Try the Getjar SDK and Get $500 Free Advertising Credit!

Hi guys,
anyone have tried this promotion and can give some informations?

https://developer.getjar.com/android/sdk-sign-up-mktg/?source=fbOct12gjd50muC1-sdk

Cheers,
Gabriele

I may include GetJar in my app. I didn’t know about this promotion.

However, one can see that it says:


Get $500 credit for Getjar Pay per Install promotions when you publish your app on Google Play with the Getjar SDK. Your app must have at least 100 ratings with 4.0 or higher average on Google Play to be eligible for the free credit.

So there is that hurdle to overcome - 100 ratings with avg rating 4.0 or higher. Basically they want to promote only apps which are pretty good to begin with.

However the same hurdle exists when you sign up also. My app had a peak at 5/5, much smaller at 4 and 3 and 2, but a HUGE peak at 1/5 rivaling the one at 5/5 thus reducing average below 4.0 (because I had audio problems with an earlier version for some phones). In addition as soon as I entered the top 500 or 100 lists (as reported on appannie.com) there were a huge number of 1/5 ratings (though there wasn’t a great rise in daily downloads so that was anomalous). I wonder if some of those are manufactured ones - which should not be surprising if there are companies in existence whose job it is to place apps in the top 100 for $30,000 or $5000 - at least I’ve seen such figures quoted in articles).

However GetJar was understanding and didn’t seem to mind the average rating was down. So I suppose if your ratings graph looks like it is naturally peaking at 5, and the 1/5 is explainable or anomalous, then it maybe acceptable to GetJar.

The reason GetJar maybe imposing some “standards” maybe so they can initially get better quality apps and earning coins does not seem to users like they are downloading crap (though many may just download and uninstall).

By the way, Angry Birds made their entrance on Android through GetJar - evidently the CEOs knew each other or something, and Angry Birds was pissed off at Google for some reason.

When you sign up for GetJar you would presumably be doing it to earn money. That is, any time a user earns gold coins and SPENDS 100 gold coins in your app - you will get $0.9 (that is the conversion ratio) from GetJar.

This $500 credit means you as a developer also get a chance to be listed in their list of apps that users download to earn gold coins. So $500 will get you downloads as well - however as noted above, since users primary intention is earning coins they may not be interested in your app (so uninstall rate will be high).

But $500 means - $500 x 10 downloads (since $1 typically about 100 gold coins - which is about 10 downloads since most downloads are 10 gold coins - though some are 15).

So you could get 5000 downloads from this $500 credit.

Now an examination of the GetJar model …

I like GetJar from the user point of view i.e. it is not creepy (like some other ad networks) - has a simple “download app and you earn” setup (though I think now they may have “download and run” before you get the credit).

Some others like Tapjoy have a mix of all types of offers - but evidently a lot of people find them more accessible - perhaps it is because Tapjoy use of colors and design is better. GetJar is still kludgy - and their interface is laggy - they should work on downloading or caching some of the graphics if they can.

I AM surprised however that Google Play lists GetJar Rewards in the store - this is a privilege that is not available to most other networks (perhaps Google is watching how GetJar develops). Also GetJar seems to have a history as a “good” company it seems - they seem to have started off as a beta testing website or something - and most recently were used as the vehicle for Angry Birds to make an entry on Android (perhaps that’s why Google has not stomped on GetJar yet - would be politically incorrect to do so if GetJar has some visibility/cred with people).

If you wish to look at the apps visible to earn - download the “GetJar Rewards” app mentioned above - available on Google Play.

It is a standalone app which essentially can be used to earn gold coins in a standalone manner - these can then be used within your app separately.

Some good apps to see GetJar in action:
Guitar Solo Lite
Cut the Rope

100 gold coins earned by a user requires 10 app downloads (or fewer since some are worth 15 gold coins also).

The actual download of an app takes place through Google Play - so in a way GetJar is a referral which takes you to Google Play.

I think the $500 credit is what enables GetJar to populate it’s list of eligible apps (that users can download to earn coins) - so it may be their way of jumpstarting their gold coin economy. As more real app promoters sign up with them we may see their lists increase.

I like the GetJar model - and it’s cleanness - however I don’t know how sustainable the whole earn coins when you download an app will remain (as long as there are companies willing to do so to increase their numbers to get to the top 100 charts - or as long as the lifetime value of apps are above $5 or $10 then app developers WILL use the service to increase downloads - this is why you see CoinDozer and such apps which are relying on in-game earnings on the Tapjoy offers - because such apps have recognized that they can earn back what they spend).

