I've come to a critical decision in whether to use a web-based-site HTML 5 or an Android mobile-client to allow users to download purchased applications for ZappMarket. This has implications in regards to piracy so I wanted to get some feedback from the community.
Solutions like Android Market and SlideME will save the application to a private space on the device. This is effective for non-rooted devices. A direct download through the browser will leave the application on the SD Card. The pros of a mobile client: 1) Can lock downloads of applications to a specific device id (protects against sharing of accounts) 2) Save application to private space providing better protection than an SD card 3) Provide information such as carrier and country of the user downloading the application Cons of mobile-client: 1) Requires extra step (download of mobile client) for the user to get to and purchase an application. This results in less sales 2) Additional maintenance of needing to do an android client release for new features. 3) Protecting of the application requires double the application size to install Basically, my feeling is that I can help developers drive sales more quickly with an HTML5 site for downloads. Initially, I felt the piracy protection of a mobile-client was worth the extra hit to sales but with piracy so rampant, I don't know if such protections are worth the cost anymore. Would developers consider using a solution that leaves the application open. This would be equivalent to turning off forward-lock on the Android market. Thoughts? -- Shane Isbell (Founder of ZappMarket) http://twitter.com/sisbell http://twitter.com/zappstore http://zappmarket.com -- 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
