App Store recording $459 million in piracy losses?
updated 04:50 pm EST, Thu January 14, 2010
Estimate makes several assumptions
The software industry is missing roughly $459 million in App Store revenue as a result of piracy, a new estimate claims. Using the median in a Bernstein analysis suggesting that between 13 and 21 percent of apps are paid, and a collection of other figures pointing to a piracy rate of 75 percent, 24/7 Wall St. suggests that pirated app downloads are in excess of 1.53 billion. While this would theoretically indicate $4.59 billion in losses with an average app price of $3, the figure only comes to $459 million if one assumes that 10 percent would actually have bought an app if a pirated copy were not available.
Apple's own losses would correspondingly be $140 million since the debut of the App Store in July 2008. The impact is said to be "significant," given that Apple may have accrued between $500 million and $700 million in App Store share during the same timeframe. The problem is however considered more of one for developers, as Apple generates far more income from iPhone and iPod touch sales than it does from the App Store.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 1999
BS
This is assuming, just like all those other worthless studies on the value lost to piracy, that people would have bought the same apps had they not been able to pirate them. This is patently false and misleading.