95% of online media are bootlegs, according to a Digital Hollywood panel last week, and focus on monetizing the remaining 5% of non-copyright-infringing copies. But what about standalone iPhone app developers? Should they turn the other cheek to pirates, too?
Ow My Balls is a real iPhone app. Developer Josh Michaels emailed with a shocking stat: For every copy he sells, three copies are downloaded from pirate app sites such as Appulo.us. "It was up there within about 12 hours of it going live in the App Store," Michaels said.
Another developer, James Bossert, blogged the same ratio: 196 buyers, 615 stealers. He emailed one of the pirates and got this reply:
i only want to give public the change to try out your game before spending their money. I at first did not crack any games but after i purchased a few games which were not as good as the description let me believe i wanted to help others not to waste their money on something which even has no return policy.
Would a trial period for apps cut down on bootlegging or, more importantly, raise app sales? Apple continually declines to comment on the matter, but it seems worth a small trial program.