The lifetime value of an app download needs to be $5 or $10 (which it IS for some of these in-game currency apps or social games) because you spend $0.10 per download - but not all downloads will lead to earnings - I have seen mention of 5% i.e. 5% of the downloads will lead to purchase. So essentially need to have 20 downloads to get one paying download. So if the one paying download earns them $2 or more, then it is worth it to spend $0.10 x 20 downloads = $2 by promoting their app on GetJar.

This arithmetic is unfortunately not known to early developers - but once an app is mature the developer will know the ratios that work for their app - and can quite reliably predict what they can earn by such increased downloads.

The current weaknesses in GetJar that I see are that they need to work on their UI and the speed at which their dialog boxes (is slow on GPRS, better on WiFi) - perhaps reduce their reliance on graphics (look at Tapjoy - they use little graphics and their screen appears faster than GetJar’s).

Hope this helps. Add to the reputation below if you like this post.

I’m not sure how getjar’s sdk works, but they say they are a mechanism for users to purchase in-app levels and such. How does this comply with Google’s new terms? From the way I read them, an app on the google market can not use other sources for in-app purchases where users spend money. For incentive based rewards I think the rules are that your app must not offer this as the only way to unlock content. Anyone know more about this?

Some more details on the GetJar model …

GetJar claims that developers can increase their revenues by 2x or more.

But note this is referring to developers who are ALREADY charging for their apps.

That is, GetJar is saying that developers will earn 2x what they make through Google Play purchases.

This info is available in on or more FAQs or articles on GetJar - I don’t have the URLs - just quoting what I remember …

The reason cited is that using GetJar is easier for a user - it is also free (compared to paying).

Some users would still prefer to pay the $1 (rather than do the equivalent 10 app downloads or less via GetJar) - so that option can remain - as you can see with “Cut the Rope” - where if you try to play a locked level - it gives you the option to pay $3.99 or earn 75 gold coins (NOTE how $3.99 actually earns the developer 70% or $2.8 which would be earnable at $0.9 per 100 gold coins with 311 gold coins - so the developer is essentially FAVORING the GetJar method for the user !!).

Secondly, GetJar suggests that the use of GetJar does NOT cannibalize existing Google Play sales - as the demographic of those paying through GetJar is different - it will be that group which cannot pay, does not have the free cash, younger age group without access to cash, or those who cannot pay through Google because it is not enabled in their countries yet (though it has expanded considerably now so this may not be as much of an issue maybe now).

And this argument makes sense - because those who ready to take out their wallet will probably do the same again. There would be some cannibalization - but a greater/newer group will emerge who can now unlock features in your app without spending a penny (but who can take 5 minutes off to download a couple of apps to earn gold coins).

Now we come to the group of developers who cannot sell their app through Google Play (because paid apps not expanded out to their countries yet by Google). This group will benefit the most - because they will now be comparing earnings from GetJar with earnings from ads - and it is for this group perhaps that the earnings could be much more - perhaps 8x or something (?).

However, one thing to note is that paid apps on Android “usually” sell very few copies (on iOS maybe one could say that 2x is a lot) - but I’ve seen apps which have 100,000 downloads for the free version and 100 downloads for the paid version on Google Play !!

So saying 2x of that may not be much. But one CAN see how something like GetJar really opens things up.

One thing about the cleanness of the advertiser I’d like to mention again - one thing I like is that if the developer KNOWS that user needs to only earn 10 gold coins, then they CAN say in their explanatory text that “just download one app and come back and unlock this feature”. This reliability is not known when you use Tapjoy - for all you know some kid could be signing away their parent’s info to some sign up form and it would be all “through your app”. Or the apps on Tapjoy pay a wildly varying number - so a developer cannot predict ahead of time what effort will be required by the user to earn 10 gold coins.

So these things I find likeable - however I have also seen that when shown GetJar and Tapjoy to kids etc. that they seem to like the Tapjoy (perhaps it is the colors or is because as some here have said that Tapjoy has become somewhat of a standard and most kids would have seen these “offers” and would take it in their stride and would in fact appreciate that they can play 3 levels of some game and earn much more via Tapjoy).

