Hello Community,

[Update]
Carriers (not Google) will take 30% rev share
[/Update]

the Android Market will have no revenue-share on your apps and will offer the possibility to offer Lite-Versions. Read it yourself:

via informationweek.com

... "We want the next killer application to be written for cell phones, not the Internet," Rubin told lucrative for some content creators. To combat this, Rubin said the Android Market will offer the ability to offer free trials of apps before customers have to buy them. Apple doesn't officially allow this, but many developers get around this by offering "Lite," or stripped down versions of the apps.

Additionally, developers may be drawn to the open nature of the Android Market, which will not be as restrictive as Apple's offerings. Apple has recently made moves to ease growing frustration with developers.

While the Android Market will only initially allow free apps in the store when the G1 launches, paid apps will eventually be offered and Google will not be taking a cut of the revenue. By contrast, Apple takes a 30% share of any app sold in its store. ...

/plusminus for anddev.org

Wow, no rev share? That's really going to resonate with developers. Hopefully the App Market will support subscriptions as well.

Btw, its true that Google will not taking a revenue share, but the carriers behind

This is the way it should be anyway. Let developers market shareware apps on the Market and let them handle purchases and delivery of full versions or registration codes. This cuts the middle man right out of the equation. This is what I expected originally from Google, but I was a bit turned off by all of the different information that was being posted. I would be happier if the Market just stayed the way it is. That would me absolutely no revenue share. I just wish that there was a drop down for the price so that you could indicate that it is a shareware application or lite version, so that it is clear before the consumer downloads your application that it is not a freeware app. I have put it in the description of my applications, but I am not sure that everyone reads the description. This may lead to poor reviews if customers think they are getting freeware and actually recieve shareware.

Nevin

NevinM wrote:...This may lead to poor reviews if customers think they are getting freeware and actually recieve shareware.

Thats what I experienced with my games. I have 'Demo' in the title and people give 1-Star ratings that they do not get the full versions

I think the same is true of my one application I have 1.5 stars, but I still have a high percentage of installed users. Some people are expecting all apps to be free (and rightly so if it says 'Price Free'. I changed my description to make it a little clearer, but some people will still be confused. This is still a small price to pay for having alot of people download your applications. Some good news just got emailed to me, you may want to put it in announcements if you have not already. The Market will be open to the UK on October 30th. Does this mean there will be a phone debutting over there?

Nevin

Hey guys, nice discussion is going on here! I've got two opinions on this Android Market stuff. At first from the forums all over the net I have a sense that G1 users are mostly very frustrated when they are discovering all those SHAREWARE apps on the Market. Secondly, the big fishes are still waiting in dark waters until the full version of the Market comes up, when they can actually sell the stuff. BTW, what was the date when the full Market going to be announced?

From what I have heard, it is first quarter 2009. This is a long wait for developers, hence my worry of a market flooded with freeware. That is why many developers have decided to jump in with shareware or lite versions.

Nevin

plusminus wrote:

NevinM wrote:...This may lead to poor reviews if customers think they are getting freeware and actually recieve shareware.

Thats what I experienced with my games. I have 'Demo' in the title and people give 1-Star ratings that they do not get the full versions

Is there anyway (besides having a G1) to read customer reviews on your software from the developer side?

Nevin

Users can comment on the apps with a limited amount of characters (maybe 255) also they can send a mail to the developer.

plusminus wrote:Users can comment on the apps with a limited amount of characters (maybe 255) also they can send a mail to the developer.

I've actually used the email the developer link a few times for applications that request unique permissions (ie, the weather channel app has view contact info and send sms messages...after emailing and hearing back, turns out they plan on letting people report weather emergencies and send alerts to other people). I don't expect everything to be free, but I expect trial, demo or shareware to be in the description if it's not. It'd be like going to Microsoft's website, seeing "get windows free", downloading installing, then being prompted to enter credit card info to buy it.

ismarc wrote:

plusminus wrote:Users can comment on the apps with a limited amount of characters (maybe 255) also they can send a mail to the developer.

I've actually used the email the developer link a few times for applications that request unique permissions (ie, the weather channel app has view contact info and send sms messages...after emailing and hearing back, turns out they plan on letting people report weather emergencies and send alerts to other people). I don't expect everything to be free, but I expect trial, demo or shareware to be in the description if it's not. It'd be like going to Microsoft's website, seeing "get windows free", downloading installing, then being prompted to enter credit card info to buy it.

I use to write "Demo" or "Beta" to the title of my non-full/final apps, but some still don't get it

plusminus wrote:I use to write "Demo" or "Beta" to the title of my non-full/final apps, but some still don't get it

That's because consumers are stupid.

MrSnowflake wrote:That's because consumers are stupid.

lol.

I say: consumers are intelligent guys.

(hope they'll buy my apps now)

Danuubz wrote:

MrSnowflake wrote:That's because consumers are stupid.

lol.

I say: consumers are intelligent guys.

(hope they'll buy my apps now)

A [s]person[/s] consumer is smart; [s]people[/s] consumers are dumb panicky dangerous animals and you know it