Chinese CEO Says "Free" Is the Right Price For Mobile Software

hackingbear writes Sheng Fu, CEO of Cheetah Mobile, a public Chinese mobile software company you probably haven't heard of, but whose products are among the top downloaded products in Android markets around the world, said that the intense competition of the Chinese market leads to products that can compete globally. Many recent university graduates are working in tech, all with their startups looking to find their place in the market, he said. Chinese companies saw the impact that piracy played in the PC software era, and China's mobile companies grew up knowing they would need to make money without getting consumers to open their wallets. "Chinese companies are so good at making free but high-quality products," he said. Sounds like we have a good race to the bottom.

Comments

Nutshell

[binarylarry]

You must defeat Sheng Fu to stand a chance!

Re:Nutshell

[Marginal Coward]

Sir, no disrespect or nothing, but can I defeat him using Ti Kwan Leap? I got the pajamas.

Profit?

[link-error]

That only seems to work when the government is paying you to install spyware.

Re:Profit?

[Rosyna]

How are they earning a profit? If the apps are free, where do they get the money? If it's from ads, then that doesn't count as free.

Re:Profit?

[thaylin]

How does it not count as free? You can have ads that dont target you, or get any of your information. It could also be micro transactions. Both allow the app to be free while making money on the other side.

Re:Profit?

[Rosyna]

If they have micro transactions (in-app purchases), then it's definitely not free. What kind of in-app purchases would products called, Clean Master, Battery Doctor, and Photo Grid have, anyways?

Re:Profit?

[thaylin]

how does transactions for extras make the base app not free?

Re:Profit?

[SourceFrog]

Google pays Android OEMs a percentage of the huge 30% cut it takes from their app store for apps. So by generating intense competition amongst app developers, what Google and the mobile companies (and their OEM partners) are effectively doing is forcing app developers to subsidize the operating system and mobile phone development - most app developers have been driven to such low margins that many are losing money (Google and the OEMs etc. get the lion's share of profits that used to go to software developers, by establishing app stores as effectively a software distribution (middleman) cartel based business model). Sheng Fu seems proud of the fact they've done this - actually it's nothing to be proud of, as it's doing a lot of harm to software developers.

Re:Profit?

[dkman]

Not free as in "without ANY cost", you're being too idealistic.

The realist definition (if I can say that) is "free to download and use". That allows for ads.
In-app purchases are certainly not free, but are add-ons or unlock functionality not in the free version.

However I do sort of agree, when I hear or see that an app is free I always check to see if it has in-app purchases before I bother to download it. Because I don't have an unlimited data plan I also check screenshots for ads, because data isn't "free".

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

Precisely!!! People nowadays have a totally wacked out idea of what 'free' is. Particularly in a society where the entitlement mentality exists

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

I only browse things when I'm near a WiFi hotspot, or doing things offline. For most apps, I've disabled the cellular connection, only a few very essential services get to use my cellular data. Since I pay my ISP a flat rate, the data is very much 'free' in the sense that I'd be paying no less if I didn't access it.

Otherwise, if I'm at a place where I don't have a WiFi connection, I either use apps offline, or don't use it at all.

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

$0.0000000000 x 8,000,000,000 (inflated population of the world) = 0

Re:Profit?

[spire3661]

What exactly is entitlement mentality to you?

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

The idea that people are owed something for nothing. Like people who expect everything in the app store to be free, w/ no paid add-ins, no ads, nothing. In other words, how the provider of those 'free' services would pay their bills is totally inconsequential, and if Android/iOS/Blackberry/WP8/_____ can't provide that, there is something evil about them!

Re:Profit?

[donscarletti]

I'm the CTO in a Chinese technology company. The government has never paid us to install spyware or anything else for that matter. In fact, the government just cares about 1) blood not being too red, 2) gambling not being too overt 3) users not being able to use words equivalent to "fuck" or "cunt" in English, names of prominent politicians or particular terms in reference to disagreements with neighboring countries, 4) characters being in simplified and not traditional script. 5) under 18 not playing video games for more than 4 hours per day.

Beyond that, they don't give a shit.

