The following is a guest post by Cameron Banga.
Dear Pirates:
About an hour ago, I was searching the web for reviews and information on my first iPhone application, Battery Go!, which was released last Sunday to the App Store. While shifting my eyes over the Google search results, I came across a startling link which I’ll explain in a second.
Before I get to the rest of this tale, let me give you a little history on who I am so that you can better understand my side to this story. Back in May, two friends and I decided to spend the entire summer working as a team on an application for the iPhone. We pretty much had absolutely no experience going into the adventure, spending 60ish hours a week reading, watching videos, playing with code, and gaining as much knowledge as possible in order to complete an application. We put together the concept for Battery Go!, did some coding, and released into the App Store. Over our first 48 hours in the store, we rocketed up to the list of top 100 paid applications in the store and currently sit at spot 75 or so. It’s been one of the proudest moments of my life and I can’t wait to see where the app winds up when all is said and done. The idea that three kids with no programming knowledge can program and release such a successful application in less than two months is absolutely absurd, and I must thank Apple greatly for giving me the opportunity.
Anyways, let’s rewind and go back to the previous paragraph where I was searching Google. So, I’m clicking around links, minding my own business, when I come upon a site which offers pirated iPhone applications. I’m not going to offer up a link here, but I’m sure you can find it on your own if you search hard enough. After poking around for a couple seconds I entered in a CAPTCHA, pressed the submit button, and before I knew it an .ipa file with Battery Go! was sitting on my desktop.
So here’s the point in the story where my emotions start to go all in a whirl, pretty much to a point I can’t really describe through words. First, I kinda felt a whole lot of anger. I mean, how could that idiot take my work and steal it, giving me nothing for each illicit download. Then I started to think like the 21-year old product of the Napster generation I am, seeing piracy as a part of life just like taxes. After that I almost had a sense of flattery, thinking it was kinda cool that some guy across the globe found interest in pirating my app and making it available to the world.
It wasn’t until I saw the amount of times our app has been pirated that I actually began to truly take this piracy to heart. The pirated file was placed online about five hours ago and as of right now, about 3714 people have stolen a copy of Battery Go! That’s not a huge amount by pirating standards, but enough to catch my eye none the less.
Now I know what you’re saying, “Hey man, we pirate because we hate the man. We wouldn’t have bought your app anyways. I pirate because I’m broke.” I know I’ve heard it all since before Napster and know very well that I’m not going to convince you to change your ways, but just hear me out for a second.
I don’t want to condone music, video game, or movie piracy, but you’re not hurting billion dollar giants like the MPAA or RIAA in this situation. Instead, you’re hurting me and my two college buddies. We’ve all given up any income from a job this summer, eaten Uncrustables or dollar menu food practically every meal, ignored our family, slept on couches after 15 hour work days, and practically given every aspect of our life away to this application for the last two months in hopes of chasing a some far’fetched dream. Then just when we see some glimmer of hope for success, you come along and put up a pirated copy of my application on some portal and have now taken 3816 (there goes another 100 or downloads in the ten minutes it took me to write two paragraphs) copies of Battery Go! from me.
I know that not every pirated copy translates to a sale, I know that piracy is a fact of life, I know that you probably don’t agree with what I’m saying. But let’s put this into perspective for a second with some math. So, right now we’ve had 3875 copies pirated (that number just keeps going up haha). Right now, we’re charging $0.99 per copy and make 70% of all revenue after Apple takes their administrative fees. That means we have a grand total of $2712.50 lost through piracy thus far. We have a three man team, so divide that number by three and you have $904.16 which you have taken from me directly. That’s pretty much more money than I’ve ever made in a month throughout my entire life and it was just taken from me in less than 5 hours. If you want, you can keep tacking on a couple extra dollars here and there as you scroll down and read the rest of this article because we’re at 3997 pirated downloads right now and who knows what that number will be by the time you read this.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to guilt trip you into making a purchase. I understand that I’m not going to get that out of you and that’s totally fine with me. I’m part of this digital generation just like you are and I realize that piracy is a part of life which any business needs to learn to deal with if they want to ever be successful. However, I do want you to just think about my perspective and what it would be like if you were eating PB&J for 4 out of 5 meals just to save cash because you’re not making a dime through a 2 month development process and you don’t have a financially stable company to provide some cash upfront to help you cover expenses. Just realize that piracy doesn’t just hurt the big guy like Apple, the MPAA, or the RIAA. It hurts the college kid like myself who is counting on this kind of thing to provide rent and the occasional pizza.
So if by chance I’ve changed your mind and you realize that you can make a significant detrimental impact in my life through pirating my app, how can you help me out and maybe pay me back? Well, you could start by buying a copy of Battery Go! for the iPhone. However, that would be way beyond what I could ever ask from you and I don’t expect it. If you really want to help me out and you don’t want to give me a measley $0.99, you could always be a huge help and just spread the word about my application. No seriously, that would be the best thing in the world you could do. Write a blog post and review Battery Go!. Take some time out of your day to tweet about the app and include a link (preferably to the legitimate iTunes file). E-mail along to a friend and tell them how useful you think Battery Go! is. If you see one of your friends using an iPhone, tell them about this cool app that helps you see how much talk time you have left on your current charge. Digg up this article and help pass it along other social networks like Reddit or Stumbleupon. If possible, just do something just to help raise awareness that piracy does hurt the little guy like me. Again, I won’t be upset with you or hold any grudge against you if you’ve taken a copy of my product. I just want you to understand that I’ve given up a lot and put in a ton of hours so that you can enjoy an app like Battery Go!, and I would love for you to help spread the word to those law abiding citizens who may actually give me the dollar.
In conclusion, I’m not upset with you all of you internet pirates in the world. I just want you to see and comprehend that a fellow human who works hard just like you, and not some huge greedy corporate giant, is really suffering because of your decision to pirate my software. Don’t feel bad, don’t mail me a $0.99 check, don’t even think twice about your decision. Just help spread the word about this article or my app Battery Go!, and then I’ll go back to work making innovative software in hopes that there is justice in the world and I will receive some sort of reward for my hard work and dedication.
Thanks for your time Pirates, hope we can talk again soon. XOXO
-Cameron Banga
PS, upon completing this post, we’ve lost 4163 potential downloads to piracy.
If you haven’t yet, please Digg our story and help spread the word on app piracy.
More about the Author: I’m Cameron Banga, marketing director for CollegeKidApp.com. When I’m not building iPhone apps, I’m a 21 year old college student from Indiana, USA. I’m a huge soccer fan, and right now am spending about 16 hours a day promoting Battery Go!
. Over to them:
