What would you sue Google for? You might own your apps, but you don’t own the store placement. It’s Google’s store, and it is fully within their right to remove any apps they are unsatisfied with.
It’s like if you park your car in someone’s garage, then decide to sue them when the garage owner doesn’t want your car in there anymore.
It is true that google has a large number of products and offering support for them is complicated. but @billyh if you have two brain cells, you should understand the difference between a webmaster and an Android dev. if google is a fair company, they should offer proper support for devs like they offer it for google advertisers. if google offer this kind of shitty support for their advertisers, google would be a lost company for years ago.
so it’s clearly google’s fault, no one can clear their name. if they being dicks to the developers, they are digging their own grave. let me tell you an example. Apple offers great support for developers but their app approval process used to be extremely tough(which is extremely fair rather than randomly banning apps which has 100k downloads). however when android came in to the game, apple lightened up the process to save the developers. also developing an iOS app used to be very hard in old days but suddenly they have done lots of tweaks to Xcode to make it easy. now developing an iOS app is a lot of drag and drops. they did this to save their business. google dicking with devs because there is no alternative for most of the developers. once they have, they will move to the safe zone. people might think that this won’t happen, but in the IT industry, things happens very quickly. see what happened to yahoo, myspace and hi5. it’s just the matter of time.
The analogy is not exact. Perhaps more like Google is a garage which charges $25 “membership fee” for using the garage. It further encourages car owners to park their cars there - and runs stories about how car owners have benefitted greatly from parking there. In addition Google rents out the car occasionally to other folks to drive - in fact it can duplicate and have many users drive it and derive benefit from it (thus benefitting the ecology of the garage/it’s “goodwill” value etc. - which Google uses to ensure that the garage does not become an “also ran” garage as are run by Samsung, GetJar etc.).
The point is that Google ENTICES developers to waste valuable time becoming part of their ecosystem - in support of their Google Play store. If they renege on a good-faith understanding between the two parties - since Google/developer IS a business relationship of sorts (where often Google is beneficiary via Admob advertising in those apps - and via in-app payments for others) - then it is not just a legal strike against Google, but a moral one as well. The fact that one party in this relationship feels jilted means there is SOMETHING wrong going on - i.e. the relationship is not mutually beneficial. The asymmetry of this relationship is exacerbated by the months developers spend to developer apps, arrange gameplay, or arrange ad placement - at cost to them since it is in lieu of some other job or income stream - and yet Google has UNILATERAL ability to disconnect that relationship (there is little cost to Google to terminate a relationship, but it is hugely dangerous for developers as they experience “lock-in” i.e. having trained and honed their mind/skills to target ONE niche (the Google Play niche which Google actively encouraged developers to adopt). While the “cost” of this behavior is not fully apparent to Google (evidently) - it DOES have a cost - not just for the “spammy” developers or others - but in terms of building up an immune response in the family of developers (which Google Play is relying on) - this internal revolt (or revulsion at the short-shrift Google gives to developer real-concerns) will erupt when an alternative emerges to Google and then Google will have no goodwill to leverage.
True there is a lot of economic reason for bigger developers to stay with Google - and economics will play a role - but there is a needless harm being accumulated by Google (some would call it “karma”) - in terms of rising distrust among developers (those who are not spammy ALSO do not like it when Google-spammy developer behavior reveals huge gaps in Google handling of situations and they ask “what if it is us tomorrow - who will I turn to ?”).
On the whole things WILL move according to economic interests of course - i.e. developers will leave Google when the environment makes the feel better revenue exists elsewhere (i.e. just anger at Google WILL NOT change business practices). However, what is stupid on the part of Google is to NOT devote a couple of people at Google to SOLELY concern themselves with developer interest/concerns - perhaps a forum, appearance in other forums etc.
And since this is such a stupid omission, the likely REASON for this Google behavior logically seems to be the same as mentioned before in these discussions before - that Google CANNOT disclose because they need to protect their processes and revealing will expose them more to manipulation by SEO/ASO outfits etc.
EDIT: here is an indicator of Samsung’s dominance in android market - 72% of users for one app (at least for this year - I anticipate while it will remain dominant, it will lose market share as a plethora of cheapo android phones gain market share as non-smartphone users in 3rd world countries buy up the new cheapo android phones:
what we should do is sue Google for unpaid earnings they freeze when disabling admob accounts. but hey, in terms of service it says we can’t do that, is that even legal?
Almost every Ad Network disclose in the TOS that they can freeze your account and not pay you any pending earnings if it is determined that your traffic was fraudulent or if the Advertiser didn’t pay the Network etc. However, find out if Google TOS states that they don’t ‘have’ to give you details on the ban. If thats the case, then you’re pretty much out of options.
