Related
Well it looks like this is being resurrected, in a month or so I am going to be given the option to pitch this idea after I do the proper market research. So if anyone is in the biz or has some numbers they could throw out me please do. I won't really be hitting the books (so to speak) until we finish a special project we are currently working to launch. If your interested in the pr0n watch this thread!
burgertime said:
Well it looks like this is being resurrected, in a month or so I am going to be given the option to pitch this idea after I do the proper market research. So if anyone is in the biz or has some numbers they could throw out me please do. I won't really be hitting the books (so to speak) until we finish a special project we are currently working to launch. If your interested in the pr0n watch this thread!
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what does this have to do with xda-devs general discussion...smells like spam...but you have 111 posts,so...not sure
Should it go in Development? It isn't developed yet, and I can assure you it is not spam. I work for one of the largest providers of online Adult content in the world.
I had posted something similar about creating a Win Mo program for streaming content before but now that I actually have a definitive answer on going to pitch it I was just getting my ducks in a row.
I just put it in General since I wasn't sure where else it would go, especially since I am kind of looking for market research resources.
burgertime said:
Should it go in Development? It isn't developed yet, and I can assure you it is not spam. I work for one of the largest providers of online Adult content in the world.
I had posted something similar about creating a Win Mo program for streaming content before but now that I actually have a definitive answer on going to pitch it I was just getting my ducks in a row.
I just put it in General since I wasn't sure where else it would go, especially since I am kind of looking for market research resources.
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well i assume it will have to be payed...and we don't sell anything around here,i think...so i'd suggest moving to off-topic at the moment
Possibly pay, possibly not. Either way if some help they could be beta testers which would be free (I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS DEFINITE SO DON'T SEND ME PM's YOU PERVS). Also just for the record I have never advertised the company I work for.
burgertime said:
Possibly pay, possibly not. Either way if some help they could be beta testers which would be free (I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS DEFINITE SO DON'T SEND ME PM's YOU PERVS). Also just for the record I have never advertised the company I work for.
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well i wasn't going to ask for it...think you are a perv.
just wanted to see where would this lead
but for this kind of mobile usage....thanks not
there are better things to watch on the ppc
i mean to work for a company like that,man you could have found a better job
this is just my opinion,so no hard feelings
Your opinion. I love my job, for the record I do not do any programming what so ever just building tutorials and flow charts.
i think the market/demmand is probably theire...not sure tho it's hard to say i mean when would you really have time to watch that on a mobile...it's not something you can just watch while riding the bus or plane...and if your at home just go on pc plenty of it out theire...interesting idea non the lest tho...good luck....
Yea the one thing I could see a major advantage of is having a TV out on your phone and using that to watch it. You then could by pass the nagging wife, girlfriend, boyfriend who snoops around your PC trying to catch you.
Now let me just say right here and now that I'm not a coder so hang with me. It seems to me that google has an issue with pirates (due to the blocking of paid apps for dev phones) until they create a better solution I was hoping somebody might create some kind of module that any dev could use to prevent and curb piracy. I know it's not a huge deal as there's really not that much out there for downloading paid .apk but there are some.
What I would do breaks down into two parts, preventing redistribution of the .apk and then nagging users who have an outdated version (as with download-copy-refund-reinstall). If you made the program run at the moment it was installed and pull and then archive a piece of unique info such as the phone number and then force the whole app to double check the internal archive to the actual phone number it would not only prevent the giving away of apps but archiving the initial release person's info to the dev.
Step two is to force a version check from the app to a sever that has the current version. If you made some kind of update (even if very so minor about once a month) and gave let's say a month so that you're not forcing folks to update that day you could then make the program "nag" a user into updating (that you cannot do if you didn't pay for it) and after some length of time have the program stop working at all.
Now yes it is work for something that may only cost .99 but if the anti-piracy measures were open source then you could not only retrofit an existing program but build new pirate proof apps.
Thoughts?
Both methods are still fairly easily crackable. Just like it's impossible to "DRM" game cd's, music, and video - preventing piracy of software is a very difficult and always flawed things.
You can make copy protection pretty decent but eventually it's all still very crackable. There is no 'good' copy protection. If Google is waiting until they do have a 'good' system for it - it will never happen.
And yes, I actually am a coder with commercial interests that are copy "protected". In the end the question is always if people find it valuable enough to purchase or their time invaluable enough to spend it on cracking these things.
