[Q]Should I publish a local application international? - Android Software Development

Hi there,
I would like to know if is has disadvantages in your opinion to publish a local app for other countries then where the app is meant for?
I don't want negative comments in the market like: I can't use this app in this country, but on the other hand we would like to target at some people who live at the borders of my country.
Specially the experiences from other companies are really interesting to me!
Sorry when this is the wrong place to ask, but it seems that there should be some of you with some experience about this!
Thank you for your reply!
r00n

I haven't tried this myself, but I think as long as you make a very clear note that the app is only useful in your country in the Market description, it should be ok. The reason I think you should still make it international is that people who live in another country but who are planning to come to yours might want it, if for example it has transport or touristy information.

thanks! We are not sure yet what to do... Mentioning it in de application description seems not so professional to us. Maybe we can make a note in the application itself.

have you seen the comments in the android market? if you don't mention it in the app description then you are going to be bombarded with low ratings and bad comments from people who are wasting their time downloading it.
^^don't want to sound like a douche, but anything to curb useless/repetitive market comments is seen as professional in my eyes

I think you should make it international and should also mention it in the description.
But people are still going to download it without reading the description or title or looking at the icon or screen shots and then complain that it lagged their phone and doesn't work at all, one star.

Related

I am Making A Website

I'm making a site, called market4android which you developers can feature your apps/roms on, etc. I'd love for you guys to contact me so we can get the ball rolling. It's a great domain that gets a lot of search engine hits, so if you're looking to get your name out there and get your apps out there, then please PM me and let me know what you have and all that cool stuff!
The site should be online for most of the world. If it is not, give it a while because it may still need to update on world servers.
Check it out, leave feedback, etc, and developers! hit me up and let me know if I can post your ROMs on the site. Don't want nobody getting mad at me!
Reminds me of a site that I frequent called XDA.
Maybe I am missing the point? Are you simply offering to host files?
jerry43812 said:
Check it out, leave feedback, etc, and developers! hit me up and let me know if I can post your ROMs on the site. Don't want nobody getting mad at me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll never get anywhere waiting for others to send you content. If you want to post a rom, post info, screenshots, etc. and link out to the post where they can get it and more info.
This may be a dumb question, but here goes anyway....
It's not hard at all to get an app included on the Android Market. What advantage are you offering over going that route?
So far I've only written a few Android apps, and they were both custom jobs for clients that would not be at all interesting to the general public. (And they have a LOT of tweaking left to do before I'd call them anything I'm proud of. I'm new to Android, it'll take awhile for me to catch up with the stuff I've done for WinMo and PalmOS.)
But I've considered diving into some more generally appealing projects, and the Android Market currently offers me both the ability to distribute for free, and the ability to monetize my efforts if I decide to go that route. Either route gives me pretty widespread exposure.
As a developer, my main question would be: "What extras are you offering that the existing marketplace leaves out?" (i.e. How can you make me more money? And/or give me wider exposure?)
I don't think he is making a place to distribute apps (at least that's not what I got), I thought he was making a place to be like "hey look what's going on in the dev community, check out this app and this rom, etc."
gthing said:
I don't think he is making a place to distribute apps (at least that's not what I got), I thought he was making a place to be like "hey look what's going on in the dev community, check out this app and this rom, etc."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a review site?
That could be very, very cool. Only trick is building a large readership.....
With that in place, it could very easily be something that developers want to pay close attention to.
gthing said:
I don't think he is making a place to distribute apps (at least that's not what I got), I thought he was making a place to be like "hey look what's going on in the dev community, check out this app and this rom, etc."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got the idea down pat!
subliminalurge said:
So a review site?
That could be very, very cool. Only trick is building a large readership.....
With that in place, it could very easily be something that developers want to pay close attention to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd definitely be letting developers have publisher accounts so they can work on getting exposure from my site, etc. It's not totally about me distributing apps...