Pingjam developers,
It’s taken us a lot of time and effort to try and talk with the right people at Google and we now have unofficial confirmation that the bans where due to our service. It seems that someone at Google changed their minds about our service and has initiated this ban.
First, I want to personally apologize for this mess. You are suffering due to a service that we ran and we are really sorry.
Second, we are continuing to work as hard as we can to get you reinstated. To date, we have ran into a brick wall and all of our requests that you be given 7 days to remove the SDK and reinstate your apps have been refused. It seems that Google isn’t interested in providing any relief to you. We know that for other ad networks 7 days warning has been granted so this is especially surprising.
We will continue to push our contacts at Google to try and get you reinstated, but frankly - I don’t know if we will be successful.
If you still have apps with our SDK I’d strongly encourage you to remove the jar files from your app and republish.
Apologies again and I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Elnor
Hello Elnor,
I think it is good that you are at least admitting the blame, which is surprising, since this is the first time anyone from your company has done this. The conversations with Ran were going in a whole other direction and he never agreed that it was your fault, just before he stopped answering our emails.
Now there are two ways that you guys can go from here.
Even if you have to file for bankruptcy, you have a moral obligation to your partners and if you screwed up you have to stand up for it and provide compensation, simple as that.
And also to remind you that your website is still claiming 100% compliancy on 3 occasions even though you are admitting this is not the case here, so it is still a little shady.
I can feel your pain. Don’t despair. We’ve been monitoring Google Play ad policy change since August and Google is pretty active. There are options out there that are compliant with the new ad policy.
This is a pain for developers. We’ve felt it with some of our clients who were scrambling back in September when the new ad policy was about to go into effect. Its not the end of the world…just a lot of pain if you weren’t prepared for it.
If PingJam truly had a confirmation from Google then they can in turn sue Google for compensation on losses due to lack of notification. As much as I feel pain for developers, I don’t think that the ad company has to face consequences alone in that case
Now if they didn’t have conformation from goole contact and they were just lying, then they deserve it
Guys what is PingJam supposed to do, we all know what its like, there is no support or connections at google play. Anyone that worked for pingjam no longer has a job, just like the large amount of developers that lost everything they worked hard to build. Just another example of google ruining peoples lives. We had already removed pingjam from our apps, but any code still in there was taken down. Its the automated process and pingjam wasnt breaking any rules it was a creative concept, coupons for related numbers, but google changed the rules…so what does this tell us, do not innovate, do not try new ad types, do not do anything thats even remotely different from the norm and you should be fine, unfortunately these means you cant monetize, can invest in great quality content, cant upload on google play…i always avoided apple but its sounding pretty good now, seeing as they tell you if theres anything wrong before uploading …i cant believe im considering going to apple, this is what google has done, was it to much to ask for some support for 30% of our sales…30%. As well theres heaps of other Android places that you can upload apks to.
I wonder if theres any developers here that did lose everything? Or are unable to modify their app now and are lost what to do?
Its pingjam and greedy developers who used pingjam that are responsible for the situation. PingJam was in clear violation of policy and they lied. Why do you think they went with Pay per month (unlike pay per download like startapp did?) because they know apps “may” get banned. They made sure their won’t have to put in initial investment that they might lose.
Ask any Indie Developer that started iOS development in last one year if they even made their registration fee back. I know many developer who lost money on iOS (I don’t know any developer who lost money on Android).
Listen Googleboy…you gotta learn to sometimes shut your trap…all I ever see you do is just yap on about how everyone is a spammer or a thief so on and so forth…if you are such a goody two shoes…make your own damn forum and have two or three more friends of yours from the Google Psychiatric Ward where you no doubt were invented as a failed experiment and maybe the four of you can bitch about everything thats not google…i have seen many trolls and you cross the line when you piss on the misfortune of people…you are without a doubt the most ridiculous and most hateful human being (if you are one) that I have ever come across…or maybe you’re just 12…sad thing is that right now both of those are very big possibilities…that is how you come across you IMBECILE!
Oh and btw…Apple has made lots of people LOTS of money…there is no doubt that Apple is strict but at least you get support…but I guess its hard to see that when you are probably blinded with two google glasses in each eye and one up there somewhere…
Who is Blinded. Read my statement because before stupid comments: Ask any Indie Developer that started iOS development in last one year if they even made their registration fee back.
If you don’t know Apple ship has sailed long back. I understand some spammers here are just pissing on google because they can’t spam people and make money anymore. But Well thats what you get for being a spammer.
This is a tricky balancing act - while Android is lax at the beginning and capricious (that’s the word - i.e. at any moment can do anything out of the blue) later on, Apple is careful at the beginning and thus less tension later.
However, with Apple a problem remains - since bulk of effort is making the first version of your app, you STILL have to commit time to make the app, and then submit to Apple (so here the “nail-biting” part STILL comes AFTER you have done the bulk of the effort).