How about release all your code under an open source license and get paid through donations?
I LOL'd! Seriously, if you ever went that route you'd know usually people hardly ever donate, at all. You'll be working for $0.01 an hour. That's ok if it's a hobby project, but bigger projects are just not feasable that way.
It also depends a lot on the community though. For example, I've made freeware tools for gameserver admins and got a lot of donations. I've made mods for games that practically every player used - and these were RCE games, so they cost $$$ - and the total of donations was less than $100 for 100's of hours of work. It depends on the situation, the crowd, how useful the software is, etc, but in the end it comes down to people being cheapskates, but in a weird way.
By 'in a weird way' I mean that it is rather strange that if you ask for donations, hardly anybody will donate $5, but if you were to charge $5, lots of people would purchase and not care about the $5.
Of course this is not true for everybody. Personally I try to donate to free projects that I use - and I know there are several people who also do this. But it's not the 'general public'.
this isnt an issue about open source vs charging for a product. Nobody is doing anything about piracy for this particular handset. it so easy to steal these apps, and if nothing is done to stay ahead of the curve then everyone suffers. do we have to wait till the average user figures it out, or till somebody makes a blog and/or a youtube post on how to release paid apps and that even non root users can pirate these in seconds?
one of two people need to step up, either the devs and try and be a step ahead of the crackers or what i imagine as widespread piracy and the degrading of all app quality.
some have said that people wont bother stealing a .99 app, but i disagree.
robotmaxtron said:
this isnt an issue about open source vs charging for a product. Nobody is doing anything about piracy for this particular handset. it so easy to steal these apps, and if nothing is done to stay ahead of the curve then everyone suffers. do we have to wait till the average user figures it out, or till somebody makes a blog and/or a youtube post on how to release paid apps and that even non root users can pirate these in seconds?
one of two people need to step up, either the devs and try and be a step ahead of the crackers or what i imagine as widespread piracy and the degrading of all app quality.
some have said that people wont bother stealing a .99 app, but i disagree.
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Well i believe chainfire answered the question already, there is nothing they can do. Are you a dev? The only ones suffering are the developers. Piracy is here and no one can really do anything about it. There are more important issues to deal with in the world then piracy. Look at smartphone files - cabs - wm, you dont have to pay for one of those anymore they are out there for the taking. How long have they been around? One look at their situation and its pretty clear nothing can be done.
ummm
piracy is nothing new.... piracy has been around since back on the commodore 64, i cant even explain how many shoebox's of 5 1/4" floppys of games. Pirating windows..... the first version ever. Theres no way to stop it, what is made can always be undone. The use of online connectivity is the only way to stop people from pirating software. Those "servers" are at the expense of the company that released the software. All installs have to have a "phone-home". Why do you think WifiRouter for WM (i think thats what its called) can never be cracked for more than a week. Because the serial numbers are registered in a database, and hardware id's and whatnots are sent regarding that individual phone. If more than a few of set "phones" with the serial number given is used. That serial is blacklisted and deactivated. The software checks for serial status everytime it loads. Very good way of using such software. But others are a little different, like programs that can be cracked using a serial number, but the program is in a site that normally wouldnt ever have acccess to internet (construction sites, etc.) Its just something that cant be stopped.....
p.s. http://tinyurl.com/dczb66 and you will realize what chainfire meant by ruin and destroying software due to copy protection
piracy done right
they need to stop trying to figure out how to solve the problem and just say there is no problem. there is no single "market" for software for my pc.... there will never be one for android. developers will never be comfortable trusting security they have no say so in. apps will come from all edges of the cloud and google is sadly mistaken if they think they can control it.
here is what they should do.. Nothing
Let the developers on their own find ways to secure their apps. wether it be a simple pin number or a log in. as developers make security hackers will break it, then the devs make more, its that cycle that made Linux work in the first place.
regardless of what google does people will start protecting their apk's
If you want to sell programs, do the following and you won't have a problem.
Don't worry about piracy (DRM, Copy Protection, etc)
Make a good product
Don't over-charge for the product
Be upfront with the support offerings
Offer a reasonable satisfaction guarantee if demo is not available
Trying to limit and stop piracy is a failing battle and will ultimately end up costing the developer in the long run.
I come from both sides of the track, i'm a pirate (aka lacking moral compass) and developer. When I come across good software at a reasonable price, I don't think twice about purchasing it.
You could do likesome programmers who sell their product online and on the market at the same time.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=487790
Thanks to the masterBaron I have this program on my dev phone and I live in france.
soundwire said:
How about release all your code under an open source license and get paid through donations?
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The Windows Mobile version of Klaxon has had around 200,000 downloads, and I have received less than $200 in donations. I spent several months on that project. Donationware/open source is does not work.
robotmaxtron said:
What I would do breaks down into two parts, preventing redistribution of the .apk and then nagging users who have an outdated version (as with download-copy-refund-reinstall). If you made the program run at the moment it was installed and pull and then archive a piece of unique info such as the phone number and then force the whole app to double check the internal archive to the actual phone number it would not only prevent the giving away of apps but archiving the initial release person's info to the dev.
Step two is to force a version check from the app to a sever that has the current version. If you made some kind of update (even if very so minor about once a month)....
Thoughts?
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I'd rather my number not be freely given out.
This would also be a problem if my number changed, but I don't buy apps that force version checks / expire / phone home. If it's good enough I look for a copy cleansed of such behavior, while i'd buy a good app without that behavior and if its not locked to hardware/providers. Copy protection can backfire and drive off customers.
How about release all your code under an open source license and get paid through donations?
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Although I have some open source projects this will never work... A lot of people just like to get everything for free and are actually upset when needed to pay 1€ for an application.
I have people send me like 20€ but this is a very rare case! I would be lucky to have at most one costless weekend of drinking in a month, but no way to actually make a living that way.
And if you look into the work put in to most open-source projects ( in terms of hours ) its better to just do 1% of that work for a boss and get payed a lot more. Ofcourse I love doing this and thats mainly the reason why I join open-source projects... Making some money is a nice aspect which "could" happen.
As for copy protection... Like cf stated... There isnt an uncrackable copy protection and if creating one takes up half of the time of your projects development how much good would it be in terms of earning money. Its not a copy-protection problem but its a mind-set problem... People just dont like paying for things they use everyday...
inpherno3 said:
piracy is nothing new.... piracy has been around since back on the commodore 64, i cant even explain how many shoebox's of 5 1/4" floppys of games. Pirating windows..... the first version ever. Theres no way to stop it, what is made can always be undone. The use of online connectivity is the only way to stop people from pirating software. Those "servers" are at the expense of the company that released the software. All installs have to have a "phone-home". Why do you think WifiRouter for WM (i think thats what its called) can never be cracked for more than a week. Because the serial numbers are registered in a database, and hardware id's and whatnots are sent regarding that individual phone. If more than a few of set "phones" with the serial number given is used. That serial is blacklisted and deactivated. The software checks for serial status everytime it loads. Very good way of using such software. But others are a little different, like programs that can be cracked using a serial number, but the program is in a site that normally wouldnt ever have acccess to internet (construction sites, etc.) Its just something that cant be stopped.....
p.s. http://tinyurl.com/dczb66 and you will realize what chainfire meant by ruin and destroying software due to copy protection
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Bull****. WifiRouter or whatever it is could easily be cracked by using fake DNS servers, manually editing the servers to a custom, or bypassing the online checks completely.
Their system is crap, and any skilled cracker could defeat online checks in just a bit of work.
The only truly invincible copy protection I've seen are either hardware, or extremely internet based (something that relies on external servers so much that it's useless without them, such as MMOs). Hardware can be modded, and you can recreate the servers for internet based.
Gary13579 said:
Bull****. WifiRouter or whatever it is could easily be cracked by using fake DNS servers, manually editing the servers to a custom, or bypassing the online checks completely.
Their system is crap, and any skilled cracker could defeat online checks in just a bit of work.
The only truly invincible copy protection I've seen are either hardware, or extremely internet based (something that relies on external servers so much that it's useless without them, such as MMOs). Hardware can be modded, and you can recreate the servers for internet based.
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Or you could just remove the TPM (or Variant) requirements from the software like the Hackintosh version of OSX.
piracy won't ever be stoped.. might take a vbbit longer for some one to bypass it's protecting but it will always be cracked sooner or later
best thing u can do is.. as said before just make a good product be craeative, dont over-charge, people will buy it support you..
heck better is better to make 20 bucks thank nothing at all
At first, let me thanks for your supporting to VPlayer.
