somewhat inflating the statistics there.

So the data that they have on their game might be incorrect based on your "study" of 20-30 people that you know? *rolls eyes*

[Anibal P]

I've never pirated an app, not on iOS or Android, IF the app is worth it, you gets my monies, otherwise you get jack, especially when there's a free alternative that's as good and usually better

Most of the Game companies that are bitching about "piracy" and Android are the ones that thing a mobile game will ever be worth $10+, guess what, your games are barely $5 DL games for any console, you aren't going to screw over that many iOS/Android users, well they seem to screw over many more iOS people than Android, and that's the crux of their complaint

[Anibal P]

So the data that they have on their game might be incorrect based on your "study" of 20-30 people that you know? *rolls eyes*

It's about as accurate as the "data" pointing at piracy, both sides are using incomplete and I dare say on the game maker's side, false data

[Manish]

It's about as accurate as the "data" pointing at piracy

No it's not. Read the game developer's post on Wired (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/02/android-market-game-piracy). His methods may not be flawless but the results are certainly more conclusive than one person thinking about how 30 people use their device. We're not talking about the overall piracy rate on Android either; the "5:1" statistic is about one game.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

What I was trying to say is 100% of the people I know with an iphone pirate everything, and 100% of the people I know with android pirate nothing. It's not scientific, but fact non the less. Most of those with iphones said they only chose it so they could jailbreak and use cydia/installous to get their stuff.

[soldier1st]

I don't think people really "need" the apps they pirate, if they can't afford them (which I find strange considering the average price is well below 5?) they could either not use it or find a free/cheaper alternative.

IMO, if certain app is not realistically priced, then don't buy it. I've yet to find any expensive app that is an absolute must have, so either buy it or skip it.

So far I've bought every app I've felt like installing and that hasn't set me back more than 20?. I'm sure some people might not be able to afford spending 20? over a couple of years on apps for their 100?+ phone, but I don't think they are a majority.

I'd guess most pirates are either a)cheap, b)scared of using their credit card number on online transactions, or c)kids without a CC whose parents are unwilling to spend money on cellphone games.

It's easy for you to say that you've bought all those apps, but then, you can afford them but with others, they can't and thus are forced to pirate stuff.

[soldier1st]

I'm all for supporting the devs but if one can't afford the app then don't blame them. People do need to feed their families. You can't eat an app. Rising costs and other valid reasons often prevent users from buying apps. If users can afford them*hint apple and rich buggers* then make them pay. Also, if your gonna buy an app or something then give something worthwhile for the price.

[Raa]

I've bought about 5 apps. The rest I use the free version, without blocking their ads.*

Develop good apps, and you'll get customers.

Studios are too quick to blame piracy, when really, it's their crappy port that's the problem. *cough*Crysis2*cough*

[ichi]

It's easy for you to say that you've bought all those apps, but then, you can afford them but with others, they can't and thus are forced to pirate stuff.

They aren't forced to pirate anything. We aren't talking about basic things they absolutely need, not for their lives nor even to use their phone.

Most things on Google Play are free, ad supported or freemium, and those that are not you can certainly live without. Whether they think that it's not a problem since they just couldn't buy them anyway and hence there's no lost sale is a different issue, but at least when it comes to apps for their smartphone there's certainly nothing forcing them to pirate.