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Short version is "I pirated it to gain status with people who think a buck is too much damn money to spend on software which runs on a six hundred dollar phone "
No, that's not what the guy said at all.

He cracks the apps (which he first buys) because he perceives existing Apple Store buy-then-try model unfair, and that's a damn good point. It's not about the price. It's about a rampant false advertisement and Apple's unwillingness to deal with it.

Apple has a clear conflict of interests. They should switch to try-then-buy model, but that will affect their revenues as the $1 cr@p will simply stop selling. They should also deal with poor quality apps better, but again that will affect their revenues. If something sells now, there's no reason for them to change a thing if it will make the same thing sell less.

Actually I think it would good for everyone if there would be somekind of trial model.

I heard a speak from some Xbox manager once and he talked a lot about trial versions of games. I think(not sure) MS requires every game that is sold in Live Marketspace to have some kind of trial. He made a point that trials and especially great trials can mean a lot for game's success. Great trial isn't just a crippled version or the first level of the game but a game itself, using almost all the mechanics.

Of course the scale is different, but I think the general point is that trials actually help in the long-tail if your game is any good.

The pirate's argument is bullshit. Trial software for Mac OS X and Windows is cracked all the time.
I agree, and we'll be able to see this directly once the Android App Market starts charging money: the Google market agreement has a provision to allow the customer to get a refund within 48 hours if they don't like the app.

Will we see less piracy of Android apps? Of course not... The pirates will merely find another excuse, or they'll claim that 48 hours isn't enough evaluation time.

Fascinating piracy ratio in the article. Approximately 4:1. I assume most cracked apps require jailbroken iPhones. I think it unlikely that the piracy ratio of the author's application reflects the overall ratio of jailbroken iPhones. This suggests that the people pirating apps make up a fairly small percentage of the iPhone owning population. So the script kiddie who cracked the author's app is probably right, and most of the people who used the pirated version would not have bought it in the first place.

Or so I hope. :)

While I don't condone the piracy, the first of only two games I've spent money on at the AppStore was Lux DLX ($7.99). That was because I'd spent 3 months becoming hopelessly addicted to the free version.

While taking away your freedom of choice as a developer is lame, I still agree with some of his arguments. Not that it gives him the right to put his argument first by force.

honestly, i am not very sure if this really _is_ HN material. however, i am very pleasantly surprised at the smooth communication from the developer, and the subsequent ease in getting info out. far, far better than the typical vitriolic outburst that is very common...
I think it's relevant. There are plenty of people here who develop for the iPhone and it's interesting to know that the cracked application community is so large... And that it's so easy to crack them. (From what I read in the article).
I think it is relevant. We're developing a couple of iPhone apps, so its useful to see what people are doing in terms of cracking
Honestly, I am not very sure if meta-discussion is HN material.