I've tried this a couple of times as well (and even considered it recently) but it just never went anywhere. I even put out my JVending code (open-source provisioning server) to get people involved but zero response.
I have some pretty good ideas for helping devs sell apps with social discovery. With ZappMarket, it started off very well but after a couple of weeks the only response I got from devs was "not another market I need to support?" I'm sure a lot of people wanting to start up new alt markets are in the same boat. With ZappMarket, I'm moving more toward services to help developers promote their applications in the AndroidMarket. Also as I mentioned in another thread, I think with Google moving toward HTML5 client and paypal, general alternative Android markets are going to take a big hit. I don't want to be in front of that train. This means aggregators just aren't going to be needed either. Having said all of that, devs should use alternative markets like AndAppStore until that time, as there are huge holes that Google isn't yet filling. And if these stores are very clever and fill some niche or need Google doesn't care about, they may be around for a long while. On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 11:44 PM, Al Sutton <[email protected]> wrote: > We floated this idea over a year ago and it went nowhere - > http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss/browse_thread/thread/3a2998560e30fbd/65e40daea1a9f0de?lnk=gst&q=federated+app+directories&pli=1 > . > The main problem is that people are measuring app primarily stores on > number of apps, so one store having an app that another doesn't makes it > look "better" given the current popular metric, and so there is little > incentive for app stores to share. > > What we actually need is some consolidation. I found out about another > minor OEM this week who are producing a pretty generic spec Android tablet > and are going to start their own app store and populate it from scratch, > which will create another separate store trying to fight for developers > attention, which is, to me, a little crazy as they could put AndAppStore on > it for nothing. Don't get me wrong, there are some devices which had > particular non-standard quirks and so need an app store for apps which > support those quirks, but for smaller OEMs, setting up a new app store given > the number that are currently around is not really helping anyone in the > long term. > > Al. > -- > > * Looking for Android Apps? - Try http://andappstore.com/ * > > ====== > Funky Android Limited is registered in England & Wales with the company > number 6741909. > > The views expressed in this email are those of the author and not > necessarily those of Funky Android Limited, it's associates, or > it's subsidiaries. > > On 7 Sep 2010, at 23:27, Mark Murphy wrote: > > On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 6:15 PM, Peter Eastman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Does this sound plausible? > > > It's not completely crazy, if that's what you mean. :-) > > One hang-up I see is that each store *should* require its own > distribution agreement, which cannot be federated this way (I think -- > IANAL). Whether they all do require distribution agreements is another > thing entirely. > > And, of course, there's the question of whether the stores could agree > on metadata, are willing to do the engineering work to take the feed > from the central site to pour into their catalogs, and all the details > to make this technically work. > > I seem to recall Al Sutton had some store interoperability things > going via AndAppStore, but I forget the details. > > -- > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy) > http://commonsware.com | http://github.com/commonsguy > http://commonsware.com/blog | http://twitter.com/commonsguy > > Android Training in London: http://skillsmatter.com/go/os-mobile-server > > -- > 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. > > > -- > 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]<android-discuss%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en. > -- Shane Isbell (Founder of ZappMarket) http://apps.facebook.com/zappmarket/ -- 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.
