Oh yea, you're wrong. I buy iTunes apps because I have access to gift cards for the store so I can buy. The Cydia store doesn't have gift cards to their store so I can't buy them until I get access to a Credit Card/Paypal. I think you realized how stupid your post was and changed it before anyone saw.
Very tiresome as all the excuses are just that - excuses. So 270 - you admitting to pirating from a Jailbreaking app? Sort of why people get the wrong impression about why people jailbreak their phones don't you think? This -- and at the very least you can get an Master Card or AMEX prepaid card at the same places you get your iTunes cards. So, another excuse bites the dust. Go pre pay for a credit card and there you have it.
I don't know if this is still the case but my bank used to require you to be 15 before you could get a debit card. It's irresponsible to issue a card to someone too young to young to understand how a debit/credit card works. The average 12 year old would just spend every cent/paso/farthing they have on hula hoops, gumballs and crack cocaine the second they were issued a card. Maybe that's a bit unfair but isn't that what cash cards are for?
You're not allowed to spend more than what is on a debit card. It's an easy way for parents to teach their kids some responsibility about managing money. Parents can put allowances or birthday money directly into the account linked to the debit card instead of handing their kids cash. This way, kids get to spend at their own rate, and when they run out, they're out. No, iTunes cards and other gift cards are for giving to others, as their names suggest? Edit: If you're going to overcharge a credit card though, you better watch out for your dad coming at you with his 2 x 4. I guess that teaches money management as well.
Now the thread morphs into banking practices - you get the card - it's tied to a parents' account - the bank tells the parents what it is used for. So the REAL reason is that parents will be asking - hmmm what's this charge for "cydia Johnny...????" (Neighborhood drug dealers take credit cards nowadays? wow) I guess what this thread is good for in the long run is to get people to admit stuff they shouldn't and then find people to put in time out or ban. Otherwise I see no point in this continued back and forth.
In the UK at least you can spend more than you have with a debit card, you get an overdraft limit of a certain amount determined by your bank and based on your income/spending habits. There are different types of account that remove the overdraft option though, which is the one I had as a kid.
A debit card is usually linked to an account and used in place of cash. I can keep pulling cash out of my bank account until it's drained with my debit card, that's my point. Granted, a parent could set up a side account and dole out small amounts of cash but that's not really what they exist for. Cash cards aren't gift cards, they're pre-paid credit cards you can buy with cash.
They certainly exist over here. You can spend what you don't own, but if you've put it in yourself... go nuts. It's just a virtual piggy bank, but means kids can make card payments instead of carrying money around and also use PayPal to get around having to pirate Cydia apps (among other reasons). It's a far better introduction to banking, saving and sensible spending than cash cards.
If that's an option then it's an option, if not then use cash cards. It's not like there's zero options for purchasing online which I think was the point to begin with. It was ether that or something about piracy or fishing.
What I'm wondering is why Apple doesn't step in and make it a lot harder or inconvenient to pirate. Seriously, why can pirates use Gamecenter? Have it check if the game is attached to their account and kick them off if it isn't... Apple certainly has the manpower to tighten up security, it's just strange to see why they haven't done anything.
I don't know why there's so much anger towards someone who is providing insight from a pirate's standpoint. FYI, I've spent at least $100 on App Store apps myself, mostly because they were $0.99, or they were a necessity (Beejive). Heck, my wife bought IAPs for that stupid Pet Salon game. But as stated, just because one pirates a specific app does not mean the app was an automatic sale. I would estimate the loss to the developer if there were NO piracy to be around 10%. I can see piracy massively hurting sales if it is easily accessible as it was on certain consoles, such as the DS, PSP, or the PSX. The average iOS user has no intention of jailbreaking, figuring out how to get apps on their device, then figuring out WHERE to get these apps, or resolving issues at the first sign of trouble.
I also want to add to a fundamental flaw of the developer's argument - It is possible to download a legitimately purchased app off one user's iTunes account onto multiple devices. That could also explain the skewed numbers regarding active GC users vs. sales volume. Kiddies without jailbreak do this often actually.
Well I think that pirating games is bad, but I see why alot of people do it. Well alot of kids who have iPods don't have credit cards so they have to buy iTunes cards to get their games, and when they don't have enough money to buy iTunes cards they just jailbreak their device and get it. And people aren't going to buy a iTunes gift card for some 99 cent to like 6 dollar game. It would just be alot easier to pirate it. Well I don't pirate games but my brother does it and so cousin because they truly don't have enough money to buy all the games they want.
Your attempt at condescension is an admirable, but poor way of hiding your weak argument. When people, pirates or otherwise, state that game sales are not affected by piracy, I say, where is the evidence of this? The burden of proof is on those making the claim, not on those saying "That's crazy. Prove it!" Piracy shouldn't be such a touchy subject. It's wrong and, according to many developers and publishers, directly impacts the bottom line. I'd love to see evidence to the contrary, and not of the anecdotal type. Oh, the humanity! Do they steal candy bars and deodorant when they can't afford those as well?
See here's your problem, you're using this burden of proof argument to turn down everyone's opinion without even looking to see at how it works against your own. There are plenty of people out there in the legal profession, the music industry and the games industry that know full well the answer is neither black nor white. You're so insistent on thinking you're correct (while having absolutely no concrete evidence) that you're utterly failing to realise the answer could be compeletely grey. In fact it's becoming a more popular theory than ever that we need to work with piracy rather than against it, and this isn't just coming from the pirates themselves. If you'd take a mere second to think about what I actually said, it makes perfect sense. Having your pick from all games for free would mean you download far more than if they cost money. App Store figures alone can prove this just by looking at the charts for free app downloads. Claiming to know without doubt that your theory is correct is no less crazy than a religious extremist or conspiracy nut. You might as well try and convince us the world is ending next year too, because we don't have any proof it won't.
Pirating happens who cares! Its been like this forever and there will always be pirating. If developers aren't making enough money mabby it's time to get a new job because pirating is to be expected.
