I didn't read the rest of your question when I saw this: "40% of users have my application installed on more than one device."
How do you know this? If you go by the numbers given to you on the Developer Console, those numbers are at least misleading, and probably completely wrong. I have very, very hard to believe that 40% of Android users have multiple devices with the same Google Id tied to the, On Oct 1, 7:41 am, Phil H <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm looking at the LVL code and had a question about user identity and > the DeviceLimiter interface. I've one app in the Android Market that > uses LVL in its recommended form, so users can install the application > on any device they have set up their account on. Early indications are > that the software is being repeat-installed at a higher rate than I'd > expect - 40% of users have my application installed on more than one > device. That seems a bit high but, for that application in particular, > it is no more significant than some lost sales - there are no ongoing > running costs for me to support. > > It is enough to make me concerned about my next app though, which > requires a server in the cloud. Application sales should cover the > cost of this but if the repeat installation rate is high, my > application may not be sustainable in the medium to long term - server > costs will eat into income and I could end up running at a significant > loss - and the more popular the app becomes, the bigger that problem > is. So this got me thinking. Repeat installations by one used are not > a problem, but one core function will account for the majority of > server load - both processing and bandwidth. So, my tentative thought > is that if a user is currently using that core function on one of > their devices, they will not be able to use that function on any other > until they are done with it on the first device. > > To be able to implement this I need access to a piece of data that is > common to all the installations, which brings me round to the > DeviceLimiter interface. Is the userId supplied here the same for a > given application, purchased by a single user, regardless of the > device it is installed on? Or is it the ANDROID_ID for the device? I > don't want any identifying information (like an email address), I just > want to be able to spot, from my server code, when multiple instances > of a single purchase are using my (relatively) expensive resources > simultaneously. > > A fall back solution would involve the user putting in their Google > Checkout order number to activate the application - is there a service > exposed to securely obtain details about an order that my server could > make use of? All I really need is to know is the application > purchased. > > A bit rambling I know, but any suggestions on ways of tackling this > issue are most welcome. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