Westerners often revere the Chinese government as being some all knowing all powerful being with a profound understanding of technology and deeply nuanced plans that span decades, roughly in the same way they view their own government. Fact is, the Chinese government is interested in keeping its people more-or-less satisfied with the status quo, just like your own government is. Chinese old people with too much free time to cause trouble get their panties in a knot about sex drugs and violence and "young people these days", so that's what the Chinese authorities crack down on. They simply do not have the time or inclination to be bothered with who you are and what you are doing.

Think about the last time you interacted with your own government. Did they know who you are? Did they know what your life circumstances were? I'll wager they didn't know shit about who you are and why you were there, nor did they care, they just wanted you to either shut up and go away or pay your tax and go away. Now imagine that level of caring, divide that by 1000, that's how much foreign governments gives a shit about you. Your own government couldn't even be bothered installing spyware on your computer, why would the Chinese government?

Re:Profit?

[orasio]

Why would the Chinese government pay for something western governments get for free?

Re:Profit?

[Immerman]

Because usually the app is crippled without those "extras", requiring you to continuously buy more "extras" just to keep enjoying the experience. Compare it to giving someone a "free" car that can only run on massively overpriced gas sold by the manufacturer. That's nice and all, I guess, but means that actually using the car is anything but free.

Re:Profit?

[xaotikdesigns]

"Free" as in, you don't pay for the app when you download it. Like how Facebook is "free". They probably have several other revenue streams once the app is downloaded, whether it's advertising or microtransactions.

Re:Profit?

[xaotikdesigns]

Plants Vs Zombies 2 is free. I haven't paid a dime for it, and yet, I have no issue continuing to play. THere have been many successful games that are free without being "pay to win"

Re:Profit?

[Em Adespoton]

I'm the CTO in a Chinese technology company. The government has never paid us to install spyware or anything else for that matter. ... Your own government couldn't even be bothered installing spyware on your computer, why would the Chinese government?

While you make some good points, I've repeatedly had to clean the same state-sponsored spyware off of laptops coming out of China. Now this is probably just done to computers that go through customs "screening" as they could be transporting "something" in and out of the country, but I've also had to deal with situations where foreign companies operating inside China have been required to install state-sponsored spyware on their computer systems.

You're right -- they don't care about individuals, just like the US doesn't. But in both cases, they highly desire the monitoring capability, so that automated systems can flag up potential issues. Neither China nor the US is the first country to do this -- the first state sponsored spyware I've seen originated in Germany, and was installed only on targeted computers. That was a long time ago, and since then, the barrier to install has dropped siginificantly, and the number of participants has grown to include most governments around the world.

Re:Profit?

[dkman]

What phone OS and what do you use to police which apps get to use cellular data?

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

Yeah, but we're talking about companies here who make their money selling software. If they make it free, they have to make money somewhere, which they do either by selling the 'extras' within the app, or your data. Since most of us ain't RMS and actually need to make money to pay the rent, car, groceries & utilities, people whose job (not hobby) it is to write software have to get that money one way or the other. And the usual GNU answers, like sell documentation, or services, don't apply here, since there ain't many services that get incurred when one buys an app

Re:Profit?

[unixisc]

I have 2 phones - an iPhone and a Lumia. On the iPhone, I go into Settings ->Cellular, and then under the applications list, I turn off all the apps I don't wanna use w/o a WiFi. Only ones I have enabled are App Store, Calendar, Civ War, Compass, Vonage Extensions, Maps, Settings and Weather. On Windows Phone, it doesn't have such a fine grained control on each app's access to cellular, so there, I just disable cellular by default, enable it in case I need to if I'm near no WiFi hotspots and must have immediate access to the internet. I've taken the minimum data plan w/ Verizon, and tend to use it only when I'm traveling (i.e. flying).

Re:Profit?

[tibit]

The way it seems to work is this: The executable is free. The content is billed in $0.99 increments :)

Re:Profit?

[tibit]

Nope. I merely want a free app to be, well, free. If it has paid-for content, then it's not free, duh. Let's not devalue the word.

Re:Profit?

[Dogtanian]

How are they earning a profit? If the apps are free, where do they get the money?

Volume!

$0.0000000000 x 8,000,000,000 (inflated population of the world) = 0

Whoosh!

Re:Profit?

[zorro-z]

1) Write app
2) ?
3) PROFIT!

Duh,

Re:Profit?

[maitas]

Actually if this is as you stated, Google taking the lions share, free apps with advertise is the best way to get money without Google in the middle.

When you're right, you're right.

