piracySoftware piracy is a huge business, it costs software developers a lot of money, but it also costs software consumers a lot of money, because it is built into the price of the software.

Software piracy is not only an issue with desktop software but with mobile software, like iPhone apps. I read an interesting write up named Game Developer Confronts iPhone Software Cracker. It basically discusses the rational of why software pirates feel they are entitled to steal and distribute the stolen software, for free, to those that do not want to pay for it. It is a must read.

When we found out that our iPhone Siddur was on the torrent list of apps stolen and being distributed, we were actually some what excited. I mean, if your app is good enough to make a list of apps that people want to steal, well - that says something. But the article above doesn't agree with that rational. So now I don't know what to think. I mean, 99% of our users gave us five star reviews, so clearly, the app is worth the $10 to 99% of the folks out there.

Anyway, I keep track of our sales and I also know how many people have the iPhone Siddur on their iPhones. I can tell you that there are about 30% more Siddurs on iPhone than what was paid for. This can happen for two reasons:

(1) They stole it via a torrent site or
(2) They use the same iTunes account as a friend or family member and downloaded it on their iPhone as the same iTunes user.

What I find nice is that several people have either emailed us or called us asking us permission to do #2. I always say yes, and I really appreciate the email. Some have even gone as far as to send us money, not through Apple, because they felt it was the right thing to do. Again, appreciated.

But for iPhone Developers to continue making products and improving them, we need the income. I do believe that stolen releases lead to other people buying it. Overall, I don't think this is a major issue for most of my products but I can see this being an issue for other developers.