I want VPlayer to be free at first, because I think the users will help me if I give out a better app. Now I wanna change my mind.
Considering the situation:
Gingerbread, Tegra 2, HTC hero, Droid X, EVO...
Hundreds of devices and feature requests are coming to me every day. And I want to accomplish these requests as soon as possible.
However, I cannot make it. 'Cause I can't afford these devices and don't have enough time to programm for a free software.
Although I've recieved many donations, but the amount can't even afford a nexus S. So many people are using VPlayer and request more features everyday. But they won't help me at all.
They didn't send me $1, They didn't send me a crash log. They just gave me 1 star, "fc on droid 2 / Nexus S", "If you support HDMI for EVO, will 5 star".
How come they want more and more but won't help any more ?
At last, I think I should make VPlayer a paid app to make it better.
Well, I don't use VPlayer but I totally agree.... If you are putting in that much effort and require funds to continue then yes a paid version would be a good step forward.
I would recommend though you try to keep some form of 'Ad-Support' version. After all, you need new numbers to test and report back.... Plus what with Google's new 15min rule a lot of users are thinking twice now before parting with their cash.
Having said that, VPlayer is easily tested within 15mins.... Providing it does not lock out/FC/Time Slip/etc at 16 mins onwards.
I'd have to agree that a lot of commenters in Market are plain brain-dead and they really discourage developers who put a lot of effort to bring quality software for free.
I will gladly pay for your app, its one of my favs!
Go ahead and make it a paid app, it deserves to be (and its your choice). Also consider an ad supported (in the settings/menu) version for us xda folks
Thanks.
I found RockPlayer to be the only player that would play an avi on my Nexus S, so I looked into buying their product. Then I realise it is done off market and tied to you IMEI number. I e-mailed asking them about this, saying I change device every 2 or 3 months and they said they would move a license twice. For this they want $10?!?!?! (On sale at $5 now I think)
I am thinking of e-mailing them back just to let them know they have put me off buying. If it was tied to the market I would probably have paid $5 already.
Anyway, to bring it back to relevance to this thread, if you charged $1 or $2 I would probably pay for it, if I knew it would play all the video types I needed.
I have to be honest though, I think your logic and reasoning is wrong though. You surely wont make enough money from this to buy every device that someone says it doesn't work on. I would prefer you were honest and just said, this app is taking a lot of time and you'd like some pay back from it. I don't think anyone would deny you that. (That sounds harsh, I don't mean to imply your not being honest now...)
Thanks.
Abitno,
Go ahead and make it a paid app. Time is money. If nobody else is providing what you have to offer I believe you should be entitled to be compensated to support development for such great work. If people don't like it, they will then have to go without an app that supports all the formats VPlayer can handle. I for sure will be willing to pay for such great work. Just make sure you strike a midpoint price. I would suggest a price range between $2.99 -$4.99.
Thanks for the great work and count on me on making a purchase although I already have the latest free version.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Be careful, I would suggest anything over $1.99 will put a lot of people off and you would end up with less...
You might find $0.99 would actually be the most profitable price point. I buy quite a few apps at that price without caring too much if they're useful or not!
Yup! I'd pay a dollar, hey if you did that you might make a killing.
I was using you app last week to watch the Cleaveland Show, really pleased so far. Personally I would prefer if it was a smaller file as have limited space on my N1.
Keep up the good work!
I've tried Vplayer on my Evo and I liked it a lot! I'd be willing to pay for it. Great software.
Agree on everything, make it a paid app!
yea, make it a paid app. But please give us a ad-version too!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
best video app on the market i would go 3 on it no prob
ok, i hope you read this,
as you can see, i am living in egypt where not even Google Checkout is supported, i mean i can't even buy an app off the market even if i wanted to,
i developed a couple of apps, so i'll try to open some ideas for you,
Android Market have countries who can see paid apps, and most can't
making your application paid only leaves me no options to get it.
however making it ad-supported ( in a non spam-ing way ) makes it a good option,
you can also play with the filtering options as much as i can hear in the market to offer both versions in country specific way.
hope i made you see things more clear ...
mezo9090 said:
you can also play with the filtering options as much as i can hear in the market to offer both versions in country specific way.
hope i made you see things more clear ...
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Thank you
mezo9090 said:
making your application paid only leaves me no options to get it.
however making it ad-supported ( in a non spam-ing way ) makes it a good option,
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I would suggest releasing two versions: Full/Paid, and a Free ad-supported one.
