I have a sort of twist idea to the market problem... not sure this can be done, but I think it could be possible.
Imagine you have an app that allows for virtual goods. You have dozens of goods for sale. Even better, you have an open-ended API that allows OTHER developers/users to create goods for your game/app and sell them. Yay.. revenue streams are good. Now, many users will probably buy one good here, one good there... but often times, you'll have a lot of users who want to purchase several goods. We surely don't want to deter the multi-goods buyer. That's more money in our pocket. The problem with the way you're doing it Chris (not a problem as in bad..just for this example), is that they would have to search/find/buy individual downloads for each good they wanted. What if your users could build up a cart full of items they want, check out just once, and behind the scenes, your server side builds up a single .apk with those goods, put's it out on the market, then sends them an email link for them to access from their android device when its deployed to market. At that time, they can then purchase the whole pack at once, through the market, and then utilize what you are doing Chris, where your main app can make use of all the goods from that install, and if not refunded in 48 hours... uninstall/delete the .apk off the device to avoid taking up room. Ok, I don't know that I would implement this, but I imagine it's got to be possible. On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 8:43 AM, chris harper <[email protected]> wrote: > We are probably in the running for the most active thread now but that’s > great because > > this is an important issue that needs to be addressed. > > > > Bob – Thank you. Your solution is a pretty thought out solution. I admit I > had to print it out and re-read it a few times. I might have a few questions > coming your way because I think I like what you are doing. Give me a little > more time to make sure I understand what you are doing. > > > > String – Congrats on doing what many have failed to do. Get an answer from > someone at google about app’s doing their own in-app purchasing. We need to > post that in bold someplace. I hope you bought his dessert for him. That > closes the can on a big question we have all be wanting a simple answer to > (right Kevin, Warren?). The idea of Google user creds is very good. I > still REALLY like that fact since the user is already using android then > they probably already have an account though Market place and REALLY want to > tap into that. As far as account setup it’s pretty much a given in my > opinion. They just have to “ok” a transaction though my app and download the > install app for the character. We are talking mobile here so people are > messing with their phone while doing something else a lot of the time. If > you can set it up so they just click “ok” and not have to mess with setting > anything up then that has to make a difference in the amount of people you > get purchasing extras. > > > > Westmeadboy – I agree with you. Last night knowing that I can hide my > install app’s from the user and access them though the main app, well I can > just modify my design so all the resources for each character are contained > in their own install app’s (images, sounds etc..) and the main app can just > access them via the assetManager. This will allow the install app’s very > “lean” and in turn make downloading them quick for the user. > > That way my virtual content (i.e. my characters) truly are just “modules” > that my main uses. Then my main app just accesses the “modules” for each > character when a user wants to add/remove or update a character. > > Flooding the market. Maybe. But on a separate point many other threads have > been asking (even pleading) Google to upgrade the market. I don’t want to > wait because they have been very slow to respond in doing that. Maybe > flooding the market will actually SHOW them that the market NEEDS to be > changed. They need to maybe create an “addon” category so developers can do > what we are taking about and app users can then search for add-on’s for > specific apps? In your last post “LAUNCHER intent, the system won't give the > user the option to open it, from anywhere.” That is want I seen when I > played with it last night, but that is perfect for my design because A. The > install app’s are hidden and B. They can only access them via the main > app. > > > > Bob – I am re-reading. I like what you are doing. > > -Chris > > > On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 6:34 AM, westmeadboy <[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Mar 26, 11:54 am, String <[email protected]> wrote: >> > If your add-on app doesn't have a LAUNCHER intent, the system won't >> > give the user the option to open it, from anywhere. >> >> I thought using category INFO also allows the user to click Open in >> the Market app once the downloaded app has installed? >> >> -- >> 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]<android-developers%[email protected]> >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en >> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+ >> unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE >> ME" as the subject. >> > > -- > 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]<android-developers%[email protected]> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+ > unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE > ME" as the subject. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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