Piracy and the Apple App Store

There are a lot of myths circulating regarding software piracy. Thanks to an App Store developer, we get the chance to dispel some of these myths.

Neptune Interactive and Smells Like Donkey have released data regarding a called Tap-Futhat was released to the App store on Oct 16 2009. Now, Tap-Fu isn't expensive, in fact it only costs $1.99 (it used to cost a whopping $3.99!!!).

Let's examine some piracy related myths:

Myth #1: Piracy levels are low

Not for Tap-Fu. One week after launch and piracy levels were at 80%. That's number is simply staggering.

Myth #2: People pirate in App Store games so they can try-before-they-buy

Maybe, but in this case the conversion rate (that is, number of pirates who bought the full game) was 0%.

Myth #3: Piracy takes time, so doesn't affect initial sales

Wrong. The time between the game being launched and appearing on a download site was 40 minutes!!!

Myth #4: Piracy and cracking the iPhone is difficult - not everyone could do it

According to the folks behind Tap-Fu, pirating the game "is MUCH easier than actually buying it on iTunes!!"

For App Store developers, these sorts of statistics must make depressing reading. It's also a shameful indictment of a certain segment of iPhone/iPod touch users who happily pay hundreds of dollars for a device and feel the need to steal an app worth a few bucks.

Want to get a whole load of commercial apps for free, there's an app for that ... unfortunately.