I think it's a great idea, but definitely once BB10 has rooted itself a bit more. I'm not a developer though, and I can see how they would feel otherwise!
EDIT: I think I broke your thread (my post is on top of the OP) :(
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I think it's a great idea, but definitely once BB10 has rooted itself a bit more. I'm not a developer though, and I can see how they would feel otherwise!
EDIT: I think I broke your thread (my post is on top of the OP) :(
When you read through Alec Saunders' "clarification" on sideloading this morning, it's a pretty huge gift to developers: we uniquely encrypt every app you sell, so that it can only be used on the phone/tablet with the PIN that bought it. Pair that with the fact that Blackberries are probably going to continue to be the hardest platform to jailbreak/root, and RIM has basically given the best piracy protection guarantee out there. And it's all at the consumer's expense. There will be less flexibility for legitimate sideloading, and all the little workarounds that have worked in the past, like putting the same BBID on two different phones to sneak apps over, will be a thing of the past.
Now, whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of perspective that I don't want to get into in this thread... My question is, what is RIM getting in return for consumers. In my view, if the answer is just "apps", then RIM is getting hosed. As Microsoft has proved, a big pile of cash (and a horde of stranded .net developers) will buy you apps, without the long-term platform costs and negative fallout among users that the new unique encryption system will entail.
My view is that RIM should be pushing for this as a payback: If someone converts from BBOS and the "same" app is available in QNX, the app is free. If someone converts from iOS, Android or Windows Phone, and the same QNX app is available, it can be purchased one time in app world for 99 cents regardless of the regular price of the app.
RIM should start writing this into app contracts now to reduce the barrier for entry into their ecosystem. They don't have the conversion software in place to make this system work right now, so the cost is only theoretical for developers at this point, and in the case of non-blackberry converts, is a small stream of money they wouldn't have otherwise had, if the barriers to changing platforms kept users from switching....
So what do you think, should RIM be pushing for this or some other kind of "payback" for their new stance on app control, or is it too much to ask given their current popularity in the [US] market?
Lots of people are writing lots of stuff about the clarification (which was anything but a clarification). Note that the word used was "user", not "PIN". If I were to speculate, nothing seems to have changed as far as App World installations are concerned. The identifier for a purchase is currently BBID and will remain so. Using PIN would be crazy and most thinking developers would not stand for treating our customers in this shoddy manner.
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Quoted from Alec Saunder's "clarification":
What are we doing?
Starting with our next release of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS, we’re introducing a feature that will encrypt apps so they can only be run by the user who purchased the app
1. "All at the consumer's expense"? LOL... how about "all at the pirates' expense". How does this hurt honest consumers who actually pay for their apps?
2. Who says you won't be able to have the same app on two devices with the same BBID? You can do that now, and they've said the encryption will be keyed to the BBID, not the individual device, so you'll still be able to do it. Sounds like you didn't realize that, but I suppose it should pretty much blow away any argument you'd have against this, right?
people will still find a way unfortunately
however this will be a bigger barrier. there are those who will pirate any app even if its only 99 cents because they enjoy the "challenge" of it.
then there are those who would prefer not to pay 1.99 for an app, especially if its super easy to get it for free. if they have to expend alot of effort to get it for free, theyd rather just pay for it.
piracy will always exist, period. this will just cut down on the RAMPANT piracy or casual user piracy.
I was thinking the same thing, but take DingleBerry for example: RIM plugged that hole, and it doesn't appear as though any progress has been made with the exploit thus far, following the update of OS2.0 officially.
I've personally found myself buying ANY app, just to support the developer and show my appreciation for their consideration on the platform. Most people, unfortunately, do not have this mentality and they would still prefer to get things for free. We'll see how easy, if at all, that becomes.