I've heard some people complaining that ads don't get you very much money, especially if no one clicks on them. I don't have firsthand experience with that, though. But even if the paid version doesn't add any extra features, label it a "donate/ad-free" version and some people would buy it just to get rid of the ads. Extra features in the full one just add more incentive, and the ad-supported one can still be used by those who can't buy it, like mezo9090.
What I suggest is that instead of making it paid, you should make it... open source. Yeah, open source. If such a great app becomes open, more developers will certainly join in (count me in once I finish that C++ course), which means more devices for testing and faster development in general. So, what do you think?
IMHO (as a non-developer) I would suggest you market it carefully. Id guess that your main competition is RockPlayer. I use both VPlayer and RockPlayer as I find some formats work better on one than the other.
I agree with a poster above that you would get a lot more response by pricing it low - I tend to be happy to throw a $ or two on a whim but anything more i tend to want to see a demo first ....
This is my favourite app - without it there would still be one area where Windows Mobile outperforms Android (well, there's RockPlayer, which was okay, but less developed, and with that annoying banner).
Add a price, and I'll pay it. My suggested price-point is £2 to £3. Congratulations on a fantastic App.
By the sounds of it, the Angry Bird developers have found it profitable to have an ad-supported version (although I know they have critical mass on their side). I's suggest a paid and an ad-free version if it's simple to put together.
All the best, very proud to have you on this board
I understand your case but if your app is to be on XDA it has to be free, or free with an optional paid version. Ads are reccomended in your case. PM me if you wish to carry on this application development, best wishes.
Hi there, so I need someone to make me something that as far as I am aware would be extremely basic to do - I need an app that literally I can open, tap on, then it would randomize through 50 pictures and make one of them appear full screen. Tapping again would make it randomize to a different picture. That is literally it.
I am willing to compensate for your time and effort, and obviously would pay at least half of what you would want upfront so you know that I am not trying to swindle you.
My phone is WindowBreak unlocked (Omnia 7) so as long as it would work on that I would be chuffed.
If anyone is interested, it's actually for probably the geekest reason ever - me and a few friends play the ever so popular "Magic: The Gathering" (once reffered to as 'Cardboard crack' don't you know) and we wanted to play some Archenemy games - for these games there are these cards that you can only get in decks, and considering the amount of money we spend already on these cards we really don't want to be paying out for each deck which comes with 5 of the cards just for an odd game type now and then. This way we could do it without paying excessive amounts!
So yeah, if anyone thinks it wouldn't be too much effort and needs a bit of cash for any projects ect. then let me know. I'd pay via paypal, so make sure you've got that - and please make it a reasonable offer I have a job but its minimum wage so I'm not Richard Branson or anything.
Drop me a PM or simply post on here, I've got the images ready so literally I'd just need to send them to you and then do what you want with it. It really does just need to be very basic, It's for personal use and I very much doubt anyone else could make much use of it.
Thanks to anyone in advanced who can help!
Bump bump bump
No one wants to make some cash?
Check your PM.
Spookidoodles said:
I've got the images ready so literally I'd just need to send them to you and then do what you want with it. It really does just need to be very basic, It's for personal use and I very much doubt anyone else could make much use of it.
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Actually depending on how the person writes the Xap I could see a LOT of uses for this. Especially if it's possible to add the images our self to the randomizer. Because in essence that is what you are wanting is a random image generator.
With the right work, something like this could actually be a usable Marketplace app (though I doubt WotC would be happy with including the Archenemy cards built into the XAP... though maybe, not sure what their copyright policy on those is).
Certainly for personal use, this sounds like a great idea. I'm not a huge fan of Archenemy myself but something like this would make it a lot more accessible and quicker to play.
I've agreed to Sensboston working on this for me - if anyone wants it when he's done you will have to go through him to get it, as I said I just want this for personal use - if he wants to upload it to the WP7 Marketplace then its completely up to him!
But yaaaaaaay I'm not the only MTG player around. I've only played Archenemy properly on the Duels of The Planeswalker 2012 games. We don't have the same love for MTG over here as in the US (well we do but on a much smaller scale, and there aren't any clubs or anything within a reasonable distance of where I live).
