|
I highly doubt the accuracy of this poll. It only reflects the habits of the mobileread community. I think the reality is that more eBooks are pirated than purchased. This is just going by the availability of eBooks I've seen; I'm quite good at finding things online, when motivated, but the ease with which one can find eBooks is amazing.
I remember my twelve-year-old cousin asking me how it is that her friends can just go online and find any song they want, without paying. I explained to her that it was illegal and she proceeded to ask all of her friends how they got their music. All of them, without exception, showed her how they use p2p programs to find whatever songs they like. When she mentioned the illegality of this practice, they were confused: they thought this was how everyone got their music (which in a sense is true: everyone they knew were getting their music this way).
This example brings home the point that many companies are starting to realize now: you have to make the purchasing and use of your product brain-dead simple so that it will be the first way people think of for acquiring what they're selling. It must be the easiest way possible to get the product and the product must be easy to use as well. That's the only way to steal sales back from the pirates.
|