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From: rb@ccivax.UUCP (rex ballard)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Re: Piracy - an Alternative?
Message-ID: <261@ccivax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 21:06:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: ccivax.261
Posted: Tue Sep 17 21:06:03 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Sep-85 05:35:46 EDT
References: <315@brl-tgr.ARPA> <210@mot.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Telephony Systems Group,  Rochester NY
Lines: 62

One of the major costs of producing software is getting it onto the
Dealer's Shelves.  Dealers don't want to be stuck with products they
can't sell, so they only buy the Top 10.  The only way to get into
the Top 10 is to be on the Dealer's Shelves, CATCH-22.

The only way to beat CATCH-22 is to make the Dealer THINK you're in
the Top 10 with a massive ad campaign.  The dealer assumes that
he must have missed the offer.  Of course the ad campaign can cost
more the the devolopment of the product (up to 70%), hence the
$500 spreadsheet.

Here are at least a few ideas.

Let the Dealer Provide a Bulletin Board,  he can sell "shareware" and
if costumers like it, he can order the "glossy version" for the rack.

Distribute through "Compuserve" style networks.  The latest shopper's
world indicates that Borland, among others, is considering this.

Currently, there is vey little "Impulse buying" of software.
Mail order allows the consumer to "think" too long.  High prices
place all but a few C64 "game" packages above the threshold
level.

Virtually any K-Mart relies on "Threshold" business.  Threshold
price is the price at which someone will see the product and
buy it without coming for that express purpose. (Ever gone
"window shopping" with your wife?).  We buy computer magazines
like "Info-World" and "Popular Computing" of the shelves because
the price is so low.  If the bookstore were only able to sell
the magazine with a 1 year subscription, the price would be
too high, no one would buy these things.

Antic has been selling "Rag and Disk" packages for the Atari for
quite a while now.  Even though the programs on the disk are
identical to the ones in the magazine, people pay $6 extra for
the "pre-punched" version (one dealer uses this to identify
non-owners as potential Amiga/ST buyers).

How about Itemizing the Package.

	Royalties	20% (includes a little for advertising)
	Documentation	30% (make documentation hard to photo-copy)
	BBS support	30% (user's ask, user's answer, company get's free)
	Telephone supp. 60% (Read the manual-here's the price)
	Dealer supp.	100% (He gets his questions answered)
	Commission	5% of anything you sell (in hard to get upgrades)

So you could "legally" copy a disk and sell it (even to a new dealer)

The disks should have serial numbers on it.  The serial # is your
password to the BBS, you Can't get the telephone # except from the
BBS, and you can't get a New password without paying a 'dealer'.
(You are liable for all copies made and not paid for- no more support
until you pay up).

I have seen a similar technique work sucessfully on a 'vertical market'
package for lawyers (the worst pirates of all).  There are a few more
"gotchas" but those are trade secrets.

(nothing in this message has anything to do with me, my employer, my wife,
or my dealer)


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