[lotharbot]

If they somehow came up with the money to buy an iPhone -- $500+ unlocked, or $100+/month on a multi-year contract -- they don't "not [have] the money" to occasionally spend $1 on an app. They've just chosen to spend a lot on the phone itself, which might not leave much left over.

Lest you think I'm speaking from a position of not understanding poverty: my salary in 2013 was $21k pre-tax, with a wife and a kid. I had a $10 flip phone and spent about $8 a month on minutes.

[mschuster91]

Stolen iPhones, back in the days when there was no option for remote wipe/disable, or used iPhones (some friend got a 1st gen iphone for ~20€) can be dead cheap.

And honestly, I'd choose a working-order 1st gen iphone over any brickphone.

[scrollaway]

> If they somehow came up with the money to buy an iPhone -- $500+ unlocked, or $100+/month on a multi-year contract

Looks like you need the reality check I was talking about. I can find you $40 smartphones in countries that aren't the one you're in. And by the way, $40 can still be a huge investment for such people (just like $500 is to a lot of people in the US).

Edit: Those downvotes-without-explanation are really unnecessary, seriously. If you think I'm wrong, you very well may need a reality check yourself.

[lotharbot]

> "Looks like you need the reality check"

Please stop being rude.

EDIT: saying things like "If you think I'm wrong, you very well may need a reality check yourself" makes it seem like you're not open to dialogue. It comes off as rude, arrogant, and accusatory. That probably contributes to the downvotes.

> "I can find you $40 smartphones"

I can find plenty of $40 smartphones at Wal-Mart and Kroger. But this thread isn't about $40 smartphones, it's about iPhones -- and, in particular, the parent to your prior comment mentioned knowing people "too cheap" to pay for apps despite owning (implied: relatively new) flagship phones.

I know some people who are legitimately too broke to pay for apps, but they don't have new iPhones. Last year I didn't have a $40 smartphone, and definitely not a $500+ iPhone, precisely because it would have been a bigger investment than I could justify for a phone. I get that there are people for whom a $40 phone and $1 per app is too much money, but they don't have an iPhone6 or even an iPhone5, and they're not pirating the sort of apps that only run on those phones. The people pirating those apps aren't too poor, they're too cheap.

[scrollaway]

> makes it seem like you're not open to dialogue.

Complaining about downvotes without replies makes it seem like I'm not open to dialogue? I think it makes some people in here seem like they live in a bubble, to each their own huh?

> But this thread isn't about $40 smartphones

Actually, it is; GGP said he "knows people too cheap to pay $1 for apps" and that is completely valid for Android as well. The rest of your post's premise is wrong on that basis. I'm not claiming iphones are popular amongst that sector of the population. But even if I did, as someone else said below, actual pirated/resold iphones do cost around 30-40 USD making them just as accessible.

Edit: And I don't mean to be rude, it just disgusts me how some people here are so full of money it doesn't even register that for some, $1 is a big deal.

[lotharbot]

> "Complaining about downvotes without replies makes it seem like I'm not open to dialogue?"

No. Treating disagreement as a sign that people need a "reality check" and that they're "in a bubble" makes it seem like you're not open to dialogue. Like you don't even acknowledge the possibility that someone disagreeing with you could have a valid perspective.

> "it is ... completely valid for Android"

Yes, but the broader context of the thread was about iPhone piracy. Also note that he claimed he knew people "too cheap" to pay $1 -- not people "too poor" to pay $1 -- for apps.

I get that $1 is a big deal to some people. I live in one of the poorest zip codes in my state. I've taken in three poor families in the last two years (a divorced mom, teen parents, and a single woman working through community college). My church runs a fairly substantial food bank and clothing bank. I'm connected to a ministry that rescues young women from polygamy (FLDS, AUB, and related groups) and they often have 3-5 children, no money, and a 6th grade education at age 20. I taught in a school where 95% of students qualified for federal free/reduced lunch. Some of my family members do charity work out at Navajo Mountain in southern Utah, which is one of the poorest places in the US.

The people I know in deep poverty are not major app pirates. Most of them don't have smartphones, and the ones that do have $40 or less grocery store phones running Android 2.2 on a pay-as-you-go plan, with either free games or no games.

Conversely, everyone I know who pirates $1 apps is either a college student whose parents pay for everything and they just can't be bothered to ask mom for iTunes credits, or they're a middle-class adult who thinks "I can get it for free if I jailbreak my phone, so it's not stealing." They have adequate dollars to pay for apps to go with their $500+ phone and $100+/month plan, but choose not to. Hence, "too cheap".