What do you think about PPC market? - Windows Mobile Development and Hacking General

Hi developers,
May be you think that this is a wiered topic to post here, but it is certainly important for most of developers, especially those who aim to target the PPC market and don't know the feasibility of this market.
Personally, I am about to graduate from the Computer Engineering dept, and I am mainly interested in programming especially c++, most students in my age look to work for companies in the country but I see that it is not so much feasible compared to the international market, for example, here in my country (Jordan) the work is 10 hours/day and 6days/week while the salary is ($500 - $ 600) monthly which is not much for a computer engineer.
So I decided to try the market of PPC (as many other programmers aim to), and I need some light about the market.
Any body had experience in this market? do you have a product (large or small) for sale? how much do you gain from your product (monthly)? how many copies of software do you sell? and for how much $ do you sell each copy?
and let's look at some companies in the market like Resco, Spb and SBSH and maybe others.. how do approximate their monthly sales for each program for the above three criteria (copies/month, $ per copy, total $ per month)?
for example:
Resco Photo Viewer:
Copies/Month: 1000
$ per copy: $15
Monthly $: $15000
Hope will help us here guys and business men
Regards and good luck for all,
Mohammad

AFAIK writing shareware either a hobby that allows to justify buying new toys somehow, or to create a portfolio to win special orders, from operators or companies that need custom software. Only a few PPC software writers sell enough to live from it.
Note, that customer support requires a lot of efforts. In PPC world it also require to have either a lot of devices to test on, or a number of loyal betatesters.

Well, that seems to be bad news.
Any good news guys?
Any one sells enough? what about donations? are they satisfying?
Let us know guys, the issue is mportant and interesting