[BarbaraHudson]

I've been saying that the gold rush for mobile development is ended, but that's been met with derision and unbelief. Cost is always an important factor.

Beta tapes cost more than VHS: VHS, though inferior, won.
Early Apple computers cost more than early PCs. PCs won.

There are plenty more examples where people will settle for cheap over expensive. Apps are just another one - once people are in the habit of not paying for an app, you'd better be in the top 0.1% of apps to justify getting paid.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[ArcadeMan]

Beta tapes cost more than VHS: VHS, though inferior, won.

I thought VHS won because of recording time?

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[thaylin]

It won because of p0rn

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[BarbaraHudson]

You missed my point - the gold rush was anyone with a mobile development kit and a few weeks/months could make a profit. Now, most mobile developers either make nothing or - for those who actually make money - an average of $34 a month. They'd be better off devoting that time to collecting refundable bottles.

Look at this ask slashdot

I'm a recent grad from a master's program in a potentially worthless social science field, and I've considered getting into iOS development. Several of my friends who were in similar situations after grad school have done so and are making a healthy living getting contract work. Although they had CS and Physics degrees going into iOS, neither had worked in objective C and both essentially went through a crash courses (either self-taught or through intensive classes) in order to get their first gigs. I have two questions. First, am I an idiot for thinking I can teach myself either objective C or Swift on my own without any academic CS background (I've tinkered in HTML, CSS, and C classes online with some success)? Second, if I'm not an idiot for attempting to learn either language, which should I concentrate on?

People still see mobile as a "fall-back" option that will probably provide them with enough income to pay the bills, when stats say this is already false, and will only get worse.

We're looking at a future where you need to be able to produce quality product for free and hang in long enough to actually get some users to pay for the add-ins, bonus levels, and unlocked features. Large developers backed by lots of capital and marketing budgets will continue to eat into the mobile app space. With a couple of million apps out there, new players need to have the money to be seen in the first place.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[aliquis]

Beta tapes cost more than VHS: VHS, though inferior, won.
Early Apple computers cost more than early PCs. PCs won.

Now your claim is only that price is important.

But one point one could make is that:
* IBM sold it's desktop and server business.
* Apple has grown a lot.

It's also visible in the smartphone market where Apple is successful in actually making money from it.

Also there's examples there the statement isn't true.

For instance HD-DVD was cheaper than Blu-ray. It didn't win.

And price is like you say important but doesn't tell what will win in the end.
For instance TN displays have been waaay more popular than IPS but in the end maybe IPS will win anyway.
Flatscreens of course was less popular than CRT when they cost a lot more but by today they lead. And so on.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[jellomizer]

It is more complex then that.
Beta had a shorter recording time and a tight control on what can and cannot be recorded on it.
PC (At the time they were the IBM and the IBM Compatibles) Offered a larger choice of vendors to choose from, IBM, Compaq, Amstrad, Packard Bell, HP, Gateway. You you could make your own white box. A lot of people actually spent more to make their PC to match the specs of the Apple Products.

Usually the issue is that the High-Quality product comes with extra bells and whistles that people may not really care that much about. Beta tape had a better picture, but VHS wasn't bad, and people who watched TV over antenna, often got a degree of static on the screen, so the VHS issues were still better then what they were use to.
Apple computers often came with some particular feature that you may not really care about. Back Light Keyboard, 0.25 inches thinner, Choice of colors, better quality metal... So if you wanted a 50mhz pc with 4 megs of ram and 100gig drive. You could get a PC, and skip the all in one form factor, and get a bulky box, a separate (color) screen and deal with a bunch of cables in order to say $200 off your cost, where you could put that into a bigger monitor, better video card, a Modem or something else.

The lowest cost doesn't equate success. But getting a product that you feel that you can justify your purchase will.

I wan't a small truck. They use to make them, but they are hard to find. Ford Discontinued the Ford Ranger, their smallest truck line, and encourage people to go with the F150. Most people don't need a large truck like the F150, but it seems that people buy them more then the ranger for Ford to decide to discontinue the product.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Richy_T]

Locked or unlocked?

The Amazon Fire was available unlocked for $200 this past weekend. That's the wife's Christmas present sorted.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[alexander_686]

I am going to nitpick a bit, but the IBM is off point. IBM did not sell off its server line. It sold off it low end commodity server line. It kept the high end line. It about a high end company being in the commodity busses, not about if that line is economically viable – which was the main point.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[BarbaraHudson]

Context. When a VHS recorder originally cost $1,500, there was no way people, given a choice, would pay more than $2,000 for a Betamax.

