The Brazen Case of Copycat Software
I vaguely remember hearing that there was a problem on Apple’s App Store with copycat apps, but I had never run into this problem myself until now. And I’m shocked at how brazen it is.
I recently upgraded to the 9.7" iPad Pro and was looking for a good note taking app. I heard Ian Schray on The Committed: A Weekly Tech Podcast talking about his favorite handwriting app, GoodNotes, so I decided to go buy it. But in my search of the app store, there were two apps with the exact same icon and darn near the same title, except for the last word. I had stumbled upon a clone app, which looked nearly identical in the display with the last word truncated.
But wait, there's more. The example screen shot is the same one that the real one uses. Not a similar looking picture, but the exact same one. And the app is priced at $4.99 vs the $7.99 one. So an unassuming buyer might think that this is the official but less expensive light version from the developer.
I honestly didn’t know which app to buy. I wanted to believe that the lower priced one was the real one, but it turned out it wasn’t. I dug into the version history and found that the clone was a 1.0 version launched on December 20th of this year. The real one had a long history of steady updates. Bingo! I finally knew which one to get.
I remember back in 1997 when Pontiac debuted their new Grand Prix sedan, they provoked BMW’s ire. The problem was that BMW felt that Pontiac was infringing on their trademark “twin kidney” look for the grill, so they sued. Pontiac’s grill did kinda sorta look like BMW’s, but they ultimately prevailed in court. My point is that in the manufacturing world, you don't have free reign to blatantly make money from someone else’s design.
I honestly didn’t know which app to buy. I wanted to believe that the lower priced one was the real one, but it turned out it wasn’t. I dug into the version history and found that the clone was a 1.0 version launched on December 20th of this year. The real one had a long history of steady updates. Bingo! I finally knew which one to get.
I remember back in 1997 when Pontiac debuted their new Grand Prix sedan, they provoked BMW’s ire. The problem was that BMW felt that Pontiac was infringing on their trademark “twin kidney” look for the grill, so they sued. Pontiac’s grill did kinda sorta look like BMW’s, but they ultimately prevailed in court. My point is that in the manufacturing world, you don't have free reign to blatantly make money from someone else’s design.
I feel bad for software developers. The overall value of good software has taken a hit by the whole “in-app purchase” model and advertisement support. And for those who manage to rise above the crowded marketplace and make a name for themselves, they have to deal with rip-off artists undercutting their price and siphoning their customers.
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