OK but to clarify, a developer could just create a linkshare URL and then drop those links into bit.ly to track clicks and then conversions on those clicks?
You say you track conversions by source but I assume you have to have 1 URL per source correct? If this is the case you are no different than what I suggest above but you take a 5% cut instead of the developer getting it.
"Dear America: you can’t have an economy based on narcissism, good intentions, marketing, catering to rich bored people, really excellent webpages, and selling underpants on the internet."
Quite a statement coming from someone working on "problems in quantitative finance." Not sure which adds less value, high frequency trading or (insert any activity on earth here).
Interesting data...to your point about our piracy rates being high at 85% - I agree but think it is only a symptom of our App being new and expect it to trend toward 50% or less in a few months.
Also important to note is that calculated the piracy rate as the difference between iTunes sales and Pinch media uniques. I have found that Pinch Media's data is less conclusive than it used to be so I wasn't using their metrics for either cracked or jailbroken phones.
As for the pirates try before they buy excuse, I agree that this is probably not the case. I think it is a churn game (similar to music) for most pirates - they try hundreds of apps for very little time and stick with only the very few that they like.
As for your piracy block - I tried this once and decided better to let them have a lite version of the app over blocking them entirely. Not sure the point of angering the most vocal, early adopters on the web. Check out a post I wrote dealing with this: http://www.icombatgame.com/2009/05/22/on-the-web-every-users...
The point is precisely that - what does the rest of the app matter if 60% of your users are deleting it in frustration after the first screen?
Also - the web portal requiring maiden name and phone number is a bit extreme. It is as if DD's goal of getting user data outweighed their desire to make the app easy to load and use.
You say you track conversions by source but I assume you have to have 1 URL per source correct? If this is the case you are no different than what I suggest above but you take a 5% cut instead of the developer getting it.