Back in those days, a blank tape was ~$35. But as the tape prices came down, people started buying more blank tapes and squirreling them away "to watch later."

The PS3 came able to play blu-ray included, for less than a stand-alone HD-DVD player; again, price won the war there.

And todays flatscreen tvs are cheaper than equivalent tube tvs ever were. Again, price wins.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[BarbaraHudson]

You couldn't just go out and buy a personal computer at your local big box store in those days.

Now, the market has matured. I don't see new pc manufacturers pop into existence every week, but I still see tons of new app makers trying to claw their way into the market because they heard that someone else made money in it. The reason is that the barriers to entry in the app market are low, so everyone and their dog is flocking to it, putting severe downward pressure on prices, while at the same time increasing the costs for marketing.

There's already 2 million apps out there. Look at how many are free. Unless you're already a "must-have" app, that's what you're competing with.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Dixie_Flatline]

I think the market will end up bifurcated.

For my part, I try to avoid products that are priced free. I've looked at a lot of mobile software, and so much of it that's free is low quality or has a punitive pricing model. Free games with pay-to-play mechanics, for instance, tend to be designed so heavily around monetizing the fun parts of the game that the game isn't fun no matter what you do. These fundamental decisions corrupt the process. By trying to keep fun behind a wall, even the fun parts aren't as good anymore.

It's a bit better with productivity software and the like, but I prefer payment models that unlock all the features at once, rather than one feature at a time. One-at-a-time apps necessarily remove the interaction and synergy between features. Instead of making a set of features that seamlessly works together, you get a bunch of individual features that are less powerful split apart. Again, design decisions end up being made that undermine the making of a good product.

So I'll be paying for software. As a software developer (video games) myself, I feel that we deserve to be paid for our best work, and we can't do our best work while begging for scraps. You can't make the big, great games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age or Far Cry by monetising through small transactions. The $50-$70 you pay up front is for a whole piece of coherent work that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Em Adespoton]

There are plenty more examples where people will settle for cheap over expensive. Apps are just another one - once people are in the habit of not paying for an app, you'd better be in the top 0.1% of apps to justify getting paid.

And yet I bring to your attention http://apple.slashdot.org/stor... -- it seems that there are still enough people willing to pay that an app that does nothing but pretends to be a popular *free* app will still convince people to pay for it.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Dogtanian]

[VHS] won because of p0rn

This is oft-quoted as fact, but I've seen it disputed often enough that I wouldn't take it at face value. From as early as 1996, this thread commented that:-

Um, my family was the first on the block, getting a Sony Betamax in September, 1977, and porn films were readily available as quickly in Beta as in VHS (faster actually, because at the start of sales/rental of pre-recorded video, there were far more Beta titles available than VHS). Trust me. I was a horny little 12 year old at just about the time they became available. I know.

Even if Sony prohibited porn from being copied in their own commercial duplications facilities (which, I assume, would have had much- if not most- of the capacity in the early days), this doesn't mean the lack of commercial porn would have been the reason for Beta's failure.

Maybe Betamax *did* fail because of a lack of porn. But I suspect the shorter running time in the early machines would have been a bigger problem.

Let's be honest, from what I've heard the picture quality was a *bit* better, and yeah, the cassettes were a bit smaller than the annoying bulky VHS ones. But if they couldn't record more than an hour, then that's a severe limitation for timeshifting films, longer dramas and sports games.

I know the story's meant to be that people went for quantity over quality with VHS, but if the improved quality meant it wasn't actually useful for a lot of what most people wanted then IMHO, it's a perfectly reasonable decision that doesn't make you a philistine. Video recorders were a means to an end, and I'm sure a lot of people knew Beta was better quality but preferred to be able to record a whole film and went for VHS.

There's also the Beta licensing/manufacturing issue, but this wasn't really meant as a "*why* VHS beat Beta" post. Point is that the "porn won the war for VHS" thing probably took the (supposed) lack of porn on Beta, assumed it *was* the reason Beta failed and the argument gained currency because it was "obvious" and catchy... not because it had been proven.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Richy_T]

I mean carrier locked. Though it sounds like rooting should not be a big issue. Not sure if I will need to. The main reason I root is for tethering (if not enabled which it is on the fire) and Adaway.