Me and just a few friends get together every so often to play it and I just think it would make things more interesting once in a while - obviously not all the time as the game type is so tipped in favor of the Archenemy that its unreal, but at least it will add a little more challenge to me wooping everyone all of the time.
I just need to vent. I'm a fairly active developer for the android platform. I've created a number of kernel patches and applications that I have released at no charge to the community for about 10 or so devices.
All this I do in my "spare time", which I have very little of because I am a full time professional student who takes on 32 credit hour semesters.
Recently, since my 1994 geo prizm is literally falling apart and I was hoping to scrounge together a little bit of money to get a new car so I don't end up stranded on my way to class, I decided to release a paid application. Fastcharge / Force AC toggle which allows you to toggle on and off the force AC feature. A feature which I have personally implemented and released source patches for on a number of devices.
Not only in every thread where I released the patch on a device did I write up how to toggle the feature through the command line, but I also stated that I also implemented a toggle into my completely free application that you can also download from the market, IncrediControl.
In good faith and knowing how annoying licensing is, I elected to not include licensing in my application. This is a huge regret.
Within a couple days of releasing the application to the market I googled it to see if anyone was talking about it. One of the first links was to a piracy site where a user was requesting the widget, to which another user obliged and posted the apk to a filesharing site. Doing something I never though I would have to do, I filed a DMCA takedown request, which was answered quickly and the app was taken down. Monitoring the thread, every single time a link gets taken down, another user requests the app and the original user reuploads it, most recently to 11 different sites.
So now, after filing dozens of takedown requests. This user has decided to unzip my apk, change out the artwork, and now is going around releasing it as his own work.
Really, all this to avoid paying $1.50 (only ~$1 of it actually going to me) to an individual whose yearly income is low enough that he doesn't have to file taxes?
This disgusts me.
This is even worse than the 50% "order cancellation rate" that the widget has. I'm not stupid, I know exactly what users are doing, but yet initially I was willing to ignore it. But this has gone too far.
What is even the point of pissing off a developer so much that he is considering saying screw the platform all together? It doesn't even make sense. We, the developers improve your devices, generally at little or no cost, and this is how we're repaid. With ~50% of current users of the application having pirated it. To avoid paying just over $1.
Now before someone even counters with the "my area doesn't support paid applications" argument I've actually gladly GIVEN the widget away to a number of users who casually mentioned in the release threads that they couldn't download it for this reason. Not to mention, everyone knows there are apps that unlock the market in these areas to be able to purchase apps.
How much more generous can a developer be than to provide source code patches for a feature, provide information on how to toggle the feature, provide a COMPLETELY FREE way to toggle the feature, and then charge a measly $1.50 for a secondary, slightly more convenient way to toggle.
Yet he's repaid like this .
Of course, this must suck for a developer like you. Unfortunately, it seems to happen more and more often, and all I can really say is:
I would gladly pay a few bucks for an application like IC or BootManager. That BootManager seemed really interesting, but we can't buy apps from the Play Store without CC (and as a 16-year old, I don't have one). I asked the developer if he accepted Paypal, but he didn't.
Don't get me wrong, and this is not an attack to you personally: developers, if you made something really nice, and people will like it, 70% of the people will gladly pay for it, just make sure you allow them to.
Chaosz-X said:
70% of the people will gladly pay for it, just make sure you allow them to.
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I honestly thought this was the case. It's really not. The problem is much worse than that. If 70% of users in the root community paid for apps it would be astonishing. Its made pretty clear by the number of users who download the app, back it up and then cancel the order.
If a 16 year old kid had made me that offer, the e-mail reply I sent would have the apk attached.
Well, that is a real flaw of Android: tweakability is really impressing, but these things make it really difficult to earn some money as a developer.
We have been thinking about anti-piracy measures as well, with stuff such as authentication with a server, and locking down the code and verifying integrity of APKs and stuff to make sure it's really hard to mess with the code, but it's just sad that there's a need for these measures..
The trouble is everything has piracy right from movies to game consoles through to mobiles and music.
I mean the iPhones appstore would be a hell of a lot bigger if there was no jailbreaking and installous.
Every platform has been cracked so you'll get it regardless of what you develop for.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA
I think you know you just needed to vent but can I change your picture.
There are some people in this world who just don't buy the idea of an idea as property. That's not compatible with this business model. That's the first problem.
The next problem is that
there's a million and one apps out there and which one are we going to choose? Where does it start, where does it end? We all have our limits. What's yours?
