Piracy Up

Posted on May 14, 2008

Just back from vacation and a short hiatus — so here we go again, hopefully with some news or views of interest to you.

According to a new study, software piracy is worse now than ever. Estimates are that nearly 40% of all commercial software copies are fake, with a cost to the industry of almost $48 billion dollars in 2007.

There are now said to be more than one billion computers in use world-wide and more than 1/2 of them have pirated software. The study predicts illegal copies of software may continue to increase in the near future.
Interesting that pirated copies are on the increase when 68 countries reported decreased numbers last year.

How can that be?

Well, though there is an overall decrease in many countries, the markets in developing countries are growing so rapidly, worldwide rates continue to go up. New and emerging markets are more likely to copy software, especially on users’ first computers. Also, as the dollar falls in strength, the dollar value lost by piracy increases. Additionally, increasing access to the Internet also gives people more access to pirated software.

From a low of 20 percent forged software in the US to 93 percent in Armenia, it is apparent that copying and selling software at cut-rate prices is still alive and well.

Consumers are always looking for a bargain and at the price of software, many are still drawn to taking the no questions asked approach when offered programs at too-good-to-be-true prices.Perhaps this is another reason to move toward online apps where the user has no direct access to the application since it is server based. This will allow a company to offer products at a much more attractive cost since the user will be allowed to pay more of a use fee than an ‘ownership’ fee saving the overhead built-in to cover piracy plus saving the cost of the physical product production (CDs, DVDs, packaging, shipping, etc.) plus the percentage paid to the retailer.