Try to picture this: I can get traffic. Traffic coming to my site and seeing your apps there, your ROMs there, etc, want to download them, etc, well, not only gets you not only exposure, but income from the apps as well seeing as how they're downloading you stuff because they found info and reviews on it on my site.
Yes, the market would definitely be the #1 way to go, but what harm can it do to get some more exposure to your stuff? as well as get user reviews and the income that youre concerned about?
danknee said:
Reminds me of a site that I frequent called XDA.
Maybe I am missing the point? Are you simply offering to host files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will create mirrors for your files etc, and yes, you are missing the point. I wasn't 100% absolute sure in the direction I was heading with this, but I am offering you the exposure of traffic that comes to my site to see your apps etc, when they may not have ever noticed your app in the marketplace. User reviews, developer releases and all kinds of cool **** can happen here if you're willing to crack the shell away a little bit and accept my offer of free exposure to your stuff.
Why the hell would anyone pass up free? Beats me.
jerry43812 said:
I wasn't 100% absolute sure in the direction I was heading with this,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the record, my comments were not meant to be disparaging, but to help you figure that out.
I'm not going to go into how old I am, but I'm not exactly wet behind the ears. I was making a living in the "computer field" since long before anything called a "web browser" ever existed. The first time I heard about Mosaic, my reaction was "eh, sounds like gopher with pictures. big deal." (It wasn't a great article....)
There are two main reasons why projects fail. The first, and by far the greatest, is because the people starting that project never ask themselves, and come up with a clear answer to, "what problem am I trying to solve?"....
The second reason is that they fail to ask themselves "Is my solution something people will actually use?".
If you have good answers to those two questions, then the rest is just the legwork of getting it done. If you don't have good answers to those questions, then no amount of work will produce a successful outcome.
Sorry if I sound harsh, just trying to be helpful.
subliminalurge said:
For the record, my comments were not meant to be disparaging, but to help you figure that out.
I'm not going to go into how old I am, but I'm not exactly wet behind the ears. I was making a living in the "computer field" since long before anything called a "web browser" ever existed. The first time I heard about Mosaic, my reaction was "eh, sounds like gopher with pictures. big deal." (It wasn't a great article....)
There are two main reasons why projects fail. The first, and by far the greatest, is because the people starting that project never ask themselves, and come up with a clear answer to, "what problem am I trying to solve?"....
The second reason is that they fail to ask themselves "Is my solution something people will actually use?".
If you have good answers to those two questions, then the rest is just the legwork of getting it done. If you don't have good answers to those questions, then no amount of work will produce a successful outcome.
Sorry if I sound harsh, just trying to be helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not harsh at all and I comprehend your points. Maybe my tone sounded harsh when it was simply factual and jsut telling my purpose.
I feel that the purpose of this site I opened is good, and it can be very useful. But just like any other good thing, it usually cannot be done by one person. Support for the project is always a plus, and it can be made to be an excellent resource for people who are green on both sides, that want to get into modding android devices.
I dont think that it is a waste of my time, but in order for it to make it to where I'd like it to be, it can definitely use all the support and input that it can get. Thats why I brought the whole subject up, here. There are lots of developers here and even I am new to a lot of the stuff here, and I feel that it would be a great asset to a lot fo folks here if you jsut give it a chance.
jerry43812 said:
Not harsh at all and I comprehend your points. Maybe my tone sounded harsh when it was simply factual and jsut telling my purpose.
I feel that the purpose of this site I opened is good, and it can be very useful. But just like any other good thing, it usually cannot be done by one person. Support for the project is always a plus, and it can be made to be an excellent resource for people who are green on both sides, that want to get into modding android devices.
I dont think that it is a waste of my time, but in order for it to make it to where I'd like it to be, it can definitely use all the support and input that it can get. Thats why I brought the whole subject up, here. There are lots of developers here and even I am new to a lot of the stuff here, and I feel that it would be a great asset to a lot fo folks here if you jsut give it a chance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I never meant to imply it was a waste of time. Nothing of the sort. I think the Android platform has a huge amount of potential. For the people developing the platform, for the people developing apps to run on top of it, and for people creating the entire ecosystem that will surround it.