For me, the app has to be something very unique and possible generate me cash. For example something I use every day at work. If it's something that the phone should do anyway I tend to skip it and save the $1 for the next phone that does it out of the box. Your app is a great thing, but there's many utility apps out there. It just doesn't fall into the kind of thing I'd cave my strict budgeting for. There are people here with a 1000 apps installed and you expect them to pay $1000 in this sense.
Another way would be having utility in the cloud and then the app is free. Another one of course, advertising.
The difference with both of these is we don't need to risk a credit card with the market. That's the main reason I personally haven't bought many apps and I'd imagine it's a problem for minors too.
The very community that allowed us to create the app fails to pay for it's products is like life itself.
I'd say make something for the iphone instead because there's more profit there but that would never have been possible, see what I'm saying? That's the 3rd problem.
So you've got 3 problems there all converging into one big push towards piracy. But remember, can your app assure security that the pirated version cannot for example? This is how one has to think.
In short,
you can't do something and hope to make a bit from it on the side. You got to go out from the start and get the money aspect central from the start. I mean, that's business and of course that's exactly what the android community works hard to free us from.
Still, summarising those 3 points for suggestion:
- offer something free things can't (i.e. security, brand etc) For example, I never run pirated stuff for fear of insecurity on my data whereas I'll try out software that way on an old PC
- can always put a service in the cloud aka the javascript trap
- iphone is there if you want...
- needs to "the one app" a certain person would pay for, not something everyone likes
Also just to make that point again, if one does not believe in property then inconveniently there is no moral crime here. I suggest learn to live with this and go with the flow
I hope google sells PlayStore cards (like itunes cards) that allows user to buy apps, music, movies, books without a credit card. I really want to buy some amazing apps but i dont have a credit card so i just use free apps. I think that if u cant buy an app that cant be a reason to piracy or sidedownload that app.
jago25_98 said:
For me, the app has to be something very unique and possible generate me cash. For example something I use every day at work. If it's something that the phone should do anyway I tend to skip it and save the $1 for the next phone that does it out of the box. Your app is a great thing, but there's many utility apps out there. It just doesn't fall into the kind of thing I'd cave my strict budgeting for. There are people here with a 1000 apps installed and you expect them to pay $1000 in this sense.
Another way would be having utility in the cloud and then the app is free. Another one of course, advertising.
The difference with both of these is we don't need to risk a credit card with the market. That's the main reason I personally haven't bought many apps and I'd imagine it's a problem for minors too.
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The feature is 100% unique and so is the widget. Not to mention, if you didn't want to pay the $1, I provided a free way to toggle the feature in the utility app. The point is, that there is nothing forcing people to pay for the widget to use the feature. But instead of using the free option provided, they not only pirate the paid app, but edit the artwork and release it for free as their own. It defies logic.
Also, ad based apps don't work with the rooted community. I learned that early on. Myfree utility app is ad supported. With over 40,000 installs you would think it would make even a dollar a day. Nope, makes nearly nothing. That's when I realized that the same niche I was marketing to are the same people who block ads. Even if someone didn't want to block ads, they can't install a single ROM that doesn't include an ad blocking hosts file out of the box.
chad0989 said:
[...] How much more generous can a developer be than to provide source code patches for a feature, provide information on how to toggle the feature, provide a COMPLETELY FREE way to toggle the feature, and then charge a measly $1.50 for a secondary, slightly more convenient way to toggle.
Yet he's repaid like this .
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Be sure you're looking at all sides. Yes, you're in a losing war with guys intent on pirating your app. You can't stop them, and well, you goofed on the licensing, so someone will no doubt release the clone.
First of all, don't do the Big Media thing and assume that everybody that pirates your app would have paid for it if it hadn't been available. A lot of folks collect, or just try something once. You'll only work yourself into a funk thinking about all that money you "would" have if only they hadn't been able to pirate it. They wouldn't have. At least not all of them.
More importantly, be aware that placing something out there with value does reach folks that otherwise would have no idea of you or your plight. More than once, I've purchased an app that I don't really need, but found clever and cheap enough I can buy it without thinking about the investment. I've spent more on Android software at $1-15 over the last year than I did over the last 25+ at $30-100 a pop. I've only refunded an app once, by accident.
