resale
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EU court rules it's legal to resell digital games, software
Buying and reselling any form of digital software is perfectly legal, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. Software authors – or in the gaming world, publishers – can not stop customers from reselling their games, even if the publisher attaches an End User License Agreement prohibiting resale."The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale," the court has found.This ruling covers customers in European Union member states, and games bought through services such as Steam or Origin. The initial purchaser is now entitled to sell the license of a game and allow someone else to download it directly from the publisher's website. The tricky part now is selling the actual license, since there is no system in place for any such transaction. The initial buyer would need a code for a game's license and upon selling it, he would no longer be able to access that game on his account.The ruling applies to the broader scope of software, covering items such as Windows and Adobe downloads. There is no word yet on whether game distributors will change policies or services to enable a license-selling process, but that would make Steam sales much more interesting in the EU.
You're the Pundit: What's the best way to unload your old iTech?
When it comes to forecasting the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is trade-ins (all prices quoted are as of this writing). With Amazon offering US$297 for a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad versus Gazelle's $250, it's worth shopping around for the best trade-in offers. And yet, service, reliability, and name brand recognition seems to play an important role in the who-do-you-trust game. Are you in the market to sell your iPad? Who have you used and was your experience positive? You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with all your insight. %Poll-73984%
Study shows Android handsets depreciate in value faster than iPhone
The iPhone has always had a robust market for used handsets, with even older models still getting rather good returns for their former owners. Priceonomics has done a study of the used smartphone market and compared the depreciation in resale value for the iPhone versus Android and BlackBerry handsets. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone holds onto its value much better than competing handsets over the same stretch of time. Priceonomics found that after 18 months an iPhone still garnered an average of 53 percent of its original (unsubsidized) price; in other words, you can expect an iPhone that's a year and a half old to fetch around US$300 on the used market. In contrast, Android handsets only held onto 42 percent of their value, and BlackBerry handsets were a close third at 41 percent. The study also found that most Android handsets depreciate much faster than the iPhone; a used iPhone 4S could probably be sold at or near full retail value months after you bought it, but according to Priceonomics an Android handset would have lost "hundreds of dollars in value" over the same time. The study suggests that the iPhone's reputation as a premium brand is part of why it depreciates in value slower than its competitors, but other factors are likely at play as well. One important consideration is that older-model iPhones still enjoy software updates and support from Apple; the iPhone 3GS is quickly approaching its third birthday, but it still runs the latest version of iOS. Contrast that with the situation among Android handsets, where many (if not most) models sold in 2011 will be forever stuck on Android 2.3 or earlier. The sheer breadth of different Android models is probably hurting the resale market as well. Since 2007 there have only been five major iterations of the iPhone, but the same number of Android handsets can come out in a single week, from multiple manufacturers, and with feature sets and names that are difficult for average consumers to sort through. With all that in mind, it's no wonder the used market for iPhones is paralleling the used PC market, where the Mac reigns supreme in resale value.
iPhone resellers eagerly await iPhone 5
When you consider that there are four different versions of iPhones out there (original, 3G, 3GS, and 4), and all of them have sold a ton of units, it's clear that there are a whole lot of used iPhones around. That's probably why, as GigaOm reports, iPhone resellers are very excited for another new version of the iPhone. Reseller site Gazelle says that just minutes after the announcement of the latest iPhone 4, over 10,000 old iPhones flowed in. If an iPhone 5 is announced soon, Gazelle plans to see another big bump in items for sale. While resales go up a lot when a new iPhone update is announced, the time in between isn't nearly as successful. Over 32,000 iPhones were traded on Gazelle last year, but this year there have only been 18,000 trades. A new iPhone would boost that number, especially since we already know consumers are hungering to buy it, no matter what the new features. Meanwhile, resellers will have to wait. We've heard plenty of rumors, but there's no official announcement yet of a new iPhone 5 -- or even a new iPad, which would certainly inspire plenty of resales on that device as well.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I return my iPad and wait for an iPad 2?
Dear Auntie TUAW, OK, so I got an iPad for Christmas. Very excited. Dig the idea. I have a long and storied history of receiving/buying Apple products right before the update. I feel like a new iPad's coming soon. So the dilemma: return the iPad for credit and wait on the new one, or will that leave me hanging for too long? Help! Your Nephew, Mick
Ask TUAW: Outlook 2011 attachment problems, Apple TV alternatives, deleting apps and more
Welcome back to another edition of Ask TUAW. Each week this column will feature questions from readers and answers by the TUAW team. If you have questions for the following week's column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). If you're asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have. For this week we've got a new batch of questions about Microsoft Outlook attachments, Apple TV alternatives, keeping an iPad, getting an iPod touch, deleting applications and more. Lee asks: I'm using Outlook 2011 on my iMac and many times when I receive attachments in emails the attachments are Winmail.dat files and I can't open them. How can I fix this? Unfortunately, those 'winmail.dat' files are created when the sender's Exchange server or Outlook for Windows client encodes the file attachment; if they've got your contact flagged in Outlook as someone who can receive 'Rich Text' messages, you'll get the Outlook PC-only winmail file. Fortunately, there is the free TNEF's Enough utility; this tool will quickly and easily decode your inbound attachments. (For those who are using Mail.app, there's also the US$29.95 LetterOpener for Mail.app, which integrates winmail.dat handling and several other Outlook-savvy tools into a Mail plugin. There's a free iPhone/iPad app, too.) You can also contact those people sending you the attachments and ask them to change the format they use when sending email to you.
