The state of misery of being an app developer!

[battletictactoepro]

Copying other people work is nasty and not good but copying is unavoidable in this digital world. I am not saying that copying is ok. I am totally against it. I am saying it to encourage people to still develop their ideas and not afraid being copied by other people. The key is to be the first come up the idea in the apple store. But of course the idea and the app must be really good so it's not easy copied by others.

My friend developed a very successful app and of course his app was copied by many including one big famous company. But since his app is first with that kind of idea, his download and income are not affected by other similar apps.

[BlueSpiral]

Originally Posted by battletictactoepro

Copying other people work is nasty and not good but copying is unavoidable in this digital world. I am not saying that copying is ok. I am totally against it. I am saying it to encourage people to still develop their ideas and not afraid being copied by other people. The key is to be the first come up the idea in the apple store. But of course the idea and the app must be really good so it's not easy copied by others.

My friend developed a very successful app and of course his app was copied by many including one big famous company. But since his app is first with that kind of idea, his download and income are not affected by other similar apps.

One interesting issue about this is the marketing aspect. A lot of people advocate brand and game awareness at the earliest possible stage (start of a project). If you have a very unique idea, one of the difficulties would be to protect the idea so that you can be first to market whilst at the same time generating interest for downloads and to get people excited about your concept.

[Syndicated Puzzles]

The Mac App Store at the moment is kind of like a village of 12 people. The inbreeding of ideas is getting to the point where every single day the same apps appear over and over again. Brand new concepts are a tough sell in the real world. People need to be able to digest creativity before they are willing to buy it. Apple isn't rewarding the creative developers (enough) especially on the Mac App Store. They tend to constantly feature the same apps over and over again. Some apps have had 10 + features and apps that have tried to push the new get ignored. Pretty sad if you think rewarding creativity will move the stores forward.

The first to market advantage is realistically a three to four week window at the moment if an idea is successful. Some studios are sitting in copy mode and are ready to duplicate successful apps in a matter of a few days.

[MHille]

JiggleSaw was a simple idea that I worried could be easily copied. I regret not talking about the game and idea as soon as I could, it really stifled the launch.

Matthew

[BlueSpiral]

Maybe the best way to market a great idea (whilst protecting it at the same time) is to the gradual approach. Be generalized to start off with, including basic information - title , outlined concept etc then add more meat as the game develops. Anyone who will want to utilize some of the ideas will still have to play catch up and if you do a great job, everyone will see that it's just a copy or homage to your game.

The best analogy would be during the holiday season. Give little presents during the day and then save the biggest and best surprise till the end.

[Syndicated Puzzles]

Blue Spiral you need to put your party dress on and push up bra from day one, otherwise it won't work. There is no place in the world where your first impression is as important as on the app store.

[BlueSpiral]

Originally Posted by Syndicated Puzzles

Blue Spiral you need to put your party dress on and push up bra from day one, otherwise it won't work. There is no place in the world where your first impression is as important as on the app store.

I'd definitely agree with that, it's no use having a great game if nobody knows anything about it. I guess I was trying to brainstorm a strategy where you have the best of both worlds, exposure and the idea at the same time. I don't really think their's an effective way of doing it without harming your own endeavours. Nature of the beast.

[BlueSpiral]

Intelectual property rights and copyright is a very complex area with lots of people who specialize in it. I'm sure their's lots of information out there.

[willzeng]

Wow, that's a story. Shame for the Chinese company. But think it optimistically, you got copied only because you are successful. And Apple would definitely interfere if you report.