Related

I think someone is stealing your programs!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...Track=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:middle:us
I came across this looking for an 8525, it seems that he may be using the FREE programs available on here. I would say whoever created them go after this guy because it's obviously not fair he is using what you created to profit without you getting anything for it. I'm not 100% sure if he is use the programs from here, but I mean how many Sim/CID unlock program are really out there for the 8525?
I just reported the item to ebay, this is JJ's stuff and other members hard work.
Lurch3559 said:
I just reported the item to ebay, this is JJ's stuff and other members hard work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe a copy of SPL-****er will be worming its way to him... nothing to do with me of course ^_^
You're welcome guys .
Yeah thats a bunch of bull****. i was looking on ebay the other day for a broken wizard and i saw someone selling a program that would load farias wm6 rom onto their phone. I reported that **** right away. There are so many people on here that are so talented and make so much awesome programs and not charge us a dime for it, but then you got dicks like that guy who decides to profit off of other peoples hard work. Death to that ****er.
Really classy how he was going to put commercial video game ROMs onto the phone/memory card too.
Not only was this guy trying to rip off the individuals here at XDA-dev, but also large corporations as well...
S-M-R-T
chenga said:
Really classy how he was going to put commercial video game ROMs onto the phone/memory card too.
Not only was this guy trying to rip off the individuals here at XDA-dev, but also large corporations as well...
S-M-R-T
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Click to collapse
I asked him about the programs and whether he developed them or not, here is the response I got:
"no not personally, but do talk to some of the developers and i donate some of my profit to them. any other questions feel free to ask
thanx
nate"
"i do cook my own roms if thats what you are asking, and just recieved an email asking me to remove this service and aparently reported to ebay, so i will not be able to offer this service at this time
sry
nate"
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Click to collapse
Good Catch myztikal47.
I guess we can all help the developers here by keeping an eye out for this kind of crap.
I think it wouldn't be a bad Idea to have a sticky on this topic, something with an eye catching title, so more are aware of this issue, so as to be looking out for stinking thieves at places like ebay or craigslist.
I think it was only a question of time. There is no way how to block this. He can use new account, new name or whatever. we have similar problem on our forum, it is strictly technical forum about repairing TV, radio, video, SAT, PC... and we also have big storage with service manuals, service tips and few guys from us steal this infos from us and trying to profit on these! those information have price of gold, but is no help to stop this. So we decide for higher security, for restriction who can download files, and vice-versa etc. but here is not so easy I think, this will kill this forum.
wow he even had a picture of JJ rom on the page thats the lowest of low stealing and turning anround and making a profit off of it... His address is at the bottom of the page if anyone wants to send him a thank you card!
sinmae said:
I think it was only a question of time. There is no way how to block this. He can use new account, new name or whatever. we have similar problem on our forum, it is strictly technical forum about repairing TV, radio, video, SAT, PC... and we also have big storage with service manuals, service tips and few guys from us steal this infos from us and trying to profit on these! those information have price of gold, but is no help to stop this. So we decide for higher security, for restriction who can download files, and vice-versa etc. but here is not so easy I think, this will kill this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I take such a gloomy view. I agree it is impossible to stop someone selling a service and it is not in the spirit of this forum to sell either advice or cooked ROMs etc. But to play "devil's advocate" for a minute, what is it we object to? Is it that these folk are making money? Is it the lack of acknowledgement to the people who have put in all the development work? Is it the danger that selling this type of thing brings unwanted attention from M$ and telecom service providers?
I personally don't object to someone selling their time to help someone who lacks knowledge though they should tell the customer that they could learn for free from this site. If someone offered me cash to help them flash a ROM I don't think I'd feel guilty if I accepted money to do it. (Though I never have!).
I feel the main reason to block this kind of activity is that we already have unwanted attention from the likes of M$ without being associated with the sale of a service that relys on what M$ consider to be illegally altered M$ material. The very act of selling the service will bring a much harder approach from M$ IMO. No longer would we we seen as a bunch of keen dedicated geeky amateurs, but people out to profit illegally from M$ original work.
I notice on a brighter note that the two cases of this I am aware of are no longer available through ebay. In one case the individual has withdrawn the service and the other was removed by ebay.
EDIT: One of them is BACK
As a warning to others who might follow - selling a service or ROMs in this very public way is almost certainly illegal, particularly if bundled with a whole lot of other commercial games etc. If you want to take on the M$ legal team then this is a good way to go about it - remember it's not just the developers here that are not giving permission it is M$ original work that is being made available in a "corrupted" form.
Mike
This guy is back! But in a different flavor. I just found this today on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/CINGULAR-8525-HT...ryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
