Why won't we pay for digital content?

"I purchased an app"

If you ever dreaded saying this to your friends, you're not alone! You can be expected to be laughed at or worse, be called a rich fellow. Why are we, Indians, especially stingy when it comes to spending money on digital stuff? I'm gonna try to demystify this in the course of this article.

Possible Cause 1: We don't have the money

I'm kinda split on this. Money is very important to us and I guess some people do try to save every paisa they can. But if you're telling me that its not worth spending less than a 100 rupees for an app that you consider will be very useful to you, then I have my hands up in despair! No offence.

Possible Cause 2: No means to purchase

I want to believe that this is the major reason. I might be wrong, unfortunately. Simple fact is, credit/debit card penetration is very low in our country. So even if someone does like to pay for stuff, he can't because he hasn't got a way to buy it. We have to keep in mind that the majority of the app-crazy population are students who might also not have enough money to spare. Which is understandable.

 But I'm looking at you, working professionals! Some people just baffle me- like a colleague of mine who will never buy a game from the app store but will shamelessly play them on my phone. He says that apps should just be "free". Yea, so there's a lot of people spending their considerable time on developing something for you and you just expect them to give it away! Huh.  To put things in perspective, we've gotta put ourselves in the developer's shoes. Would you not want something in return if you ever developed a major app?

Possible Cause 3: You can always pirate

I guess each one of us is guilty of using pirated stuff at least once in our lives. And it always starts with Windows OS, doesn't it? I don't know anyone who's purchased a genuine copy of Windows. Granted, they're expensive, so you might be excused for this one crime. But by all means, if you can afford it, purchase it.

But let's get back to apps. When I was on Android, I really loved PowerAmp the music player so I bought it. But my friends just couldn't understand why I had to buy the app when a free APK file is available on the internet. Sadly, some people don’t even realize that it is neither legal nor ethical to use pirated stuff.  Again, to understand why it's wrong to pirate, you have to put yourselves in the shoes of a developer.

And since we're here, let's talk about music as well. No one purchases music anymore, that is the sad truth. Why? Because everything is available on the internet for free! And secondly, there is no means to buy MP3 songs legally in India as of now. You can stream all you want but you can't own anything legally. Nokia MixRadio was supposed to be a saving grace but they're shutting down their store in India as well. So yea, let's blame the universe for this.

Possible Cause 4: It's just cool to use things for free!

Imagine me throwing up my hands in despair once again. :)

Here ends my list of reasons. It's not exhaustive but I do think these are some of the major causes. I'm optimistic that the scenario will change with time but for now a majority of us still hesitate to take out money for digital content. I'll leave you with this funny comment an a game called Machinarium on the Windows store.

"The game is just wonderul. But please please please please please please please please

Please please please please make it free!!!!!"