There will always be piracy.
It does not matter what you do to your system, how much you lock down your software, someone will always get past the guards, break the locks and have a version of your software that they can distribute online to anyone who wants it, and you're not going to see any reward for your work.
Almost immediately they were released, the original N-Gage games were broken free; the Apple iPhone now has Crackulous ready to break any app downloaded from the App Store; and S60 applications are already available on the dark corners of the internet for all.
So what can authors do? The first thing is to to realise that there is no magic wand that can solve this problem. You will see your applications out there – and it is going to hurt. The question is whether each download from www.getyourwarezhere.com translates to a lost sale. The evidence is against it, as those who have investigated this reckon that out of 100 'warez' downloads only one is likely to be a lost sale.
It's probably not worth your time getting into an arms race with the internet to try and take down any site hosting the file – besides, the distributed nature of the net in Usenet, IRC and P2P means that 'whack a mole' is ultimately futile.
So is an arms race in adding more and more anti-piracy precautions into your application. They will be cracked just as fast as the first, and those grabbing the warez won't notice them. Your customers will though, and forcing them to jump through more and more hoops could lose you even more sales.
Some software companies have their programs 'call home' over the internet to let them know where they have been installed; but do be aware that doing unannounced data transmission may not be regarded as ethical by many of your users.
Notice a theme here? The draconian potential of computer programs is going to upset your users, and be bypassed by just one person – who'll then make it available online to everyone in the world.
I don't want to put everyone on a downer here, but some sort of Zen like calm is needed to cope in the software markets nowadays. With all the 'evil' people out there who'll bring up claims of they can't afford it, or just want a proper demo, you need the patience of a saint to not feel ripped off.
Ultimately, software authors have to rely on one thing – that honest users who understand that authors need to see a monetary return to continue developing will purchase their application legally, supporting them in a very competitive field.
And it you're a user, here's my advice before you too start moaning about the app scene on Symbian. Look at your phone. Look at the applications. And go and register a few. Drop a few pounds in a PayPal box for the freeware.
Because in any software scene – past success is a guide to future endeavours. If there's no past success to build on, you're not going to get anything new.
-- Ewan Spence, Feb 2009.