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With the release of Google's License Verification Library (LVL) and the subsequent cracking of applications that make use of LVL, the Android development community has been buzzing. The Android Developers Google Group has several active threads discussing how LVL can be improved and what the best approach to solving piracy on the platform might be. One Google engineer made an interesting statement in response to my claim that I thought a "culture of piracy" might be developing in the Android user community: "If you are saying that [there's a culture of piracy] because you think most people are pirating Android apps... I think your perception of things is probably pretty off. I know lots of people who have Android devices, and none of them even think of turning on the option to install from external sources, let alone go out and find pirated apps." That's actually a really good point. I don't know anyone that pirates apps. The statement raised a very interesting question in my mind: Who actually is pirating Android apps? In my experience for my apps such as Screebl Pro, I've seen piracy rates that are very high (as I described in this blog posting). Things had gotten so bad, in fact, that we actually developed our own license verification solution some months before LVL in an attempt to stop piracy of our applications. But the question remains. If I'm not pirating apps, and you aren't, and no one knows anyone who is, where is the piracy coming from? In the case of my app, I thought it would be interesting to try and identify which parts of the world were spawning the most pirates. |
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 Screebl Lite has been cranking along for quite some time now. From coming in 5th in its category in ADC2 to the hundreds-of-thousands of times that the app has been downloaded, it's been really fun watching this innovative little utility spread throughout the Android community.
We often get the question "why should I upgrade to Screebl Pro?". We think that there are lots of great reasons, including supporting continued enhancement and bug fixes. In a nutshell, you get the following Pro-only features: o Locale/Tasker Integration - Include Screebl detection capabilities as you configure your phone. Your imagination is the limit! o Screen Timeout Control - You are in control of how fast your screen times out after your phone is moved out of a configured Screebl range. o Icon Customization - Choose how you want your icons to look in the notification bar. o Improved Detection Algorithm - Bed reading, lying on your right side, and other tricky detection scenarios work better in Screebl Pro. You have move control over Axis Variance, the key parameter that makes these work. Here's a detailed description of the enhanced features that you will get ONLY in Screebl Pro... |
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 Over the course of the last few weeks, there have been thousands of downloads of Automatic Application Licensing (AAL). It's been deployed in a handful of apps, including Screebl Pro and other applications not associated with Keyes Labs. For the most part, however, AAL has been a big flop when it comes to commercial interest. I'm not entirely sure of the reasons for this, but one of the biggest complaints that I've heard to date is that the software is closed-source. We originally decided to keep AAL closed-source in an attempt to thwart crackers, but I've come to the conclusion that the drawbacks of this approach outweigh the benefits.
As of today, the source code for AAL is freely available at http://code.google.com/p/autoapplic/. We've removed the licensing lockdowns, and released the source under the Apache 2.0 license. We will be maintaining the code based on donations going forward, but obviously we will continue to support those that purchased licenses for the commercial version. We hope that release of the AAL source helps to improve the quality of the product, and we're excited to see what the community does with it! If you're interested in contributing to the project, please let us know. |
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Piracy has become rampant within the Android ecosystem. In the case of my own apps, I was appalled to see piracy rates hit as high as 90%. I interpreted this as "lost sales", and spent a considerable amount of time trying to turn pirates into patrons with Automatic Application Licensing. This licensing technology is now included in my own apps and a growing number of other applications being sold on the Android market. The ultimate effect on sales remains to be seen, but so far things are looking good. Digital piracy is nothing new. It has been around since the commercial sale of digital goods began. But what is driving software theft to the epic levels that it is reaching on the Android platform? There are several key contributors to this perfect storm of application piracy that has engulfed Android... |
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 As of version 2.2.0 of Screebl Pro, a new licensing mechanism called Automatic Application Licensing (AAL) has been bundled with the app. The purpose of AAL is to allow painless verification that the user of Screebl Pro actually purchased the app from the Android Market. We've taken this step to attempt to put a stop to the insane levels of piracy that Screebl has seen, and so far, things seem to be working out nicely.
I've received a number of questions over the course of the last few days asking me how AAL works, why we chose to include it in Screebl Pro, and what the implications are for users. This article will cover the details, and describe why we finally decided to pull the trigger on licensing in our mobile apps... |
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 KeyesLabs.com is proud to announce our latest innovation for the Android platform: Automatic Application Licensing (AAL). We're excited to offer this technology to Android developers, as we think it will provide a crucial tool for those that are struggling with piracy of their mobile applications. In a nutshell, AAL licenses an application by validating that it was purchased from the Android Market. It sounds simple, it is simple. We're not sure why no one has done this before.
We've been burned by piracy ourselves at KeyesLabs. Our successful utility application called Screebl (which keeps the screen on based on how you hold your phone) has been downloaded nearly 100,000 times. As the app has gained in popularity, however, we've noticed a frustrating increase in the number of installations that are pirated. At this point we are beyond 70% of all installs being stolen, and some days we top 90%. Holy crap! Yes, yes, we've heard all of the arguments about how piracy can't be fought, it's not really going to hurt you anyway, it's a free form of advertising. Whatever. We want a way to limit the theft of our intellectual property. Google hasn't given any indication that they're going to tackle the problem any time soon, so we took a look to see if there was anything that we could do.
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