Ways to independ Your app business

Since latest news about mass removal from Google Play I consider it to be the time to think what to do to be as little dependent as we can. True business doesn’t stand on one leg. With this in mind I want to start a discussion about ways to be really independent.

Most common situation looks like this: You have app on Google Play only and uses one or two ad networks. It has worked, but last days showed us that You never know when Google with just a few click can destroy Your income and life in result.

As far as I know there are several stores that we can use. Most popular are (besides GP):
Samsung App Store
Amazon App Store
and the rest which are not so well know (but that may change - if devs will stop uploading their apps in GP, user will start to go to other stores if they’re loyal enough).

AFAIK, Samsung is releasing Tizen OS which automatically ports to Android and iOS. That gives us one more big app store for distribution. If Samsung will release it - upcoming devices will be no more with Android. And sharemarket of Samsung devices is quite a chunk. In other words - we loose several % of income.

Amazon is playing too safe to be taken seriously now.

So, my first thought how to be more independent is to get to know Tizen (I am myself Android dev, FYI) so we can take advantage of three most important appstores - Apple Appstore, Google Play and Samung Apps. Nevertheless, Tizen is new so it can have maany bugs so it’s just one more thing to consider.

Second thing that I think may be important in following years is having Your own place in the web from which user can download Your app. Seeing how Google want to monopolize whole market (just to install apps that are not from GP You have to go to settings and check this feature). So, maybe building equivalent of mailing list (contact list?) - let’s say user base that You can reach directly is the step to take. I’m not saying to not use app stores - just use them as much to Your advantage as You can. To build Your own website nowadays it’s a matter of hours, really.

Third thing - ad networks. PingJam just showed that being GP compliant doesn’t mean that Your app is 100% safe and it’s not good to balance on the edge. You can do this in life, where is court and stuff, but when only judge is Google - it’s just not worth it. So, as to ad networks - they are popular because they are soo easy to use. You don’t have to talk to advertisers - they do it for You and in exchange You can focus on development. But…if You have some apps and they are niche-based maybe there is someone who could pay You directly for including their banner in You app? Then You get agreement and regular payment. But, for know - ad networks are not in danger to be monopolized and they don’t have so much power over our work. Remember, ad networks are the middle-man’s. You can cut them out.

If You have Your own ideas how to protect Your business - share it here. I started this thread here because more people to his section of the forum than the one that this thread should belong to - so I hope admins will understand that.

+1 for this thread.

I guess creating your own website to inform, update, distribute and offer downloads is a good way to stay in touch with your user base.

Oh, and maybe Google Cloud Messaging so You can reach them (or something outside google, but similiar).

Well, I don’t think Tizen will go anywhere. The best solution is to use platform independent libraries (easy for games: Unity3D, libGDX), so you are not stuck on one platform. I’m for example starting to port my apps to iOS. It is going slowly, but even though I only use banner ads and interstitials and try to produce high quality apps and step very carefully I’m never sure what can happen with Google.

yep for google, there is nothing like loyal webmaster/app developer

HTML and javascript was best in my opinion but when submitting html5 based apps wrapped by phonegap/cocoonjs, the performance degrades like anything. How is tizen able to port to android and ios. If performance remains the same as native apps, tizen is a really good option.

P.S.: Even libgdx based games have like 40fps on ios where as for android same game would have 60fps

Did I mentioned that tizen is java-based? :wink:

From Wikipedia:

Available programming languages(s) HTML5, C, C++

In wikipedia it says it uses html and for native language C/C++! Where did you read it was java based?

I never used C++, but used C and its definitely harder then java because of things like pointers and the absence of classes that lift the heavy work for you. I remember have to reinvent the wheel every time i had to do something simple, just thinking about C gives me nightmares :open_mouth:

My bad, I had to rememeber something wrongly. Here we have more information:
Tizen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Still, Tizen is not available on any device so maybe it’s to early to think so much about it, but let’s keep it in mind - it might be a chance for Samsung.

I agree with you there, only time will tell, but remember Samsung has most of the smartphone share for Android, if Tizen succeeds it could really mean trouble for Android.

Also it might not be a bad idea to take a look into Windows Phone 8 and this is why:

  • Instagram will finally a release a Windows Phone 8 App, this means big app developers are starting to taking it more seriously
  • Market share surpassing iOS share on some countries
  • Already makes up to 4.5% smartphone share on the World
  • For us Java Developers, getting into C# is a piece of cake since they are really similar.
  • Google finally released the new AdMob SDK for Windows Phone 8.