I guess what I was trying to do was get you thinking about a statement that you ended up making yourself. That you weren't 100% sure about the direction you wanted to take this. Whatever direction you decide on, I think your chances of success are much greater if you have a clear idea of what that direction is.
That said, I like your idea. I'd love to hear more about what you have in mind.
subliminalurge said:
Oh, I never meant to imply it was a waste of time. Nothing of the sort. I think the Android platform has a huge amount of potential. For the people developing the platform, for the people developing apps to run on top of it, and for people creating the entire ecosystem that will surround it.
I guess what I was trying to do was get you thinking about a statement that you ended up making yourself. That you weren't 100% sure about the direction you wanted to take this. Whatever direction you decide on, I think your chances of success are much greater if you have a clear idea of what that direction is.
That said, I like your idea. I'd love to hear more about what you have in mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why dont you PM me with some messenger info so we can talk? I run ICQ and AIM because ICQ is what is industry standard in the industry I work in.
jerry43812 said:
Why dont you PM me with some messenger info so we can talk? I run ICQ and AIM because ICQ is what is industry standard in the industry I work in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do. I mainly use Skype these days for IM, but I can throw ICQ on my computer real quick.
subliminalurge said:
Will do. I mainly use Skype these days for IM, but I can throw ICQ on my computer real quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, look forward to talking with you!
Got an article coming soon on the best battery app I found, along with some info from the developer. This should be live within a day or two.
I am looking for more stuff to write articles about, and it will involve some email communication between us so I can get the most accurate info onto the site.
Anyone want to be the one of the first few people to get featured on the site? PM me your email address so I can contact you
jerry43812 said:
Got an article coming soon on the best battery app I found, along with some info from the developer. This should be live within a day or two.
I am looking for more stuff to write articles about, and it will involve some email communication between us so I can get the most accurate info onto the site.
Anyone want to be the one of the first few people to get featured on the site? PM me your email address so I can contact you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got that article written and set live, and I also have a few other things on there, including a comprehensive guide to rooting the Sprint HTC Hero.
well an app review site would be great as i tend to follow users input when i download apps, and the input in the Market is just crap .. what some user find to be a bad app could actualy be a very good app for others. i sometime do it myself when i download an app , i look for user rating and comments. and decide wether to download the app or not, based on the user ratings..
The other thing would be a app request, meaning i been loking for an app that will play FLAC or AAC music files, i found 2 , 1 is from XDA ( a good app but the GUI is must to be desired ) the other is a cheap app that sometimes plays sometimes dont.. LOL
if someone would make good app for this i would be willing to pay for it 20.00 if i had to ...
The point is i would love a place that i could go to and request an app or suggest ideas for an app..
my 2 cents
rgildoss said:
well an app review site would be great as i tend to follow users input when i download apps, and the input in the Market is just crap .. what some user find to be a bad app could actualy be a very good app for others. i sometime do it myself when i download an app , i look for user rating and comments. and decide wether to download the app or not, based on the user ratings..
The other thing would be a app request, meaning i been loking for an app that will play FLAC or AAC music files, i found 2 , 1 is from XDA ( a good app but the GUI is must to be desired ) the other is a cheap app that sometimes plays sometimes dont.. LOL
if someone would make good app for this i would be willing to pay for it 20.00 if i had to ...
The point is i would love a place that i could go to and request an app or suggest ideas for an app..
my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're able t request apps and stuff there, I honestly havent set that section up because I am working on other content first. You can possibly post a new thread requesting someone code something for you, but I am not sure on the pricing of their work, etc. Let me work on getting some good app coders on my side and then I'll open up the requests section.