I would be interested in hearing commentary on the Tapjoy vs. GetJar type comparisons (i.e. the sign up forms, varying offers vs. a more staid reliable 10 gold coins per download system).
[hr]
Yes, the GetJar system seems to directly violate the incentivized download rules - as happened with Apple. And there was a very public spat between GetJar and Apple over that - as I read when I researched GetJar - just search for incentivized GetJar Apple to find earlier articles on that.

However as most articles suggest Android does NOT have any such restrictions on incentivized downloads YET.

So this avenue is still open on Android.

GetJar answers these questions in one of their FAQs where they examine the Google rules and address them piece by piece - however I didn’t find it totally convincing.

However, with all that in mind, I was shocked (yes shocked !! :-)) to find GetJar Rewards listed on Google Play - so evidently some doors are open to GetJar (is it the special relationship i.e. Angry Birds put it’s foot down by going through GetJar to prove a point ?). Or maybe GetJar is a company Google is looking at to see the direction to go in (or maybe to buy GetJar in the future). Since it is a well acknowledged point in most articles on Google Play - that the Google payment model has failed and they need to do something - or come up with something better.

And you can see that in the download numbers - as I posted above - 100,000 downloads for free version and 100 for the paid version type of figures.

There are very few apps which have respectable figures for the paid version.

In addition you have articles saying Android developers earn half what they can on iOS - and articles about an exodus of developers from Android to iOS (gaining more developers).

True that Google has greater numbers - and will eventually dominate iOS (probably) - and the model WILL be made to work - perhaps Google is thinking the numbers will just increase to balance the equation - or something WILL be done to cure the problem (I am sure some part of it also is Google’s inability to expand payment to all countries - so a lot of developers out of the loop).

However iOS also seem to have app discovery issues (i.e. new app finding it difficult to be found on iOS App Store type of stuff), and it is possible that Android may still be a good place to enter - IF Google eventually solves the payment problem, or enables smoother payment for developers - something like a micro-payment system.

GetJar type solutions ARE clean micro-payment solutions - but still take too long to load - now if Google had an in-built GetJar-type system that would be a killer feature !!

Perhaps this is why Google is letting GetJar Rewards list on Google Play. I don’t see SlideMe’s SAM app on the Google Play store.
[hr]
Actually there is nothing inherently “wrong” about an incentivized download system either - from a user point of view.

It is very similar to what Google does with Adwords.

In fact Google could charge apps to list at the top of it’s listings - and that would be analogous.

Google would get the revenue.

This would solve the big app publisher’s requirement of getting to the top of the lists (hopefully continuing on to non-paid listing at the top from organic downloads).

And for publishers who KNOW they can earn back the money and are willing to pay $0.10 per download etc. (for example the casino type apps and social games with in-app currency).

However, that STILL would not do anything for the small developer ecosystem - as they will be out of the loop.

The incentivized download system essentially diverts that revenue to small developers (instead of Google). So downloads become the currency that drives the user/small-developer commerce.

Now there is a very serious concern that arises with this setup - that is - can this scale ??

Can all of ecommerce be financed by the app download stuff ??

It IS possible that as more apps become mainstream (riding on the increasing user base for Android) - they each begin to understand how much they are willing to pay for increased downloads (since big publishers have better understanding of how much they can earn from each download) - and this group may grow.

However still what will be driving - i.e. the real world cash will be the one that is being spent in these apps - which is powering the whole cycle.

That is, it will still be the flow of real world currency that will be dictating how the economy works.

Now it IS possible that IF the GetJar type gold coins become tradeable between users - there COULD be potential for it to be a MUCH larger number. That is just like Banks have little real world cash but are able to multiply it by lending out on paper - a similar inflation of the money supply may occur - which may grow to be enough to satisfy all of ecommerce on the Android system … (!?)

In any case - Android STILL needs to simplify the flow of real cash from wallet to Android device - and Google is perhaps doing that with newer versions of Android - which will require users enter credit card details much earlier (or something like that from some recent article).

If that becomes robust - then it is possible that an inflated artificial currency may be sustainable on top of that (?).

The analogy being of course between gold and the paper money that is the mainstay of modern economy (or at least as it was when it was backed by gold).

It would bring with it inflation also - for example if GetJar changes the rate from $0.9 per 100 gold coins to say $0.09 per 100 gold coins.

HOWEVER, there may be an inherent stability in this system - because GetJar CANNOT have it at $0.09 per 100 gold coins - as that would be TOO much user effort to earn the same money for the developers - so it is possible that too much adjustment to the ratios may make the system fail (which means GetJar wouldn’t be able to change the ratio too much).