He is WAAAAYYY overcharging on this phone. His justification? 1) the free upgrades found on this site, and 2) a CD of cracked illegal software.
And I fell sorry for this buyers who fell for his iPhone upgrade scam:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/HTC-CINGULAR-812...ryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ca/HTC-CINGULAR-812...ryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I can't believe people fell for that!
this isnt that much different from offering a service to fix phones that users have broken. IE i upgraded to windows mobile 6 and now it doesnt turn on.
yes hes selling other peoples work but really the people that pay him arnt paying him for the software they are paying him for the knowledge he has gained from reading
i would offer a repair service for noobs but theres allready people doing it.
its actually no different to taking a black rom and not donating then complaining about it
tallshorty said:
And I fell sorry for this buyers who fell for his iPhone upgrade scam:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/HTC-CINGULAR-812...ryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ca/HTC-CINGULAR-812...ryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I can't believe people fell for that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is to say those buyers are not M$ trying to get the individuals information and then suing him later? Just a thought...
IMO it's fine for him to sell phone with the software pre-loaded on them already, thats like anyone on here selling their phone with all the hacks already done....but to actually have a service to install the software on the phone and profit from that, and not pay the people who created the software...well thats illegal, someone should just report him to Microsoft, they'll have a field day with him lol.
myztikal47 said:
IMO it's fine for him to sell phone with the software pre-loaded on them already, thats like anyone on here selling their phone with all the hacks already done....but to actually have a service to install the software on the phone and profit from that, and not pay the people who created the software...well thats illegal, someone should just report him to Microsoft, they'll have a field day with him lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on that but look at how much higher he is selling the phone because of the free softwares. It's the same as offering the service, basically.
he must need some money to be doing this...this guy must be a crack addict...or meth...yeah probably meth addict, anyways
I'm saddened to see stuff like this go on...coupled with these annoying noobs flooding the forums, m$ being ever so watchful, and the eventuality of newer devices...the great people of XDA might just get turned off from all of this...i know some are already extremely annoyed
...only time will tell
I have a close personal friend that works for Microsoft in their Windows Mobile team and I am going to forward this thread as well as the links to the ebay auctions over to him.
mikechannon said:
I don't think I take such a gloomy view. I agree it is impossible to stop someone selling a service and it is not in the spirit of this forum to sell either advice or cooked ROMs etc. But to play "devil's advocate" for a minute, what is it we object to? Is it that these folk are making money? Is it the lack of acknowledgement to the people who have put in all the development work? Is it the danger that selling this type of thing brings unwanted attention from M$ and telecom service providers?
I personally don't object to someone selling their time to help someone who lacks knowledge though they should tell the customer that they could learn for free from this site. If someone offered me cash to help them flash a ROM I don't think I'd feel guilty if I accepted money to do it. (Though I never have!).
I feel the main reason to block this kind of activity is that we already have unwanted attention from the likes of M$ without being associated with the sale of a service that relys on what M$ consider to be illegally altered M$ material. The very act of selling the service will bring a much harder approach from M$ IMO. No longer would we we seen as a bunch of keen dedicated geeky amateurs, but people out to profit illegally from M$ original work.
I notice on a brighter note that the two cases of this I am aware of are no longer available through ebay. In one case the individual has withdrawn the service and the other was removed by ebay.
EDIT: One of them is BACK
As a warning to others who might follow - selling a service or ROMs in this very public way is almost certainly illegal, particularly if bundled with a whole lot of other commercial games etc. If you want to take on the M$ legal team then this is a good way to go about it - remember it's not just the developers here that are not giving permission it is M$ original work that is being made available in a "corrupted" form.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will point out a couple of things wrong with this Mike... 1. He is using JJ's roms and i highly doubt JJ is getting any kind of kickback. 2. His ebay username nateshuntsvegas is the same as on here. That alone could very well attract some negative attention as if M$ havent given us a hard time the way it is.
the rest of it i agree with
shogunmark said:
I will point out a couple of things wrong with this Mike... 1. He is using JJ's roms and i highly doubt JJ is getting any kind of kickback. 2. His ebay username nateshuntsvegas is the same as on here. That alone could very well attract some negative attention as if M$ havent given us a hard time the way it is.
the rest of it i agree with
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't disagree with your comment, but as JJ's work is freely available for folk to download it's impossible to stop anyone selling services to install it. But yes the negative attention of M$ (linked as it is to here) is certainly not what we want. If we are seen by M$ to be set against any moves to sell this kind of material or a service to install it I'm sure this will improve their view of us.
Mike

