As someone who makes a hobby of cracking apps (I don't release anything, it's just for fun), I can corroborate this. I've never been able to find a trace of DRM in any Objective-C-based app. As far as I can tell, the state of the art for indie Mac developers is to have a method "-(bool)isAppLicenceValid" and another "-(bool)isAppLicenceOnBlacklist". Just hardwire YES and NO to those, and you're good.
It'll be as easy as using the normal AppStore, except for spending money part.
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-apple-app-store-innovates-wit...
Oh god, they do think so highly of themselves, don't they.
YEAH! I'M A DISSIDENT! I'M A REVOLUTIONARY! I'M MANDELA! I'M PIRATING $.99 APPS! FUCK YEAH! STICKING IT TO THE MAN! OR AT LEAST A GUY WRITING SOFTWARE AND TRYING TO FEED HIS KIDS! YEAH! DISSIDENT, MOTHERFUCKER! I'M BADASS! DON'T YOU FORGET IT!
Pathetic spoiled dweeb with a galaxy-sized sense of entitlement, more like it.
(Insert argument how none of the kids who use Hackulous would ever buy an app anyway, due to lack of funds (or lakc of funds in credit card or iTunes format), or because they are just pirates.)
That's always easy on OSX: there is a regularly updated one-stop-shop app for serials, and the vast majority of apps only have a license/serial key.
For full disclosure's sake, I am an iOS and Mac developer, so I have some skin in the game.
Or at least, I would have while I was still playing it.
(Edit: apparently this is the fault of Angry Birds. I bet it's going to be very simple to actually crack, though, so my point still stands.)
Without record labels forcing DRM, it's just a lot of effort for something that will be cracked, and only prevents the pirates who probably wouldn't pay anyway from using the apps.
However, with this weak DRM, and expressly disallowing additional DRM, they have shown that the Mac App Store is not about much of the existing Mac software. You're never going to get Microsoft, Autodesk, or Adobe in that kind environment, at least for their flagship products.
Indeed, although it's maddening. Haven't MS/Adobe noticed that their flagship products are on piratebay already, so there's no point forcing DRM on legal users only?
Copy the App Store receipt from any legit Mac App Store download — including from
any free app — and paste it into a bootleg download of Angry Birds, and it’ll run.
This isn’t true for all paid Mac App Store apps. For apps that follow Apple’s
advice on validating App Store receipts, this simple technique will not work.
But, alas, it appears that many apps don’t perform any validation whatsoever,
or do so incorrectly, like Angry Birds. (Angry Birds checks for a valid
receipt, but doesn’t check to see that the bundle ID for the receipt matches
its own bundle ID.)
Apple should test for this in the review process, and reject paid apps that are
susceptible to this simple technique. Apple should test for this in the review process, and reject paid apps that are
susceptible to this simple technique.
Adding proper validation takes a relative large amount of time, and sometimes it's just not worth it. Hackers can still dynamically link against a custom OpenSSL, or patch your app to not exit() if the code is 173, change Apple's CA in the Keychain or a few other tricks that would work with a large amount of the apps in the app store. You'll probably do better using your time to make your app better than trying to fix the DRM.
Lastly, if the DRM scheme is so dependent on a the 3rd party app to function correctly, it seems like a failed system design.
Sounds like a plan.