I am about to finish my Android application. I would like to provide lite version and more complete paid pro version. Unfortunately, Google does not allow Australian developers to sell applications and I don't have any friends in US or UK.
Does anyone know of a person/company who would publish my pro application on my behalf? Google search did not bring up any results.
Thanks.
Do NOT use androidpublisher.com. They publish many pirated apps and flood the market with absolutely horrible applications. As a developer, "Android Publisher" is one of the last things you want associated with your application.
Good news! The Android Market opened up to Australian developers on September 30, 2010.
See this link:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-countries-more-sellers-more-buyers.html
Also, don't hesitate to deploy to other markets, such as the Amazon Appstore and SlideMe.
For any other countries that are still left out of selling on the Android Market, you can link from your free app to another market that does allow you to sell apps. It's not as ideal, but it will get you into the game.
Well, I have found Android Publisher who would be willing to publish paid applications on behalf of developers who can not publish themselves due to Google's senseless restrictions (so much for being open).
Android Publisher charge 19% service fees for publication services. This is additional to the 30% charge that Google charges to process paid applications. For example, if an application costs $0.99, Google would charge $0.30, Android Publisher would charge $0.19 and the developer keeps $0.50.
Whilst this isn't ideal I feel this is better then publishing on alternative market places as Android Market provides seamless experience and obviously there is much more exposure through Android Market.
In case someone else is interested the contact name is David and email address is: support#androidpublisher.com
As time passes I will keep updating this thread/question (unless the community doesn't want me to!) with my experience dealing with Android Publisher as it may help other developers who don't live in Google approved countries.
I've found company that publishes games. I'm not sure I like their license terms though.
http://hyperbees.com/about/
Related
The last article I found about this was from 2012 and it says it wasnt possible. I tried searching Google for this, but I found some apps that offer coupons for other use.
So can I have a paid app on Google Play Store but have a limited amount of coupons that will enable coupon holders to get the app for free?
Sadly nothing has changed since 2012, at least in that regard.
There is no way to give away your paid app for free (besides refunding of course, where google will still keep their 30% share).
The playstore lacks a lot in regards to promoting your app, even creating a trial version is way harder than it should be.
So if you really need coupons you will have to go with in-app purchases or a second app with beta invites, otherwise you are out of luck.
I have a situation that I have not seen addressed elsewhere, so I'd like to ask folks for ideas. Here's what's up:
I sell a relatively expensive (US$25) app that I have sold for 10 years in various forms on different portable platforms. In general it's pretty vertical-market oriented (astronomers, ham radio operators) but in some cases is of general interest and has sold pretty steadily over the whole time it's been around. I have an Android version ready to publish but am not sure the best route to take.
The issues that are troublesome for me are that it must be possible to download a free, time-limited but full-featured version for evaluation, and that I need to be able to sell it to previous customers at half-price (just a long-standing policy of mine.)
Note that I am already set up to sell from my own website - have been doing it with other versions of the software for years, and the app is already set up to run in "trial mode" until a registration code is entered.
I have been assuming that I would publish it on the Android Market as a free app, and add code to it to look for an "unlock key" app that I would publish there as well. The idea being that a person could download and test the app, and if they chose to purchase it could either buy the unlock key via the market, or could go to my web site and purchase a registration code, allowing a path for my "customer loyalty" discount.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure this violates section 3.3 of the Developer Distribution Agreement: "All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor."
I have a couple of ideas, but I'd really like to hear some other opinions first. Sorry for the length - it's just a long question.
(Oh, and FYI, there is already a published iOS version of this app, and none of this is at all possible for it, and I think it's awful.)
You could get them to buy the app at full price and then send the discount back to them - like a cash-back scheme. It's not very efficient though.
You can use in-app billing to process the purchase. That way you won't violate any agreement.
You can publish more than one APK in the market, with different prices, and validate the install upon first run with a code you send them.
This is not a programming question per se but a question that may be relevant to all future Android developers.
I am in the market for an Android developer phone. I can buy it used on eBay, or I can buy it new on the Android Market.
All nice and dandy but in order what the Android market has to offer, I have to first register, which requires signing the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement.
Well, I know that many developers signed that agreement and stayed alive, but before signing anything I prefer to read what I am about to sign. Unfortunately, certain information that is needed to be understood in order to sign the agreement can be accessed only after you sign the agreement...
For example, how do I know which are the "authorized payment processors" mentioned in clause 1.2?
Also, it sounds strange to me that in order to just see what developer phones are available (and their specs) I first have to register and pay the $25 registration fee. It will take at least 6 months before I will be ready to place anything on the Android market, so why should I register now?