Does somebody here also develops for this system? Any insights for how it compares to Android?

I advice agaist developing for platforms like Windows Phone 8 or Blackberry, it’s a waste of time and if they become successful one day, then you can try them. Most such platforms give you almost zero downloads. Right now only Android, iOS and Windows (normal Windows) count.

Let me add one more thing:

instead of developing your on apps with ads, develop apps for others(clients) and get paid. you can create your own website and show your current apps to gain their trust. you can also use freelance site. this is not an easy approach but it would be a very good way to be independent.

also do not stick with Android, learn to develop windows mobile, iOS and HTML apps. otherwise you won’t survive

You can see that Samsung DOMINATES the list - see where HTC One X (an earlier model by a competitor of the Samsung Galaxy S3) stands !!

Granted, this is for an app in which U.S. dominates, but this type of dominance allows Samsung ability to launch an alternative app store (if they made it as accessible as Google Play).

The only threat to Samsung etc. is the rise of the cheap android phones in asia - which SHOULD dominate in the coming 1-2 years. However they will be fragmented and Samsung will remain the dominant single company - though it’s percentage share SHOULD go down as the cheapo phones become more dominant (as those using non-smartphones now start using the cheap smartphones).

Samsung according to the list (taken from AppBrain stats for one app) has almost:
20.5% + 15.2% + 7.5% + 6.0% + 4.3% + 3.6% + 3.6% + 2.8% + 1.8% + 1.2% + 0.9% + 0.9% + 0.7% + 0.7% + 0.7% + 0.6% + 0.6% + 0.5%
= 72.1%

So Samsung has 72% of the market for this app - this will vary by app, but Samsung essentially IS the android market (at least this year).

Samsung Galaxy S3 20.5%
Samsung Galaxy S4 15.2%
Samsung Galaxy S2 7.5%
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini 6.0%
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 4.3%
Samsung Galaxy Ace 3.6%
Samsung Galaxy Note II 3.6%
Samsung Galaxy Y 2.8%
Nexus 7 2.2%
HTC One 2.2%
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 1.8%
LG Motion 4G 1.4%
DROID RAZR 1.4%
Nexus 4 1.4%
Samsung Galaxy S Advance 1.2%
Sony Xperia Z 1.2%
Sony Xperia S 1.1%
Samsung Galaxy Mini 1.1%
Samsung Galaxy Note 1.0%
SGH-I337M 1.0%
Motorola Razr M 0.9%
Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos 0.9%
SGH-I747M 0.9%
Samsung Epic Touch 4G 0.9%
HTC One X 0.8%
Sony Xperia U 0.8%
Galaxy Nexus 0.7%
GT-I9305 0.7%
Samsung Galaxy S 0.7%
LG Optimus L5 0.7%
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 0.7%
GT-I9195i 0.7%
Samsung Galaxy Y Duos 0.7%
SM-N9005 0.6%
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 0.6%
Sony Xperia P 0.6%
Sony Xperia J 0.6%
SM-T210 0.6%
SPH-L900 0.6%
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 0.6%
XT919 0.6%
SCH-S738C 0.5%
XT890 0.5%
Samsung Galaxy Pocket 0.5%
SCH-I605 0.5%
Sony Ericsson Xperia Tipo 0.5%
ST21a 0.5%
C5303 0.5%
DROID RAZR HD 0.5%
LT30p 0.5%

it would be nice to find out the numbers on samsung’s app store… like downloads, traffic, etc to validate spending time publishing an app there.

Wow, no wonder why they want to get their own OS. Now, with those informations I think that they WILL do it. Why pay and be dependent to Google if You can make it on Your own terms? And have all secretly gathered informations for Your own?

It looks as if google has created Android for samsung. Galaxy Note series is the proof it. No other manufacturer comes close to Note 3.
With Tizen, Samsung can do wonders if right decisions are made like porting apps to android/ios/WP

Even though Samsung devices dominate the market, that is NOT to say that Samsung users like to look at the Samsung App Store.

I tried to submit my app to Samsung store once. It’s really a pain in the as*.

Agreed. Amazon is just SLIGHTLY better.

:confused: