"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?"
I can see your point, but I think you might be missing a bigger picture. While it's true that gCrap will be a lot less, or at least reside more often in the free apps section, there is also another bad side effect. In the iPhone app store, the biggest seller is games. The lite versions are downloaded more often, because people want to try before they buy. However, there is a big difference between that and a 24+ hour return policy. If Xbox 360 or PS3 games were all under the same return within 24 hour rule, there would be hoards of games returned as users played them all night long, and went back to the store the next day to get their $60 back. The same principal holds true for games on the Market, who's content generally doesn't last more than 24 hours (unless it's something like Tetris). After all, how much content can be put into a game that only costs a dollar or two? Imagine a simple puzzle game, with 20 levels or boards. It might be a very fun game to play, but only has 6 hours of content. The user plays the game, beats it, realizes there are no more boards to beat, and returns it. Free entertainment as far as they may be concerned. It's like going to the cinema, watching all the new releases on a Friday night, then asking for money back. Is it the movie makers fault that they didn't make a movie with more than 24 hours of content to keep the movie watchers from getting a refund? I'm all for a lite version of games. I'm also in support of a 1 hour return policy. This way, if the full version doesn't work (force close, etc), people can get their money back. The current market policy will kill most games out there now as it is. "I too am wondering whether to switch to iPhone. can one develop on a windows PC, or does one have to buy a Mac?" Yes, you have to buy a Mac. Some people Hackintosh PC's, but I'd rather have the actual system to avoid any potential compatibility issues. I don't think Android is worth giving up on - even though I felt that way a couple weeks ago! It's a solid platform that's in its infancy. Who knows, in a couple years it might be the number one phone. It's a good idea to be knowledgeable about it now. On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 4:51 AM, Kapstaad <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I can see two problems with app sales at the moment. First, Android > is still, for all intents and purposes, a beta product. The G1 phone > and the OS running on it are lacking some of the polish found in the > iPhone, for example. However, the Open Handset Alliance partners will > eventually produce more hardware, and Android will mature (come on, > cupcake, let's go already :-). Until the OS platform, and the > hardware, and thus the apps built for them, acquire that slick, > streamlined user experience that gets everyone ooh-ing and aah-ing, > penetration of any market demographic will be slow going. > > The second problem is that the current userbase seems to consist > primarily of extremely immature, arrogant American 13-yr-olds with a > staggeringly overdeveloped sense of entitlement. I base my > observation on the number of assinine 'first' posts in the reviews, > the childish language and the rather ubiquitous lack of anything > remotely useful to anyone hoping to read an actual product review. > It's clear that national and religious bigotry are alive and well in > this crowd, too. I've never been able to understand the mental state > of an individual who goes to considerable lengths to bash a product > which is well-built and does what its advertised to do, on the basis > that the product doesn't do something else or that it force-closes due > to OS bugs (which happens on all handset platforms). It's especially > galling when you realize that pretty much all of these hyper-critical > dorks can't write a single line of code themselves, but feel it's OK > to mouth off at a developer who has sincerely and diligently gone to > great lengths to build a working, useful, bug-free app. I always want > to reply "if you're so damn smart, download the SDK and build a better > app yourself", but I know my suggestion won't be followed, and it'll > just add even more useless noise to the reviews. > > While I'm generally in favor of Google's hands-off approach to > moderating the reviews (or maybe it's just laziness, or maybe they're > hoping the 'wisdom of the crowd' will take care of the buffoons), the > marketplace has, in my view, rapidly devolved into a useless kiddy- > centric mess. If Google's been aiming for the barely-teenager crowd, > they're right on the money. If they were hoping to penetrate the > business user market or even the Joe Average market, the antics of the > "kiddiots" in the reviews section of the Market are going to severely > hurt Google's efforts. A long-press on a review will mark it as spam; > that's nice, but we really need a second option, either 'mark as > inappropriate', or 'rate usefulness 1-5 stars' so we can drown out the > dumbest comments with a majority vote. > > The as-yet immaturity of the Android platform is a Good Thing; it > represents an excellent opportunity for early adopters to get into > what's most likely going to be a really big game, right at the start, > and "ride the wave". The immaturity of the majority of current app > reviews is most decidedly NOT a Good Thing, and I think Google would > be well advised to provide some tools to help keep the dweeb noise > level down, or risk losing credibility with and/or support from app > developers. > > Just my $0.02. > > Brad > > > On Mar 8, 5:57 pm, Stoyan Damov <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ahahahahaha, I did look at the downloads of the top 10 apps - they are > > PATHETIC, the max number of downloads I saw was 1000-5000. How many G1 > > owners are out there, I'd bet on < 100K. > > > > On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 10:42 PM, friedger <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > Android stats say here are 10 paid applications. > > >http://androidstats.com/ranking/applications?filter=paid > > > > > However, I don't know what this stats are based on, better check the > > > market yourself... > > > > > Friedger > > > > > On 7 Mrz., 00:16, JP <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> You can find out for yourself. Browse the market with a G1 and check > > >> the number of downloads of some of the at-price apps that compare to > > >> your friend's vision apps and that have been made available for > > >> download for a few weeks now. This would be a 15 to 30 minute exercise > > >> that will give you the business intel you are looking for. Then assume > > >> a return rate, deduct Google's 30% cut from the revenue. You're friend > > >> will now the applicable taxes, ODC etc. > > >> This will be an order of magnitude estimate only, but should be > > >> accurate enough to arrive at a conclusion. > > > > >> On Mar 6, 2:20 pm, Anil <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > >> > An acquaintance who runs a small business (not in the mobile area) > and > > >> > employs one programmer, is wondering whether to develop apps for > > >> > Android Marketplace. He wondered whether it is financial sense to > do > > >> > so and I recommended the Android marketplace, but do not want to > > >> > mislead him. While the commercial success of the iPhone marketplace > is > > >> > well known, what has been the commercial story of apps sold in the > > >> > Android marketplace? > > >> > How many downloads per month, how much sales volume in $, average > > >> > price of an app, how many are free downloads vs paid, how many apps, > > >> > how many G1 phones are around etc. Are there any reliable statistics > > >> > from Google on this? > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