But if there is huge influx of users - it is possible that the ratio may go down over time - as developers may not mind earning 1/10 if their download numbers are 10x what they were before …

Just some thoughts …

Hi guys,
I now can explain something strange that happened to my game.
I have my game on getjar from first release and I normally get about 1-5 downloads per day but last week I’m getting 50-100 downloads per day!
I checked now on getjar rewards and it’s there. This means they add apps/games automatically if they match the requirements about 100 rate. with at least 4 as average.

GetJar adds (probably all) apps from Google Play without your knowledge or consent. GetJar app used to eat battery like crazy by the way (even when not used!).

megasoft:

Thanks for pointing that out - I had listed my app on GetJar as well - and I can see that it ALSO (if downloaded by a user) will earn 10 gold coins.

So it is possible that all those apps which are listed on GetJar (as well as all those which GetJar has added itself ?) - are currently being offered this way.

What this is doing is it is opening up the ecosystem (essentially GetJar is paying out of pocket) to spur downloads and developer-acceptability.

As GetJar needs there to be apps available or “something to download” so users can earn the gold coins.

Since they have VC funding - some of that probably is allocated to this.

For the longer term however GetJar will need to have actual paying customers step up - and then they will become the only “earn 10 gold coins” apps there.

Looking at Tapjoy for example - their “offers” usually list some apps for download (Coindozer type) - and then a lot of other offers.

So I don’t know what the market for pay-to-install or incentivized downloads is looking like, but probably GetJar would like a bunch of apps signed up - and then have perhaps a number of free apps put in for measure - so it looks less like incentivized downloads.

Some of the apps there are 15 coins worth (perhaps these are the actual paying ones) - but most of the rest are 10 coins.

When a user is shown apps to download from within an app - the list is about 5-10 apps. If you want more it takes you to GetJar Rewards.

Once a user has downloaded an app from GetJar Rewards - it no longer shows up as earning 10 coins but as “0 gold coins”. So this is designed to prevent repeated downloads.

@adforandroidapps

you have just earned 245 coins (1 coin per 1000 characters) on Making Money With Android forum :slight_smile:

@adforandroidapps I think you should consider to write a book.
I think with just few posts you get 1,000 pages book!
I’m joking :slight_smile:

Yep - but will that scale ? :slight_smile:

Anyway, I have not fully understood how the incentivized download “economy” may work - i.e. will it scale etc. … so if any economists (?) here any thoughts on that …

hi adforandroidapps,
are you sure you are fine? Did you really asked a short and simple question? :slight_smile:

I’m not an economist but I think getjar is just faking the system.
Force the users to download 5-10 apps/games to earn coins I don’t think will work because most of them will install and uninstall them immediately. They maybe even choose the app to download based on the size of the app itself just to speed up the process.
I can tell you that my app yesterday got 106 downloads but appbrain doesn’t see them and this means only one thing:
They just downloads to earn coins and they uninstall it without even open it a single time.
How this could work in long term? Is it adding any value? Anyone would ever consider to pay installs in this way? I don’t think so.

Anyway we’ll see how it goes :slight_smile:

Well even if the the download-an-app is just a means to an end, the very fact that it requires “effort” on the part of the user, renders it a “scarse resource”.

Which means it COULD be the basis of a currency (!).

Compare to BitCoins - which are based on computational complexity of solving problems (it has it’s share of critics also).

So in a BitCoin way at the very least, any commerce solution related to effort COULD be viable - if it becomes usable as a currency and goods start being sold using that currency.

However practically, any such candidate for a base-currency needs some legitimacy or must have some real-world value (translatable into that) - because even if users are ignored, the developers DO need cash at the end.

So it has to be based on some thing of value. As long as app developers need:

1 - to push their apps via higher downloads (will only work as long as Google ranks according to that and thus could change if Google changes algorithms for judging “importance” when it shows app lists to users)

2 - have understood their lifetime value of user and know that it’s worth spending cash to get users (social games that earn $5 or more per user)

You are right that “artificial” methods of spurring downloads may not have the same payback as “organic” ones - but presumably if a game is attractive it will know that it can get payback. Perhaps this suggests that app-download “earn” may then vary between apps - and should not be a constant 10 gold coin number.

