Some people will pirate anything just because it's available
So they wouldn't have bought it anyway? Whats the fuss about then?
So they wouldn't have bought it anyway? Whats the fuss about then?
It's one studio sharing their experience with selling a game on Andriod.
Choice quote: "We have a lot to learn
This was our first Android release. We probably could have done more to avoid the massive piracy of our game - or, even better, convert pirate users into paid users. I think that Android apps are definitely going to get pirated no matter what...I can only dimly imagine the level of piracy that a truly successful paid app has. However if we had anticipated this situation we probably would have included some sort of in app purchase, perhaps to unlock extra levels or game modes. At least then the pirates would have the opportunity to pay us a little something if they were enjoying it so much - the main problem is that most of these pirates probably exist in a commercial ecosystem where the Google Play store does not even exist, and it doesn’t occur to them to buy any games from there at all."
He can advertise on being a reputable and established source of high-quality food, while you cannot do such a thing without lying.
If you hand out free hot dogs, you might go through five thousand in a day. If you weren't there, the guy selling hot dogs might sell five hundred. He certainly might sell less when you're around than when you're not, but you absolutely cannot point to the 5,000 people who took your free dogs and assume that they are all lost sales. The quantity of people who took your free dogs is completely irrelevant. All that matters is the delta between the seller's sales with and without you, which is unrelated to the number of people who take the free option.
It's tough to convince someone to buy the product that you offer when someone else is offering it for free.
Software/music/movie pirates usually fall into very few categories:
* never willing to pay for it
* willing to pay, not willing to put up with current and known barriers
The first category should never be assumed to be a lost sale, however the second could be assumed a lost sale.
The simple explanation would be that Android users pirate because piracy is trivial. Other more nuanced explanations may be that Android users are cheapskates, or hold strong beliefs against paying for software. I'd like to be charitable and assume it's just because downloading APKs is easy.
* Cheapos. Won't pay for it unless it is the only way to get something that they like. (it's hard to find pirated copies, the risk (legal, malware etc) is high etc)
If they weren't going to purchase the product anyway, how is it a loss? If anything, it's additional word-of-mouth advertising at no cost.