Games, Dictionary, Software THAT I INSTALLED IN MY ATOM LIFE

sorry guys. didnt know about it.
This is forbiden in this forum
Hi T3D0nG..
Please delete your posted... it's not allowed to post a warez here.
I know you already post it in other forum but don't post it here.
Thanks
Quoted from vijay555 from thread http://xda-developers.com/modules.php?name=News&file=showarticle&threadid=312903
Please don't warez
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may have read that the owner of WebIS posted an open letter to the community not to use warez.
Have a read! I'm quoting and linking to the original.
Quote:
Piracy is a huge issue for the software industry, but to be quite honest its nowhere near as huge as what the RIAA and MPAA and SBA make it out to be. 50% or more of the software pirated would never have been purchased in the first place. But lets talk a bit more personally here.
Myself and a band of software devs here have found a *very* large pirate warez site which I will not link to. They have cracks for almost everything imaginable. They have our software on there with download ratios in the TENS of THOUSANDS. In many cases I find more downloads of our software on the warez site than I see on our own download servers. I've calculated that even if we only lost 10% of those downloads that could have been sales its a pretty major hit.
The fact is that companies like ours and most other WinMobile devs operate on a shoestring budget. Most of our software sells at a break-even point, some at a loss until it breaks even 2-4 years after introduction. For the amount of money I've "lost" I could have *easily* created a Pocket Informant for Desktop or BlackBerry or heck other major applications or improvements. I could have hired an extremely high paid developer for a year or two averagely paid ones. For a company that has only 3 full time developers that's a fairly major loss.
The fact is that piracy hurts those who pirate. They want our software obviously. Some just use it for a "test", but we offer a two week trial and with a bit of work you can probably get 2-3 months free usage of our products a year. And we don't sell for a large amount of money. Just wait and you can usually get our software for a steal - without actually stealing. I don't think paying $9.95 is such a huge issue if you need an app like VoiceMinder. Its barely a lunch and drink. But the reason piracy hurts those who pirate is because they are like vampires slowly killing the company that they are sucking the applications off of.
Who here would care if there was never a VoiceMinder, FlexWallet, FlexMail, or Pocket Informant upgrade again? I have personally had fleeting thoughts of selling WebIS or just closing it down because even as this market has grown the software market has not and while I'm not naive enough to think its *all* about piracy, I know that it just makes me depressed. And no, we're not closing down and yes there will be major upgrades of everything. And yes, piracy has been part of the software business from the very beginning but that doesn't mean I can't ask you to stop.
And therein lies my plea to you. If you actually use our software please pay for it. When you don't you personally are contributing to the financial downfall of a bunch of people who are working hard to make good quality software for you. If you don't want to think of piracy as theft, think of it as stiffing us. Would you stiff the waiter of a tip? How about the guy who built your house? How about the plumber or the electrician? Or the Taxi cab driver? And yes, software does cost money to make. I pay electric bills, Microsoft dues, travel expenses to meet with MS devs, trade shows, advertising, not to mention salaries. So if you wouldn't stiff the waiter at your favorite restaurant his 15% (or 10% if you're money concious) tip, why stiff us the few bucks we ask?
WebIS has always been extremely liberal in our licensing as well. We don't use activation (we've thought about it), we don't lock our license to your username, we don't do anything to make licensing hard. We let you run our software on as many devices that you personally use and we use the honor system. Heck, we even make 2-3 versions of our software in most cases and let you pay for one and get them all.
So that's all. Hope you guys have a great day!
http://www.pocketinformant.com/Forum...8&st=0&p=61900
Yep I agree, get this crap off, there's enough of this on plenty of other sites, you should know better Dong!

Over the Air event in April - perfect for you hackers

Hi All,
I know this doesn't exactly fit into this forum but I wanted to say this forum is a wealth of knowledge for people like myself who are explorering what their Windows mobile devices can really do. I've been a lurker for years but wanted to let you all know about a special event I'm running at the start of April (4th-5th).
Its called "Over the Air" and has a tag line of 48 hours of mobile development. So basically its a chance to spend a weekend learning, experimenting and hacking around with mobile and wireless devices.
I'm already expecting lots of iphone, linux, java, symbian and even adrioid hackers to turn up but whats missing is the XDA/WM community. Hence it would be great if any of you can make it and show off some of the simply stunning things your doing with HTC hardware.
The event is completely free and will take place at Imperial College in Central London, UK. We have discount hotel places for those who are coming from far and already BBC mobile, BBC Backstage, Momo Monday and Vodafone are onboard. We talking to many different companies about running sessions and sponsorship of free data simcards for the 2 days.
So I hope to see some of you there...
If you need any more information or would like to sponsor the event please contact me off list