For GetJar the problem is that if the ratio is too small, it rapidly becomes hard to expect people to “earn” that much - for example 200 coins (about $0.9 x 2) means downloading 20 apps ! In such cases perhaps the model may require a “subscription” payment model where users pay by the week or something. Pay 10 coins per week. Obviously this is SEVERELY going to limit the value of spontaneous app use (apps you use occasionally) - in which case it could be a 10 coins for 100 uses type of model.

The question I was asking about “scale” was - would there be enough big app publishers willing to spend cash (I know there are some currently) - but will this number scale to fulfil all the payment needs of the developers ? If not, developers may increase, but publishers (injection of hard cash into the model) may not balance - result too many developers/apps/users and too few paying publishers to inject cash into the model.

So it could be visualized as a black box - where the hard cash injection is from big app publishers (or those who know what each app download is worth to them or have done tests and know GetJar download helps them) - and the consumers of that cash are the developers who are exacting payment for their services. The users go scot free - but actually are the ones financing the big app publishers - so a certain percentage of them are paying hard cash to the big app publishers (through Google Play or similar real cash alternatives).

So in the end you have three parties - a subset of users paying hard cash (have the cash, quick draws on the wallet, or addicted to some social game, and have access to a payment system) - the big app publishers who are exacting real cash from them - pumping some of that into the system to promote paid-downloads via GetJar etc. - and then the smaller developers living off that injection of cash.

It is clear once phrased this way that the GetJar type system will be a fraction of the users-paying-hard-cash segment.

However, one game changer may be the introduction of cash payment - GetJar or is it SponsorPay (I forget) said they are working on a payment alternative also. That means your users will have the ability to pay to earn the gold coins as well. THAT payment goes through Google in that it is a “download” from Google Play which is counted and credits the user’s gold coin collection.

What is the advantage of this ? Since Google gets their cut they should be happy - but isn’t this the same as Google payment ?

I think there maybe a difference here - and that is the intermediary gold coins - which allow for fractional payment. While Google payment - like credit card payments is related to an end-product being bought (NOT an intermediate virtual currency like gold coins).

Ideally it should be Google which SHOULD come up with a virtual currency (wallet) system - where you earn gold coins and can spend them on the spur of the moment (imagine what that would do to frictionless payment !! - means IMMEDIATE and spur-of-the-moment impulse purchases ! - will do wonders for the app developers).

However for one reason or another Google is not stepping into that (and same for Apple) - maybe it is related to regulatory/money laundering etc. or even monopoly issues.

Perhaps for that reason Google maybe happy to “watch” how GetJar and the like fare in this market (I am assuming their allowance for GetJar Rewards is a deliberate act and not an oversight).
[hr]
One thing to add to the incentivized downloads as being a less valuable download (for big app publishers) …

I think the biggest problem for app developers (including big ones probably) is the problem of “app discovery”.

Second after that is the problem of having users crossing the hurdle of downloading the app - for example if a publisher KNOWS their app is good, but just need to get it in front of many users.

I don’t know what the behavior is of users who download via GetJar - superficially it SEEMS as if it maybe less serious use of the app - but I wonder - because all the apps I initially tested wound up staying on my phone for some time (sure I was primarily interested in how GetJar was loading etc. etc.) - however one thing was that they were above average apps and the second that there was more mindshare involved in downloading these apps (chosen from a smaller set). I wonder if via-GetJar downloads may in fact have MORE user-involvement (perhaps related to some excitement-at-earning-cash reward mechanism in the brain !??) than the average casual download you see when you are browsing the Google Play store.

So the comparison to be made should perhaps be between a casual download that users do while browsing the Google Play store - vs. a download they do through GetJar.

Hi adforandroidapps,
now I can see you very well with this long post! :smiley:

Anyway I can see your point about Google just waiting to see result from getjar and maybe later introduce it own service even if I don’t think is that the target of Google.
I like the idea of virtual coins but maybe they should introduce some value to involve users.
I don’t like the idea to get coins from downloads because they are going to downloads without use the app/game.
Maybe they should think something that give a real value in promoting them.
They should involve more users to use the games/apps more than just downloads.

Now you are thinking as a big app publisher - for them it will be an issue. However the question will be resolved once they do the statistics - is even a GetJar user worth it to them (i.e. maybe they can track such downloads for a sample group and see their behavior - if they pay more or same for lifetime of use - say 2 months).

