On 3/10/09, madcoder <[email protected]> wrote: > Google really needs to change the 'enjoy free software' rule. It will be the > death of developers everywhere for this platform.
I disagree. Just as online ads let marketeers see how effective their ads are, the return policy gives developers a truer sense of how many people really want their application. It also frees developers from making a 'lite' version. If you read up on the Apple app store, downloads of the lite version run 250+ times the number of sales of a title; I would expect the number of returns in the Android market to be higher than that, given the different culture of those who embraced the rough-around-the-edges but open source Android. In over a decade of using Linux, I've only bought 3 software packages for it, for example. Given the new piracy of iPhone apps and the likely piracy of Android apps, I suspect both markets will need to implement real DRM, so one download of an app doesn't turn into thousands of pirated installs. Managing a few servers for DRM calls is easy for Google to do but a pain if each developer has to do it. > I haven't given up hope entirely for Android, it could still come > around, but the app purchase policy is terrible and NEEDS to change. All the app return policy does is cut out the market for software with less than one-two days of reuse/replay value for the user. Should we really mourn that loss? It has the potential to give developers a less-cluttered market, where the best app of a type stands out because all the crap versions of the same type either won't get made or won't be updated because all the returns equals low sales equals it not being worth the time of those developers. There are obviously things which need to be improved with this market, but IMO returns isn't a problem by itself. Maybe it's already been useful in that it deflated expectations of writing "gCrap" and retiring. Steve --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" 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-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