I suppose a way to reduce the risk in this Apple process maybe to initially submit a very rudimentary version of your app - and if that gets approval then work on improving it (knowing that Apple approves of the app and doesn’t see any copyright issues etc.).
However, the allure of Android initially was that (in a way it is a “bait and switch”) that early entry is easy - you can be on the market for some time - then something changes at Google and they may act (OR more often - your apps may not encounter any issue with Google - but you see cases of apps being banned - and that creates a bad feeling about Google “fairness” - since there is never an examination of what/why from Google - to protect it’s business processes presumably - while we only hear of the developer view). So in this environment of low information, all sorts of “perceived threats and risks” are created in the minds of developers (esp. since they see no response from Google).
The situation is a CLASSIC psychological study of how HORROR movies are made, or how a feeling of “dread” (i.e. a persistent feeling of antcipation of danger) can be created in psychological test subjects when they are put in a darkened room with sensory deprivation (eyes blindfolded) - and perceived threats (and the IMMINENT arrival of a threat can sometimes break people).
Example from a TV show recently - in one of the episodes of “Brain Games” (National Geographic - Brain Games - Season 2 - Episode 3 of 12 - title: “Don’t Be Afraid” - see latter part of show) they blindfold and secure a person to a chair - prior to blindfolding they show them mice, snakes etc. - then while blindfolded they touch the person’s hair etc. with hands or throw a rope on their lap - so person THINKS it could be mouse/snake etc. - but then they leave them be so the person ANTICIPATES something about to happen. For some subjects this is enough to break them - even though nothing is ever done after that. The episode illustrated the damaging effects of “dread” i.e. where a subject EXPECTS something to happen at any moment, and that anticipation exhausts their inner stores of strength until they are unnerved and cannot take it any more.
Basically this is similar to Chinese torture (dripping water droplets on forehead etc.) - basically the PERCEPTION of a “sword over the head” can break subjects as the ANTICIPATION of a possible dangerous event creates a persistent feeling of (what is technically also called) “dread” in the subject - which can “break” some subject even though nothing is done to them. This is the type of environment Google is creating for developers (even the ones not deliberately working to circumvent Google policies).
Earlier I have referred to Google behavior as “Kafkaesque” - however, what I have pointed out above much more faithfully captures the FEELINGS that Google behavior tends to evoke in developers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooding
Hooding is sometimes used in conjunction with beatings to increase anxiety as to when and where the blows will fall.
I ported one of my most popular games to iOS recently. It’s a paid app. In a month I have 150% of the fee back. I’m not sure when I’ll get back the money I paid for the iPad and MiniMac though. 
Also I will be releasing ad supported free version of that game later which should boost sales and give me additional ad revenue from iOS (I intend to do that before Chistmas).
Edit: I’ve corrected the figures because I forgot how much the fee costs. It’s $99, I thought it was above $400 for some reason. I made about $150-200 on iOS for now.
PS. I hate using Mac for development, but dealing with Apple is much less stressful than with Google. I develop for Apple just to be safer - never put all your eggs in one basket.
How much is the iOS revenue per month compared to Android (though perhaps hard to compare since Android has the installed base also coming back to app etc.).
I have signed up for Apple Developer, and use a Mac recently (precisely so I can get familiar) - and have Xcode installed, but never got around to doing ANYTHING for Apple yet. Just don’t have time, and not done the things I need to do for Android yet.
HOWEVER, Apple has advantage that I can sell paid apps - which I CANNOT do for Google from my location.
EDIT: you have any quick tips (of a strategic, “how to convince yourself”) nature to starting something for iOS ? Did you find the app submission process problematic, or sluggish (since you are used to Android). Also the much talked about “low visibility for new apps” issue on App Store - did you feel that was an issue - and was there difficulty in driving users to your app ? Or is it easier to get visibility for paid apps ?
Hi,
i had pingjam in my app for 4 weeks.
my app still in the market I got message from elnor, ping jam sdk may a problem and i should remove.
I did LAST week *6 days ago! and thought all fine.
NOW Today … i got a WARNING notice to change the app in the next 7 days, otherwise it will be removed.
REASON FOR WARNING: Violation of the Ad-Policy:
Ads associated with your app must not interfere with other apps or their ads.
what could ONLy Pingjam, as now only admob and inmobi is installed… no intersticials, nothing, just banner ads.
Therefore I am really wondering whY i am getting that warning, as the app come updated a week ago already and ping jam removed.
any ideas. contact to google??
all the best
chris
Maybe google scan through your user device, and your user not updated their app and still using your app that use pingjam network. This is just my opinion.
I have similar situation as guruk. Today I have received the same warning. I removed Pingjam 5 days ago and my apps has only Chartboost now. I don’t know what to do now, leave it as it is or do something but what to do?