LGJ: Are game resales at risk?
Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq ("LGJ"), a column on legal issues as they relate to video games: A new decision out of the 9th Circuit court of appeals is potentially bad news for GameStop, eBay, gamers and pretty much anyone who buys software. The full decision in Vernor v. Autodesk is available here [PDF], but this column should provide a pretty good summary and analysis of the case, which deals primarily with a legal concept called the "first-sale doctrine." The doctrine, which falls under copyright law, is what allows libraries to lend books, DVDs, CDs, etc., and what allows for the concept of resale. The first-sale doctrine was added to the Copyright Act of 1976 after being introduced in case law in 1908. In short, the doctrine lets you, as the purchaser of a legal copy of a book, movie, game, or other copyrighted work, resell or give away that legal copy to subsequent owners without permission from the copyright holder. It doesn't give you any rights to the work protected by the copyright, or the ability to otherwise violate the copyright by making copies of the work; it only removes the copyright holder's control over legal, physical copies of the work after they are first sold to a consumer. In other words, GameStop's business owes everything to this doctrine.
Video Game Price Charts reveal biggest resale prices of 2009
VideoGamePriceCharts.com, a site that tracks average online prices for video games and consoles, has released its year-end report for 2009, and if you were buying and selling games speculatively (we all do that, right?), you'll want to check it out. Okay, so maybe you weren't picking up the now-discontinued Demon's Souls Deluxe Edition because you hoped it would get rare, but if so, you're in luck: That game topped the list, raising in value from an MSRP of $69.99 up to a high of $116. Grand Theft Auto IV's Lost and Damned retail box (which contained a code for the DLC) is another big collector's item, and if you were so lucky as to nab a copy of Bass Pro Shops' The Strike (with Fishing Rod) for Xbox 360, then reel in the money, because it raised in value over 50%. Whew! Welcome to the exciting market of video game price speculation! For a little more practical information, you can also see which companies and consoles kept their value in 2009 -- turns out MTV, Atlus and Nintendo games all did well at resale, with the Wii (surprise!) topping the market for overall value held among its games. Of course, you should really be buying games (and supporting developers) for their quality, not for their resale value, but it doesn't hurt to figure out which ones will give you a few more bucks in return when you're done.
Wii Warm Up: To sport, or not to sport
Wii Sports is actually worth a bit of money. We know. We checked. Why? Well, we were thinking about how often we really play it when the idea for this Wii Warm Up came to mind.So, what about you all? How do you feel toward Wii Sports? Have you gotten rid of your copy? Plan to now? When was the last time you played it?
Auction inaction: Wii resales no longer fetching above retail price
That "fat chance" of getting a Wii for the holidays? It's now officially a very good chance. Gamasutra brings word – backed up by statistics from Video Game Price Charts – that the resale market has been so inundated with systems, those who invested in snapped up a Wii hoping to make a profit from it are lucky to get retail price.This time last year, Wii systems for offer on resale sites such as eBay were fetching nearly $500; the site now lists hundreds, many of which are going unsold (especially those with starting bids above retail). It seems that Nintendo's promise of increased production earlier in the year has been fulfilled, as retailers including Walmart.com and Amazon have had the console in stock during December – and for much longer than what had become a matter of seconds for most of this and last year.[Via NWF]
Wii resale price plummets to sane level
Desperate parents pushed the Wii's average resale value to $469 during December 2007, but this year is a different, cheaper story. According to Video Game Price Charts, the system is now reselling on sites such as eBay and Amazon for an average of $250 -- otherwise known as the Wii's list price. Witness the effect of an increased Wii supply to North America, and also of people having no money! Fortunately for heartless Wii scalper jerks, the site calculates that the average "gray market" price of Wii Fit is still comfortably above what you would pay at a store. %Gallery-24459%[Via Gamasutra]
First-Gen iPhones rise steadily in price
This Business Week article describes the rising demand for first generation iPhones. "Shelf prices" (using eBay values of virtual shelves) for the 16GB iPhone are currently at about $600, and $500 for 8GB models. In other words, the $250 AT&T refurb specials from March are now worth roughly double what you paid for them. From easy-unlocking to contract-free usage to eco-consumerism, consumers are looking for those original units and paying premium prices to get them. A majority of phones are heading outside the US for resale while growing demand at home keeps resale prices high.
Whither the 1.0 iPhone resale?
If you managed to find a quiet dark place during the keynote, you might have heard several tens of thousands of small cries in the distance. What were those cries? They were the sounds of iPhone resale values hitting near zero. With new 3G models selling at rock bottom prices and iPhone sales rolling out around the world, the poor iPhone 1.0 has gone the way of most other outmoded technology. Sure the iPhone 1.0 won't die right away. It is full 2.0 firmware compatible, and it is an absolutely terrific device. But I'd be surprised if the first generation units sold for much more than about a hundred bucks after today's announcements. With new 8GB going for $199 and 3G service available, many of today's iPhones are going to become tomorrow's high-end iPod touch units. Instead of resale I predict that very soon now a lot of spouses and teenage children will be receiving their very first iPhones hand-me-downs. What do you think? Upgrade? Or stick with the iPhone as it is? Let us know in the comments.
