Android News
Android developers unhappy with Android’s financial rewards
December 1, 2009 | by Andrew Kameka
Android News
According to a small survey conducted by Skyhook Wireless, Android developers aren’t happy with the Android Market. Developers don’t like the small number of downloads or the even smaller profit margins, and they blame the Market’s design and Google Checkout for the problem.
Developer disappointment has been a theme in recent weeks after Gameloft said it would back away from Android. Though the company backtracked from that statement soon after, it caused many to wonder how satisfied or frustrated developers are becoming with the financial rewards of the Android platform. This survey, which has a small sample group of 30 that calls its accuracy into question, speaks to some of those frustrations. Let’s consider some of the major points gathered from the 30 developers polled:
57% said they are not satisfied with their profits on Android
This is a no-brainer. Android users have not spent as much as iPhone users. Plenty of reports from other sources back-up this claim, though it seems to slowly improve.
90% say their app has individual downloads of 10,000 or less
That’s 27 of the 30 people, leading me to wonder who is participating in this survey and how much the quality of their app affects sales, thus, their happiness and response.
43% believe they would sell more apps if not for Google Checkout
Though I have no problem with Google Checkout, it has been said that Checkout and the need for a credit card adds an unnecessary barrier to app sales. Developers, like some analysts, believe that making it easier to just purchase an app and pay for it at the end of the month will encourage more sales. T-Mobile has said it would soon start a program to let customers add app purchases to their monthly bill.
82% say the Android Market design makes it difficult to be noticed
I’m surprised 100% didn’t think this because it’s practically a fact. The Android Market is full of problems that need to be addressed.
On the AndroidGuys podcast last night, I asked Kevin Nakao of Whitepages to speak about Android’s financial rewards. Nakao said that after the new Android Market was released, there was a noticeable increase in sales and downloads of the Whitepages app. This is just one instance, but I’m inclined to believe that the improved Market on 1.6 does increase app visibility, meaning carriers ought to hurry up and get their customers onto Donut.
68% are somewhat or not likely to put as much work into their apps
Devs are well within their rights to give up, but doing so at this time may not be the wisest thing to do. In the past two months, we’ve seen the Sprint Hero, Samsung Moment, Motorola Cliq, and Verizon Droid & Droid Eris dramatically increase Android’s user base. Verizon has three times as many customers as T-Mobile and Sprint customers tend to spend more money than T-Mobile subscribers.
A whole new breed of customer that is accustomed to paying extra for certain services has been exposed to Android and the financial potential for the platform will continue to increase. The pace is frustratingly slow, but there is movement. As Nakao says, “The market is just going to get bigger. Anybody who has made their business based on what has happened up to this point is being very, very short-sighted about the economic opportunity.”
I just switched from the iPhone when the Droid came out. The android market is no different (worse/better) than the app store. Google checkout is actually way easier to use than an apple account. The steps you have to go through in iTunes to updated your account or billing information is infuriating at best. Anyway, the only issue in this poll that seems real is the low downloads which can be attributed to lower numbers of devices with android. Simple. And that will change.
Yeah – I agree with the above poster – I had to have a credit card for the App Store thru iTunes. I like GoogleCheckout much better. The Market though is a COMPLETE disaster. It's horrible to find stuff. I really would like to see something like doubleTwist incorporate the Android Market so it's easier to search. To me – not having a laptop/desktop client is the biggest drawback for the apps on Android. They're just so much easier to find on iTunes. My recent post iPhone = Model T?
Yeah – I agree with the above poster – I had to have a credit card for the App Store thru iTunes. I like GoogleCheckout much better. The Market though is a COMPLETE disaster. It's horrible to find stuff. I really would like to see something like doubleTwist incorporate the Android Market so it's easier to search. To me – not having a laptop/desktop client is the biggest drawback for the apps on Android. They're just so much easier to find on iTunes. My recent post iPhone = Model T?
One of the reason why Android users are not spending as much as the iPhone users is simply that the paid-apps are not available in a lot of countries where Android phones are sold. The potential market sales are very different. This very specific point makes me furious and tend to be forgotten by American observers. And also some of those questions are clearly not saying anything, like "43% believe they would sell more apps if not for Google Checkout". I can probably design a survey with only hypothetical questions and make them say whatever I want this way…
I think the new market app in donut is a lot better than the previous one. The release of the new devices has also increased the user base and I sold more copies of my apps in the last 1/2 months than since August (first app published) I believe that soon we'll be invaded by Android devices and the situation will get better. The only thing I still don't like, as a developer from the UK, is that it's not possible to set a different price for any currency (which I believe it would be better from the marketing point of view)
I second the fact that the lack of a desktop version of the market kills a lot of sales. The market I believe needs a complete overhaul. I have the droid and so never used the old market, but it doesn't cut it. Such basics as search (how ironic for GOOGLE!) need to be addressed ASAP. It would also be nice to see tags, categories, popular of the day/week/month/all time in both free and paid apps. Most of the time I feel like I'm looking through a keyhole at all the available apps. I never really feel like I know whats out there and what I'm missing. To me nothing is as important as improving the app store. Its the lifeblood of the whole platform and its fragile right now in Android's early years. A solid market would make a world of difference.
I agree that the Market needs a lot of work. Everyone has great ideas on how to improve the market from adding a desktop/web client. Adding daily/weekly/monthly "best of" listings. Even adding tags would be an improvement. I think complaining about having to use Google Checkout is ridiculous. As it's been pointed out, you have to give Apple a credit card to purchase apps from iTunes. Honestly I think using Google Checkout is the way to go. I don't want T-Mobile to add the purchase price of apps to my bill. I like when I buy something it's paid for at the time I buy it. It helps me not over spend when making purchases. I think one area that really needs improving is with the phones themselves. Let's face it, if someone wanted to go absolutely app crazy with the iPhone they have gigs of space to install them. As it stands right now, out of 64MB on my G1, I have 10MB free. That's not much room to invest much in apps. Expanding the memory on the phones would help open the door to more sales. Even if they put 2GB on the phones that would be a vast improvement to what's available now. I've seen a lot of people even suggesting that Android should be able to install apps to the microSD card. While that could work, I would prefer to have more room on the phone for the apps and then the microSD card can still be used for music, video, pictures and data storage for the apps.
I would love to be able to browse for apps on my PC and then they are downloaded to my phone which sits for most of the day on one of two wifi connections. Also a lot of what I do come across on the market place is styles etc. More needs to be made of what apps are really useful. The Gadget Show last night for example highlighted a really useful app for skiers on the Market Place that was better than the one they chose from the App Store for the iPod. That sort of visibility can't get any better.
Coming from a web optimization background, any barriers to making a purchase makes a huge difference on conversion. I haven’t tested out the android marketplace yet, but from my gut, I do think that the developers have a point. As for the marketplace, I doubt we’ll see any huge improvements soon. It takes a while to get these things right and all the pieces in place. I just can’t see google placing a high priority on it since it’s not an area that they get a competitive advantage from. Where they can get a huge edge is in producing apps that sync with google websites seamlessly and they have been doing an awesome job of that. The gmail app is many many times better than the iphone’s. In the long term, I don’t see many top developers flocking to android. The best talent sticks to the most popular platforms. Until you start getting stories like a developer grossing $1 million in a week on android, the iPhone is going to capture the majority of attention from devs.