Any idea whether to find these 2 pieces of information without having to register so early in the process?
Two things, first the "Authorized Payment Processors" are defined just above that as:
Payment Processor(s): Any party authorized by Google to provide payment processing services that enable Developers with optional Payment Accounts to charge Device users for Products distributed via the Market.Blockquote
The only one currently is Google Checkout, but I have heard that they are working with PayPal to get them involved as well.
Secondly, you have to log in to buy the phones because they are only available to Android Devs. The ones on the list are the "Android Dev Phone 2" (which is basically a MyTouch 3G) for $399.00 and the Nexus One for $529.00. You can look those up and check the specs on them. They are both unlocked and the Nexus One has an unlocked bootloader.
You do not need to register now. Just when you are ready to release your app to the Market.
Also, for development you can get any Android phone out there. Preferably many phones with different physical characteristics and various sw versions.
Btw, the $25 fee is a good thing, because Google records your credit card no, so malicious devs keep themselves away.
I have some quetions:
Should I buy any license to distribute my applications?
Which profit from the sale of applications?
(sorry, I dont speak english very well :P )
If you want to publish your application to the Android Market, you have to get a developer subscription ($25). Once you have a developer subscription, you can publish free apps as much as you like; in order to sell apps, however, you have to be in one of the countries where you can be a Google Checkout Merchant. Google gets 30% of the revenue. Also, be aware that the paid apps will be available only in countries that are listed in the Paid App Availability list (scroll down).
You don't necessarily need the Android market. You can just distribute your *.apk file by yourself (for free or against payment). This is one of the big advantage compared to Apple and the IPhone ;)
The profit you can make with your application depends on the price of your application and the number of sales.
You do not need to buy any license to publish in the market. You should read through the series of documents on publishing apps in the developer guide, starting here.
You can either publish your app as a paid app, in which case you could earn money directly from sales, or you could publish as a free app. With free apps, you can use ads as a source of income. There are a few providers, i.e. admob.
Edit: Android now supports in-app billing!
Original question:
It looks like Android won't natively support in-app purchases for a while, and when it does there might be a huge user base with devices that don't support them.
What's the best way to implement iPhone-like (additional content or services) in-app purchases in Android using the Android Market if possible?
The solution should consider in particular:
For all kinds of in-app purchases: Android Market's 24-hour cancellation policy
For consumables/non-consumables: storage of additional content (ie: use precious application memory to avoid piracy, or use SD card to avoid bloating application memory)
Thanks!
This has changed as of today! There is now an example on the Android Developer site here: https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_overview
You can create a premium key application, that will have a key. How you expose that it's your deal ( or you can just check if PremiumKey activity exist ). From the main app you just check for your key and if it's exist enable premium option )
If you're talking about buying OTHER apps from yours - build your list with market url pointed to the other apps ( market:// )
It is against the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement to take in-app payment:
3.3 ... All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market’s Payment Processor.
Looks like Paypal has launched a library for accepting in-app payments. See here. Not sure if this system violates the T&C though.
You say that Android Market doesn't support in-app purchases, and then ask how you can implement in-app purchases using Android Market?(!)
Anyway, if and when they do support it, I imagine it could be distributed as an update to the Android Market application itself, so most users would be able to use the functionality. I believe the Market app updates itself automatically.
Possibly the Market would accept an Intent to trigger a payment via the usual on-device mechanism and return your app (or more likely your server) a callback.
There is also another in-app payment platform for Android applications called MoVend (www.movend.com). I have checked it out and there are several benefits using it compared to the other 2 mentioned earlier:
Many payment channels : Operator Billing for more than 38 countries, PayPal and virtual credits.
Many distribution channels: They work with developers to distribute their applications through the various distribution channels like Operator AppStores , OEMs and Android applications website. Marketing is something we all need. They are also invested by Singapore Telecommunications who has a strong presence in South East Asia.
They provide a sales analytics for you to track, trace and monitor the performance of your apps. Since they are available worldwide, you can always tailor your applications to the different geography area.
I am trying to build Android applications and monetizing is important.
Reply this thread so we can discuss how we can monetize our Android applications.
Here's another free licensing and payments system. The nice thing about this one is that it allows you to offer your app in any app store.
You can find more details # http://www.cloud4apps.com/
Check out http://mobpaynet.com, they are doing something like this. Not sure if it violates terms or not, but I will probably check it out.
For implementing in-app purchases in Air applications you may use third-party libs (Adobe AIR does not support In App Purchases for any platforms out of the box). For example, developed by Milkman Games (unfortunately, they are not free)