A better Marketplace for all

For a long time now I have been wondering when Microsoft's Marketplace for mobile would be finished. Sadly after reading much of the material posted by developers I'm getting the idea the it might not catch on as well as Microsoft hoped. Paying $99 USD per app per year to publish a free app is insane. You would have to be a marketing genius to convince people to donate enough money to cover the cost for you. Other than the current special of 1-5 apps for $99 I don't see this as a viable way to spread freeware applications to the masses. So in turn I have been looking for a way to create a market where free apps can be published and download on a fast reliable server for FREE. I know there are already many apps that have this idea but my spin on it would be to allow apps to be sold as well. Using open source shopping carts like oscommerce would make this a possible idea. There would be no charge to the seller. The shop would be completely funded on donations. Luckily, I already have a host but I would need support from coders and developers to make this come true.
So far, I need someone to code a payment module to allow oscommerce to set each individual pay app to its respective developer's paypal account. So when you choose the app you want and continue to pay for it, the money will go directly to the developer. Like Microsoft, a simple little app or link in the program files can route people to the site so anyone can download and buy on the fly. Seems simple enough right? I have a test shop where I am trying to put up a live demo so that developers would be more inclined to publish their apps when they see my idea in action. I'm still not done with it as I also have another project that I am getting paid for. You will see the site go down and up a lot till I am comfortable with the layout and stability.
I really need some input on this. Do you think that this could actually work and would you support if it became a reality?
sure.... I will put my apps on the server if this becomes a reality
good work and I hope to see this soon!
I'm working with a site called freewarepocketpc.net right to write a client (currently for the freeware side) but also could contain the shareware/paid apps. Creating your own database AND program is not something that you can take on in your free time
joel2009 said:
I'm working with a site called freewarepocketpc.net right to write a client (currently for the freeware side) but also could contain the shareware/paid apps. Creating your own database AND program is not something that you can take on in your free time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. This would be difficult to do but im going to try and see this through.

Best Type Of Ad To Promote Mobile Apps

Best type of ad to promote mobile apps
When advertising your app to other countries start from the grass roots level which is pinpointing the countries which you will advertise first. This is important so will have a much clearer picture on who you would will to sell you app to.
Once you establish the list of countries the next thing that you should do is to localize your app. English may be the medium where individuals from different countries understand each other but what else could you do to attract more people to your app? Incorporate their local language in your app. Not all people can thoroughly understand English and are drawn to pay more attention to things that they could understand.
Now after doing all those things, you need to find a DSP (demand side platform) which has self-serve RTB(real time bidding) capabilities like Bluagile and start creating mobile web and in app campaigns. This is the most affordable, convenient and efficient way to run your campaigns. Using a DSP lets you connected with more or less 30 differennt ad exchages which means accessing more traffic than you can ever imagine over 200 countries worldwide. The cost wouldn't be a problem since it's a self-serve RTB you can bid whichever rate you would think would be best suitable for the campaign. Another great thing about this is that they have a brand safe inventory which is accessible through static banners. DSPs usually providereportings on their platform which is far better than getting separate reports from various blogs, article and sites. Creating a buzz in the world wide web is the best way to get more people interested in something new and investing in CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) is the perfect fit to achieve that goal.
To sum it all up, you're creating a mobile campaign using static banners to ensure bot free traffic at a very cheap and affordable cost and you can view the reportings on one area which is very convenient. Learn more about Bluagile by visiting the site:
bluagile . com
Dear colleagues!
In this text below, I want to warn you about the scam danger from "Advertze" company.
We signed the traffic purchase agreement, made the prepayment of $2000 and after that Advertze disappeared.
I'll give you a summary of the situation that happened while negotiating with Advertze.
Our company, Hotger, is the user of MyMediaAds platform, which was the reason of finding and choosing Advertze.
We contacted Aaron Lopez, a manager of the company and the dialogue was started right away.
We have signed the document and received signed invoice for $2000. We did the payment for this invoice by bank transfer and sent the Swift payment confirmation, then we asked them to confirm the payment receiving. After that our partners disappeared, no one answered the phone or email.
We decided to contact Advertze the other way. Our manager added Aaron Lopez( the one who disappeared after payment) on skype. He answered surprisingly quick, started asking about work details and about prepayment!during the discussion Aaron Looez asked for email address. Because we all have same domain it was probably familiar to him. As soon as he saw the email address Aaron disappeared within 2 minutes and deleted our manager from skype and never contacted us again.
This second situation left no doubt, that Advetze is a scam company. They steal not only money but your precious work time.
This is why we want to spread this information as much as possible. Dear colleagues, our company Hotger is warning you, to avoid any contact with Advertze company. Beware of scammers never discuss any prepayments. We, Hotger company, strongly believe that this text should be spread as much as possible in order to avoid the same situation that happened to us.
Wishing you peace, happiness and good honest partnerships.

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