Anybody knows and can confirm that Apple is a genius company when it comes to products , marketing and PR. They released the iPhone and they CRUSHED the market. Than they released an Appstore and the competition start running home crying at their mothers.
The appstore should have been a fantastic project for Apple and an amazing news for consumers, consumers that could and still can become developers.The only problem is that they allow anybody to develop apps for this devices. Hah, i never thought i would be boo-ing at freedom. Go figure.
“Anybody” means that people who had never been a part of a developing team, and have no background in the software industry could create an app for the iPhone as long as they were capable to learn some coding. The result of that was fantastic for Apple because the Appstore grew and still growing over night, which means more income for them.
Let’s fast forward a little bit and go straight to the hacking part of the AppStore. Of course, because of the popularity of this devices and the huge amount of apps, the AppStore became extremely appealing to hackers. And there is where the chaos begins. Everybody starts bitching. “We are a decent family who developed this and the next day the app got hacked” .Boo-hoo. Decency of you as a person, your religious orientation and such things have nothing to do with your app being cracked. You , and your lack of experience in the software business , on the other hand has everything to do with it.
FSM EXCLUSIVE DEAL Because i never ever heard ngmoco or smule or anybody else complain. Only the small time devs who thought they will get rich over night. Let me explain this : the moment your software ( any software ) hits the market, you should expect that that particular software to be hacked and shared all over the internet. I DO NOT say that is a good thing, or a moral thing but lets think of it this way dear Sunday developers :
- Most of the time, IF your software gets hacked , means you done something right and it is useful to people. Be happy about it.
- Usually people like to try the full app before they decide to buy it. Would you buy a car from me, if i would just present you a logo/icon and a description of the car ?So no matter the price , like it or not, people wont buy shit if they got another option. Even if all the apps would be 99 cents, a lot because people tend to get all the apps they can. And 99 cents + 99 cents + … +99 cents = you get it? So, yeah people like to try it first and some of them will buy the app if they think it will suit them. Thats the way it is.
- On your run for “get rich quick”, sometimes you will ask for a ridiculous price for your app. I bet this is your judgment : “ohhh but i worked hard on this, and i spent all my spear time on this! I should ask a high price, because apple takes a % of the money as well and what would i get? ” Well, almost nothing because of that judgment. A big % of the consumers are students, do you think they can afford to pay for your bullshit conceptions?
- IF your app is a really good one, and it bring value to this device, im all about for people to pay for it, no doubt. But i am all about for people to try it cracked first. If you’re app is cracked, why do you bitch about it? Because you are not making all the money that you can make? Because from, lets say, 1000 people that uses your app, only 300 bought it? Once anything get financially rewarded , its a business. It is your problem if you dont know how to run your business not our problem as consumers and most definitely not crackers business. Which bring me to the next bullet point, and probably the most important one for you whiners :
- When you decide to develop an app for the iPhone do you think the hardest task is to come up with a concept, create it and get it accepted by the AppStore? Well in that case , you are a clown and you loose before you even start. The hardest task should be ” How do i monetize this?” That is the most important question. But instead you expect to get money only from people that should absolutely buy your app because well… it’s your app. Do me a favour : if you are a first time dev or you are on your second/third etc app ask yourself this question and please get back at me with an email and tell me how much time did u waste on it. This question will rise so many conflicts and problems and you will loose so much time on it, that after you will figure it out, creating an app will be a child’s play.
The moral of the story: STOP WHINING! Dont be shocked when your app gets cracked and think before you act. Dont think on short term. Your goal is NOT (only) to get the app done and get it accepted. 30k people done that before, you think you are special? What do you want , a cookie ? Think ahead, take all the variables into this complex equation , expect the unexpected and most importantly ACT on it!
As a bonus to this article, i asked SayEight.com the creator of BinaryGame to tell me in one phrase what did he do when he found out his game was cracked and how did he act on this :
First I was angry, I couldn’t wrap my mind around people stealing a game that’s only $2. I did some research on how I could fight it. Soon after I realized that it’s not a fight worth fighting at all. These people will probably not buy it anyway. In a way I am almost humbled that there is enough interest in the game to have it cracked. Obviously I’d still rather people pay for it 🙂 Bottom line, not much that I can do about it. I have a way of knowing which people have cracked versions, but I don’t plan on doing anything about it at the moment.