However as a developer I WOULD want as little as possible disruption for the user - that is why I am uncomfortable with Tapjoy’s complicated basket of offers (that is not to say I am right - I am just saying what I am feeling about that setup).

The argument you make however IS relevant for the “sustainability” argument for the GetJar model.

But really there is a simple solution to all this - the wallet - micropayments and if Google could do it great. If for every thousand users - they are asked to deposit 1 cent even the casual users would do so - and you have $10 which is not bad. Maybe even 1/10 of a cent for every use of an app - perhaps capped by at most $1 per month max deducted. So if users know it is capped they will know it’s simple.

What I am saying is that with the EXISTING user-interest even for mild-success apps there could be a market for developers to work in. Rather than requiring a DAU (daily active users) of 30,000 they may require just 3,000.

This is an opportunity wihch is being completely ignored.

And Google could have it installed on phones to begin with - but I suspect there are regulatory reasons (otherwise why NOT make your own currency).

I don’t think GetJar needs to make it’s CURRENT model succeed - what it needs is to have scale. So that it’s virtual coins are tradeable. I suppose if there are two dominant ones there could even be currency exchanges between those two etc. (!)

So just think that if in the future (I think it was SponsorPay which says they are working on Google payment for the hard cash part) you could have users/developers demand payment in “gold coins” - then quick-draw-on-the-wallet users may setup a gold coin piggybank for that purpose.

It is clear that something has to give - as the whole developer ecosystem is being held back. The good thing is that it is no longer just the U.S. which could provide this solution - some years ago that may have been true - but now because of political winds - and because the mobile ecosystem has grown so large everywhere that it is now the mobile numbers which is dictating where activity should go (even third world countries become relevant - if they have 200M citizens and even the poorest are willing to pay 1/10 of a cent per transaction). I was listening to this Google-sponsored talk - about Kenya where they were talking about having very advanced payment systems using the mobile carrier billing. And cell phone bandwidth that rivaled San Francisco.

It is no wonder that many of the ad network/currency innovators are outside the U.S. and this may exactly be one of the reasons why Google maybe content to get controlling interest in such companies later (and pay more of course) rather than do it itself now.

Also note, Google has more to lose by trying it’s own currency system and having it fail - than letting a couple of others fight it out and then picking the winner.

I am not saying that is the case here - since Google HAS explicitly forbidden third-party payment - but as I said SponsorPay has said they are planning to allow cash payment as well i.e. buy gold coins using Google payment (thus giving the 30% cut to Google). So eventually GetJar could do the same I suppose.

I downloaded a game yesterday and saw it had GetJar rewards integrated. So I thought this would be a good time to try the service out as this is the first time I’ve seen it in an application that I have actually downloaded. Didn’t work out very well… First I got to a screen where it said I wasn’t connected to the internet (which I was) and it gave me two options; Cancel or Reload, I chose reload and I then got: “Sorry! Your phone does not support GetJar rewards.”

I have a ZTE Blade running Android 2.2.2 which is able to run most applications and games on the market. But apparently not GetJar rewards… Maybe my phone is just an exception but if it doesn’t work on several other phones, then that is a big problem…

Edit: Also I kind of agree with megasoft78, since the users will download the application from the GetJar website I don’t see a point in an advertiser’s point of view to advertise using GetJar, because let’s face it GetJar isn’t the biggest app store out there and I doubt anyone would want to spend any big bucks to get on the top lists (which could be the case why an advertiser chooses to advertise with for example TapJoy - to quickly climb in the rankings). But is GetJar pretty new to this? In that case I can see them changing and make something like TapJoy so the user has to at least open the application before they receive their credit.

Maybe it is related to Android 2.3 or something - in which case the app which integrated GetJar probably should not have been downloadable.

Your experience is similar to my initial reaction when I first saw GetJar - it was too slow.

What they need is some UI work - just putting a Toast up saying “wait a minute” or something would make a big difference.
Their graphics load very slowly etc. Maybe they should get some good programmer to clean up their apps, cache some graphics etc. or download in the background.

Tapjoy is faster - but not that many apps there - CoinDozer (but then this is probably a real paying publisher) - indicative of Tapjoy being a working model.

GetJar is probably speculative i.e. are trying to scale and hoping it sticks - for developers it would be good if they or someone else can stick. I think GetJar IS the second largest market after Google Play (they have a history which predates Android I think).

