I really like the idea of the alternative markets, mostly because I do
feel quite strongly about the shortcomings of the official Market.
However, to date I have not listed any of my apps on any. Why not?
On Mar 22, 6:55 am, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote:
It takes about 5 minutes to register and list your app [on] AndAppStore, so
it's your call.
Technically, it's probably true that takes 5 minutes to register and
list an app. However, if you're hoping to get paid for your app,
there's significantly more effort involved... The forward locking
mechanism has to be integrated into your Java code, and while this
again isn't greatly difficult in itself, it means that you have a
different version of your app for each market.
The situation also gets more complicated if you have a "bundle" of
several related apps. Right now, I have 2 paid apps released, one
under a "freemium" model and one under a trial/license model. Both of
these are actually 2 apps in one: the free part is one app, with
internal market:// links to the paid part. This is a crucial component
of either of these models, and it only works with the official Market
- meaning that, to sell either sort of app elsewhere, I'd need to
branch my code still further.
Al and Shane, if you could register a receiver for the market:// URL
intent, that'd go a LONG way towards alleviating this objection.
It's not really about the size of the market it's about whether you want access
to more users.
If you have an app that's supported by external means - ads,
donations, memberships, whatever - then it probably really is 5
minutes to list it on an alternative market, and it's worthwhile to
spend that time. Otherwise, from a ROI perspective, a small market
just isn't worth the effort if it can't deliver some sales.
Unfortunate, but true. :^(
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