Finally, be up front about your situation. A guy trying to make do does influence my impulse buying. So does his reputation. If you're doing a lot, be sure that's clear on your app page, and let us know clearly you're the guy that also brought us whatever.
I am curious, though: How much did you actually bring in?
Chad- thanks for telling your story, I agree that you have every right to be disappointed. Especially the buying and refunding, that to me send almost worse because you can't stop dedicated pirating, but I would have hoped the rest would have bought the app.
It's easy to forget the human side of development, so thanks for sharing your side.
Jesus christ Chad. This is f$%&*#@ ridiculous. Probably the best and most generous kernel dev I have ever come into contact with, and people are cheating you out of 1.50. Please don't abandon Android. I need kernels when I get my rezound! but in all seriousness, warez needs to stop.
Sent from my ADR6400L
Yep. Sucks. After getting serious about android , which wasn't too far in, joining with a nexus one and seeing all the free HARD work we get, I definitely try buying stuff I use. If I can't pay sometimes I will see if dev does something else I can donate to. Its an issue I've thought about and part of it really boils down to how sorry people are in general. They want free and cheap. $1 is laughable even when it can be easily had for free. You really should market yourself a bit even though you don't want to. And people should really put a complimentary $5 or so budget a month or more and try to support devs. Maybe if you have something he gave free but has an app you won't use for a buck, buy the dollar app and uninstall after the 15 minute period. Or throw him a 5 through PayPal or something. Its simple really. If these devs don't have to resort to ramen and water they keep dev'ing especially for the community supporting him or her. And if they're eating vegetables and have plenty of red bull money it gives them wings. Otoh, the devs that make us pay to reinstall an app after we bought it on another or lost our phone suck. Balls. Won't buys theirs anymore.
teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. teach a man to fastboot, and you create competency. and less threads on xda.
Maybe you should implement a system like some developers do where you download the app for free with a time limited trail, then they would go to another website to pay for the app to unlock it, and the unlock codes would be unique for every user which would minimize piracy.
Sent from my GT-N7000 Samsung Galaxy Note "Go big or go home" using XDA app
rafa6571 said:
I hope google sells PlayStore cards (like itunes cards) that allows user to buy apps, music, movies, books without a credit card. I really want to buy some amazing apps but i dont have a credit card so i just use free apps. I think that if u cant buy an app that cant be a reason to piracy or sidedownload that app.
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In the Netherlands we have prepaid Visa card.
Works well.
Maybe you google something similar in your own country.
(3V prepaid Visa cards)
That does suck but if someone wants to pirate an app even licencing doesn't stop them as there is an app that apparently patches licence checks.
It is so easy for even a non root and new user to find cracked apps, I have seen links on here and even on peoples facebook sites, it's got to the point where people can just browse a webpage and click a link to get the cracked version of an app.
Unfortunately if someone wants to crack it they can. Unless you could implement your own security check somehow, something obfuscated in the code, licencing is the only alternative as it would stop people using backed up cancelled versions at least.
Unfortunately it seems a lot of people just don't want to pay for apps.
Dave
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
also have to look at both sides. some people just refuse to pay for **** whatever it is, or get it as cheaply as they can. being android apps, the free route is how they're going to go. but the other side, you hsould be grateful for all the people that do pay. they're the ones helping keeping google, open source, android and everything in between chugging along. open source is the future and you can tell every corporation i said that. and thanks for you your work even though i've never used it.
jago25_98 said:
...
Also just to make that point again, if one does not believe in property then inconveniently there is no moral crime here. I suggest learn to live with this and go with the flow
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There is plenty to disagree with in your post as it all seems like an attempt at rationalizing ways to get around the system. This last statement is a ridiculous attempt at summarizing why stealing is OK. Your morals don't define the crime, the law does. Stealing property, physical or intellectual, is not legal and not right regardless of your morals or lack of.
Chad,
I am sorry to hear of your products' abuse. I used your kernels all the time on my Incredible devices and bought IncrediControl to support development. I have purchased many applications just to support development and believe that is the way to get high quality applications.
Piracy is just so damn easy on Android. I know ppl that are doing it who I wouldn't even expect to be doing such a thing. This guy I know love android only because he can get everything free by just googling the apk.
awww thats sad i feel really bad for you!
I've used pre paid visa debit cards to buy apps. You can find them in Any money shop like Cheque cashing places for example. You can even just stick a dicky diver (£5) on them. Perfect for situations like this
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