AppBrain would be a natural for this - since they probably have the relations already - but they don’t seem to be interested in doing the GetJar thing or incentivized installs - as you and megasoft point out - for big app publishers they don’t want users downloading apps out of compulsion - so AppBrain is better model for them (as user chooses - and if they pick their app they know they will get slightly better retention).

Hi guys,
I had integrated in my game Flurry and AppBrain and I can tell you that users are downloading my game just to get coins and immediately uninstall it.
Maybe I’m wrong but what’s the point of that for GetJar?
Is it just a way to fake developers thinking GetJar is popular and they can get a lot of downloads?

I think the correct analogy is between GetJar and AppBrain - why is AppBrain better ? There is only a slight difference - there is no pressure to download something from AppBrain - so anyone advertising there will get slightly better quality users.

But otherwise, all AppBrain has to do to make their whole system similar to GetJar is basically provide a callback that informs the app that something actually WAS downloaded.

Right now the developer only finds out by the clicks/installs/revenue figures from AppBrain stats webpage - if this info was available in-app, then you could immediately reward the user with a level or premium features etc.

So basically the only difference is that your app KNOWS that something was done by the user with GetJar (they provide you the gold coins) - while with AppBrain while you are rewarded for the effort by the user, you have no way of rewarding them back (non-incentivized).

At least that is how I see it in very simple terms.

With Flurry, I have seen something similar - nearly 50% use the app just once - which means I have real issues of user retention.

However with Flurry and AppBrain in your app - HOW are you able to check if your app was installed and then uninstalled (without being run) ?

From my tests - even though GetJar says that you need to install and run the app - in reality only installing it (as of now) will earn you the coins. So users don’t need to run your app. Without being run, it would be difficult to measure - unless you are subtracting Google Play stats (downloads) from AppBrain stats (number that run). However even here there can be multiple installs - as sometimes the download fails or some such hiccup.

Hi adforandroidapps,
I agree with you about AppBrain been better because not pressure on users to download apps.
I don’t think if the download fail they are going to count it twice but I’m not sure.
What I did is just see how many new users AppBrain detect and compare with Flurry.
They both agree about downloads and when I check Google Play I can see that most of the download detected by AppBrain and Flurry are from Google Play.
For instance yesterday I have the following:

  • AppBrain => 23 new users
  • Flurry => 20 new users
  • Google Play => 20 new users
  • GetJar => 49 downloads (are they all updates? Maybe but why a user should update a game and not use it at least once? Strange world!)

Another thing that let me think that is that I setup a Flurry event with information about installed markets and I can see just 2 users with GetJar.

Anyway it’s not a problem of having these downloads (even if they are a bit confusing) but I don’t like the way this company threat developers.
They cheat on us in every possible way. :frowning:
I think this is a very foggy market!

Cheers,
Gabriele

The Flurry event that checks for GetJar installation is interesting - and is probably the best indicator.

However for many games you may not need GetJar Rewards installation - as the GetJar SDK has sufficient capability to show about a 10 app list - I don’t know if you are able to detect GetJar SDK or not - or only are detecting GetJar Rewards app etc.

Another thing odd about the stats you mention is GetJar reporting 49 downloads - but Google Play only reporting 20 new installs. This is probably due to faulty download (because GetJar is slow or what ?) - since EVERY real download has to go through Google Play.

So it could be argued that advertisers on GetJar need to double check and do their own stats etc.

However from a developer point of view there is not an issue of bad treating developers - in fact it is the advertisers who are having problem - and related issues of sustainability in the long run.

Unless you have paid GetJar for downloads, the downloads of your app you are counting is probably from the $500 credit you mentioned earlier.

I would think you would be more concerned about how much you are earning using GetJar rather than the app downloads you can get via GetJar - as noted previously $500 should get around 5000 downloads (eventually).

But GetJar probably needs many more developers including GetJar before the “eyeballs” become a large number - so any advertiser can see real views.

Anyone have an idea how prevalent Tapjoy is - probably for an advertiser maybe better - and AppBrain thus needing to spend to achieve scale - asking developers to signup.

Their problem is that they are imposing a 4.0 rating etc. - that will limit developers - which limits the “eyeballs”. They are instead working on creating the “things to download” by listing apps, giving $500 credit - so they are building that part - but what about the developers (for them they are giving the $500 credit). So I don’t know how well this will scale. But by doing so they are populating the store with apps - next step would be to developer the developer side - and the $500 credit is probably for that. But as you said these maybe spurious.

So remains to be seen how that works out.