Re:When you're right, you're right.

[Richy_T]

Oops. Sorry, misremembered the thread there.

I did see a carrier unlocked samsung Android when I was in the UK for £60. Was tempted to get that.

Re:"free" but....

[BarbaraHudson]

The same as today - free apps with paid down-loadable add-ins, paid bonus levels, paid advanced features, etc.

Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[bogaboga]

"Chinese companies are so good at making free but high-quality products," ...

If these companies are so good, where are some of their "high-quality" products?

Re:Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[ArcadeMan]

In my town, the "high-quality" Chinese products are at the dollar store...

Re:Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[AchilleTalon]

Right in your computer and your mobile phone. It is no secret manufacturing of goods are done for a large part in China and Asia in general. Do not forget neither China is having success with its space program. The idea China is manufacturing only lower grade and cheap goods is wrong. It is not because they are still manufacturing such goods they are not doing other things right at the highest standards.

Re:Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[oodaloop]

And the Apple store.

Re:Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[gnupun]

Think Twice about using We Chat

Re:Can somebody direct me to some examples?

[antdude]

In my language, I say "prove it". Of course, people hate. I care not though.

Re:"free" but....

[GLMDesigns]

Paid? Then it's not free. And won't people crack it or get around measures in the same way people do for everything?

And - if it's free then YOU are the currency in which they're paid.

Re:Do You Even Revenue, Bro?

[ArcadeMan]

You know all those links you clicked? All those pages you saw? There was ads on them. That's the business model.

Re:"free" but....

[thaylin]

The app is still free, it does not mean you cannot do other things with the app that may come at a cost.

Re:Do You Even Revenue, Bro?

[bev_tech_rob]

Okay I give up. I clicked through all the links, all the links from the links and read all those articles. Nowhere does it explain or even allude to a business model. Is this that 'mindshare' bullshit again? I don't know, this Re/code site is apparently affiliated with CNBC and from clicking on a few other articles feels just as mindless and worthless as CNBC. How do they monetize Battery Doctor, Clean Master and Photo Grid? Do they have ads?

Yes....just installed it for shits & grins and every other link or button points you back to the Play store to download more of their software. Got the Battery Doctor app. Will see how well it works as my battery has been crapping out lately.

ECO 101

[luis_a_espinal]

Paid? Then it's not free.

The add-ins are not. The app itself is.

And won't people crack it or get around measures in the same way people do for everything?

Most people do not. Do you really think the average smartphone user is going to be invest hours away to thinker and bypass such measures just to avoid paying $0.99 (the average price of an upgrade/add-in)? Most people, even tech savvy ones do not.

The sheer scale of the market makes it a number game. It doesn't matter if some people bypass the measures. There are potentially millions who do not, and of which a small fraction might pay for the upgrade. A small fraction of a very large number might still be large enough to get your ROI back. That is how it works.

Re:ECO 101

[GLMDesigns]

that's a good point. Assuming that the prices charged are marginal - meaning it's not worth the time to do (or pay for) a workaround - then this model will work.

Let's get this out of the way...

[HerculesMO]

Android is really NOT free.

Plain vanilla (and useless) Android is free.

If you have the Google Play services including the Store and Music, then you are charged to use those.

In comparison and somewhat ironically, Windows is completely free for devices under 8", including all the services and store. And with new OEMs now pushing that as well (since they made it so Windows can run on exact same Android hardware), perhaps we will see some competition to Android on the OEM side. Or not. Either way, the point is that Android is not really free.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[jones_supa]

Hmm, interesting. Are all the Windows Store apps free for devices under 8"?

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[HerculesMO]

Of course not -- but access to the MS services (like their "store") is included. It is not with Android.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[jones_supa]

Huh? The access to Google Play costs something these days?

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[Actually, I do RTFA]

In comparison and somewhat ironically, Windows is completely free for devices under 8"

It's not ironic. Windows has always been very good at giving away copies of Windows in markets it did not think people would pay for them. It just used to be accomplished by simply not caring about, say a billion units of piracy in China.

Heck, startups still get free copies of most Microsoft software.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[HerculesMO]

Simple fact is that now, it costs less for an OEM to use Windows than it does Android.

The big allure of Android was how cheap it was compared to Windows, and it's why it took off so well. I don't know that it will last if Microsoft can give the entire thing away for free. But this is how they won the console wars during the era of the 360, by undercutting the cost and also developing the software at a greatly increased rate.

If Windows 10 is any indication, I think Microsoft is actually doing a good job for once in a long while.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[jones_supa]

Ah, of course.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[Control-Z]

I haven't paid a cent for Google Play services. I have downloaded dozens of apps, but all were free and I've never given Google any credit card information.

Re:Let's get this out of the way...

[xaotikdesigns]

I wonder if we'll see OSless devices, or at least devices where you can pick the OS before you purchase.

I haven't use a stock OS on my Android devices in years, so if I could save a couple dollars that way, I'd be more than happy to do so.

Riiight.

[azav]

Because businesses don't need to make money and development teams don't need to be paid.

I can't see how his logic works.

Free Chinese stuff?

[JeffOwl]

I don't know about spyware, but with apps at least you don't have to worry about lead or melamine.

Chinese Security

[pigoon]

I don't know, but their AntiVirus software looks reliable and trustworthy... http://www.cmcm.com/en-us/cm-s...

Re:"free" but....

[jones_supa]

The same as today - free apps with paid down-loadable add-ins, paid bonus levels, paid advanced features, etc.

Shareware is back.

Free, like broadcast TV, with ads

[ITRambo]

Free mobile apps make money from ads and from freemium sales. These are commercial products and are not open source. Claiming the apps are "free" is good marketing.

TANSTAAFL

[robstout]

Nothing is free. I'd rather be upfront, and pay at the front end, instead of having to pay bits later, which usually costs more than the whole.

Re:"free" but....

[BarbaraHudson]

Yep. People will try one game/app/whatever after another, and spend so much time exploring the available free options that they'll never be motivated to actually shell out money for their favorite - because who knows, maybe the next free one will be even better.

And with digital downloads, it's not like you can even offer cover art, liner notes, a secret decoder ring or a t-shirt in the same box.

Chinese CEO?

[Beetle B.]

Chinese CEO?

How'd you like it if a headline said: "American CEO says ..." rather than state which CEO and of which company?

It's like a headline that says "African man says ..."

(Yes, yes, I know the summary has the information).

Re:Chinese CEO?

[xaotikdesigns]

It is referencing a man that lives in china, and it is about how mobile app development is viewed there. The geographic region is important as that is what the article is about.

If the article started off about an African man, and went on to talk about his experience as it relates to being from Africa, then the headline is correct.

free Chinese apps

[nitehawk214]

Or as the rest of us like to say, stolen apps.

There probably are some paid services here

[Zontar_Thing_From_Ve]

I don't have enough time to really dig into this, but a couple of different things might be going on here.

1) They may offer reduced functionality apps for free and you can pay to get more features. Nothing unusual there.
2) They have a business product line and I'm guessing that none of that is free, so it may be that individuals use their stuff for free and businesses pay.

It could also be that they are insanely managed and they're giving the store away to just get customers using them, but they seem to have a real revenue stream so I discount this without eliminating it.

Re:There probably are some paid services here

[xaotikdesigns]

Advertising and microtransactions are what rule the mobile world. You download soething free, and you are going to see some type of advertising, or be offered some type of premium item while you play.

Re:"free" but....

[xaotikdesigns]

I've seen plenty of apps that offer links to a merch store. Likewise, cover art and liner notes can be delivered digitally as well.

Re:Free Vanilla Android is just fine

[xaotikdesigns]

Amazon also has an app market you can download fro free from their site.

Plus, most of the games that I've picked up have been from the Humble Bundle, which has it's own app for downloading your purchases.

let me play!

[marcello_dl]

Why exactly should grandparent owe you an answer?

Child labor laws

[tepples]

Do you really think the average smartphone user is going to be invest hours away to thinker and bypass such measures just to avoid paying $0.99 (the average price of an upgrade/add-in)? Most people, even tech savvy ones do not.

Unless they're middle or high school students who are forbidden to work on account of age. Or unless they live in a country whose currency has an unfavorable exchange rate with the USD.

Re:"free" but....

[BarbaraHudson]

It's not the same as bundling, which is far more effective. Ask your local cable or satellite TV provider, or their p***ed-off customers.