[Q] Android Market Questions

Okay, so I'm porting an app from WM 6.x to Android, and I was wondering if there was a way to limit who sees your app in the market - preferably by Phone Basebane or model.
I notice there is a ridiculous amount of troll comments on the market, and so many of those people are pretty much brain dead. Good example is the Skype app, which clearly states it will not work on Galaxy S devices. However, there are tons of Galaxy S users saying "Won't work on my Galaxy S i9k/Vibrant/whatever, 1 STAR" in the comments, and down-rating it.
My app will be free, so I don't care if 80% of the market won't see it.
I just want to make it invisible to anyone who doesn't use the phone that I used to develop or test the app, because fixing bugs for other devices that I don't have access to is no priority of mine.
Anyways, can this be done?
Post here
Post it here and some of the other android sites first. That way, you get some popularity and traction before posting on the market site.
The people in this forum can provide valuable feedback to improve it before hitting the John Q public losers. BTW, when you call them Brain Dead..... you are insulting the dead

[Q] Un-Authorised Tracking of Downloads in XDA

Recently, whenever I am clicking on the Download link for Mediafire, Rapidshare or any download site from XDA, the links are going via viglink.com which tracks the User Clicks and Which page you are going in.....
PLease check for your computers and report....
Note: This does not happen, when you select Open in new Tab or Open in New Window.....
why does it matter?...
pongscript said:
why does it matter?...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed.
I'll be fine just like that. Also as an android user, or cyanogen user or whatever,
statistics are given to google every hour or so.
u should kinda know, iphone users are worse.
Stunned
I'm stunned by the laizzez-faire attitude that common people take to privacy and user-control. The usefulness of Google etc. leaves people uninterested in 'the details'. By people not taking an interest (or making poor comparisons to existing behavior) as an excuse to do nothing, puts us all at the mercy of these companies who then do as they please with our information (our lives). This kind of crap makes me love government - it's rare that the people know what to do with this kind of information.
Maybe this gentleman setting up this thread is for those of us who take this kind of thing seriously, so I too would like to know more.
phoneyericsson said:
I'm stunned by the laizzez-faire attitude that common people take to privacy and user-control. The usefulness of Google etc. leaves people uninterested in 'the details'. By people not taking an interest (or making poor comparisons to existing behavior) as an excuse to do nothing, puts us all at the mercy of these companies who then do as they please with our information (our lives). This kind of crap makes me love government - it's rare that the people know what to do with this kind of information.
Maybe this gentleman setting up this thread is for those of us who take this kind of thing seriously, so I too would like to know more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do see your overall point about privacy, but I also see it as being a little paranoid.
I am not paranoid because I want to know the reason for same. Once you are aware of how the trackers work, you will understand.
agentJBM said:
I do see your overall point about privacy, but I also see it as being a little paranoid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
I don't got that crap you've stated. But those track things SUCK!

Anyone else buying app reviews?

I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!
yes, i want to promote my apps, so any recommended web to pay for the reviews(not pay for the 5 star rates)? i received some email saying that they can help me rate my apps, but i didn't try.
dirtyman115 said:
I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it was your intention, but this post sounds like a spam Anyways It's broken. I went to that page and when I click the button, nothing happens.
kulisgames said:
I don't know if it was your intention, but this post sounds like a spam Anyways It's broken. I went to that page and when I click the button, nothing happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been noticing a lot of spam on here of late. I really had no idea that developers actually bought reviews online for their apps. Makes me wonder if the top apps on Android and iOS have fake reviews. I just think we indie developers just have to support each other, we dont need to resort to buying fake reviews.
If you gonna spend money on marketing, you should spend it on real legal marketing. For example video review from a popular website or participating in admob ad network. In the long run it's more effective and better.
The most interesting detail is how much it costs, isn't it?
And what app store are we talking about?
dirtyman115 said:
I been hearing and seeing the results of people buying good amounts of reviews/downloads/ratings. Its crazy if you watch closely, im not going to point fingers whos doing it, but its quite obvious. I only buy reviews in small amounts since i develop small apps fast but it seems to be working for me.
Currently i get my app marketing services from buyappreviewsnow.com and i have around 30 apps currently. All with AdMob i might add and making a decent amount.
So if anyone else buys reviews maybe we can swap ideas?
Im new so i hope you found some info in my thread that can help you.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a look at the prices of some of those services and they where pretty high, IMHO.
Better spend that money on something else (maybe more ethical). For example spend some time developing a web page, social networking, forums etc.
But to have better reviews and more download the best way is making the app better
I think a purchase of downloads or ratings may be useful at very beginning. Without some amount of downloads the application will not go to top of new applications and people just do not know about the app.
Paid downloads and reviews breaks Android Developer Guidelines starting Sept 2013 - Google knows you are gaming the system!
It's fairly easy to do with and android VM, a VPN and some time to create false accounts.

+25 screenshots against Windows Phones. A WP8 issues review.

Knowing how picky moderators are in these forums, I wouldn't post this here if I weren't convinced that it can be useful to at least one potential buyer, and to at least one WP8 developer.
In my review I'm not providing reasons, but facts, backed up with screenshots. Someone said that where there are facts there is no room for reasons.
Of course I'll update my review when and if I realize some of the issues I've listed prove to have some easy workaround.
Here's the link: +50 screenshots against Windows Phones. A WP8 issues review.
Hope at least some of you find it interesting.
Well you have some points but generally all the so called review is plain bs...
zogoibi said:
Knowing how picky moderators are in these forums, I wouldn't post this here if I weren't convinced that it can be useful to at least one potential buyer, and to at least one WP8 developer.
In my review I'm not providing reasons, but facts, backed up with screenshots. Someone said that where there are facts there is no room for reasons.
Of course I'll update my review when and if I realize some of the issues I've listed prove to have some easy workaround.
Here's the link: +25 screenshots against Windows Phones. A WP8 issues review.
Hope at least some of you find it interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have a Lumia 925 and I've never had some of the issues you post here. For example, I've used Whatsapp AND Facebook intensely on long trips (6 hrs approx) by bus, going through places with strong and weak signals and when I got home after the trip, I still have like 20 or 18% of battery life. Maybe it's because I have at most 4 apps running in the background, but still that doesn't explain why your whatsapp and viber consume so much battery.
About the data sharing feature, I think that's carrier dependent. There are some firmwares that have restrictions in the network sharing features (mostly the ones installed by the operators) so that you buy special data sharing features from them (T-Mobile and AT&T do that). I live in Chile, and fortunately operators don't do that here, so I can share data wifi with my laptop even when I have only 1 bar of 3G or 4G signal, Never tried that on roaming though, but I think it would have the restrictions you mention.
Advertising ID is basically a "glorified" version of "do not track" feature of modern web browsers. Nothing fancy, just that.
Phone updates behaves erratically. At least for me, sometimes it takes a looooooonnggg time to do anything, and sometimes it works really fast. Don't know why though.
WiFi sense sucks. Period.
About contacts...eerrmm... why would I want to store the contacts on the SIM card, where it's limited as hell? It makes sense to store the contacts on the cloud (whether it's Google's cloud, Yahoo's cloud or Microsoft or whatever) and download them in your new phone rather than sending them via Bluetooth. When I bought this phone, I downloaded my contacts from my Google account (the one that I used with an Android phone) and it worked fine. In fact, you can save your contacts on the cloud and then access them on an iPhone or Blackberry with no hassle at all.
Map updates restrictions make no sense at all and I agree with you 100%. They should at least give the option to let that run in the background.
The random freezes and "resuming..." issue is a well known issue for some Lumias 925s and 1020s and it's being fixed by Microsoft within the Denim update. My Lumia 925 doesn't have it, but it's because it uses a Latin American firmware and its a Latin American version (although, it is compatible with the european firmwares). If you want that issue fixed right now, you can always install the finnish firmware to your phone and then download the update, because as far as I know, the finnish firmware is the only one right now that it has the fix, but it is coming to the rest of Europe soon.
All in all, it was a honest review and that is always appreciated.
[Edit] Reply deleted.
I've never had any of these problems, and most of these complaints van be explained by common sense.
Think about why they've done it that way before complaining, yes there are a lot of restrictions (it's more open than an iphone though) but that's also why it's so secure.
zogoibi said:
Thank you for the constructive reply. I've answered in the original article's comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm you do know that xda isn't here to promote your blog right ?
so if you answer to a question you do it here where you posted your "problems" and don't "force" people to read your complains elsewhere !!!
Greetings Cees Heim.
ceesheim said:
hmmm you do know that xda isn't here to promote your blog right ?
so if you answer to a question you do it here where you posted your "problems" and don't "force" people to read your complains elsewhere !!!
Greetings Cees Heim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, please! Do whatever you have to do, ban me or delete the thread, but don't litter it flaming with subjective and unfounded judgements. I take no sermons.
How about taking a thread closure then?
OP...with the constant negative replies and we feel this thread will go nowhere fast and in a hurry.

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