Sorry to hear that you got banned from Google Play. There are so many other markets you can use to generate installs, and they are more lenient than Google.
For these other markets, the Airpush Bundle 2 SDK is the best option. It pays up to $0.05 per new user install and EULA (end user license agreement) opt in wold wide, at a $50 eCPM.
Please let me know if you would like to test this out.
Good luck!
Good e-Reader Android App Store is a viable alternative. They have a free developer system where you can upload free and paid apps. They also have OBB/Data file support, so you can upload content that is larger than 50 MB and relies on a data file. They have all of their apps on their servers, and aren’t ripping them from Play, 1Mobile etc.
opera should check if the app/game is GP before it can pub on the opera store. Lots of app/games in opera don’t have corresponding link in GP, funny thing is that when user click the download, it does nothing, but the opera count the download +1.
has anyone setup a site where people can download the apps without having to install from play store?
It’s like the old school way to distribute your programs.
I’m the former founder of SlideME so I can tell you it is possible but still hard. There were a few developers who made a lot of money. These app developers had apps that were in demand but were not allowed on Google Play (or Android Market at the time). So if you have a good following (and your competitors are also not on Google Play) then the alternative markets listed in the thread replies could be a very good strategy. But if you have a lot of competitors on Google Play, that’s going to hurt.
I’ve been mulling over the app market space for sometime, thinking about how similar all these app stores have become, just clones of each other. Sadly even SlideME, a trend setter in it’s day, has became even more controlling and traditional after I left. It makes them all rather boring. The only one that stuck out form the others was F-Droid, with their concept of repositories of apps that you could add and delete, although they are just for open-source apps.
I’ve noticed more data collecting from many app stores, even a large number of apps request that I log in using G+. It’s just gotten too much and too intrusive. So I’m launching a new concept: a very private market that doesn’t collect user information. It has a bitcoin IAP library that allows users to purchase without giving over all their details. Login is done using BitID, so no usernames and passwords.
I did release the Skubit Market last week. The backend is based upon F-Droid for the app market part. The bitcoin IAB was released last Sept. If you want to start over and join the next wave of app stores, get in early. Bitcoin and privacy are the next waves in delivering content. Or you can stick to what everyone else is doing and fight it out in the trenches.
I’ll help you setup the IAB integration part if you are using in-app (or you can collect bitcoin donations). Check it out: https://catalog.skubit.com
@skubit
Now, this is a great idea! Investors are going to get creazy? Because as you said it, this is the NEXT GEN!
My advice: get team to help you, and investors if needed. You must to execute the idea perfectly, bcs too early and buggy version may kill it.
@johna
Thank you. Yes, bugs can be a killer. There are a couple of pluses. The app market backend and client are based on F-Droid so that’s been very well tested and is open-source. The IAP does have a test environment: https://catalog.skubit.net which uses a private blockchain for testing with fake bitcoins. So I hope to get everything worked out for devs prior to them moving over to the production environment at skubit.com.
I do think this is an important project. SlideME was really about providing choices to users and developers but the stakes these days are much higher. There is a growing backlash over the collecting of user information. Within the mobile area, app stores are the nexus of this control. People don’t have an expectation of privacy on their devices anymore and that’s sad. Bitcoin is an important part in users regaining control of their privacy.
Yeah, I liked SlideME the best from alternative app stores, but recently they went a bit insane, maybe when you left. They rejected my app for me using “inspired by some-very-old-game-that-is-no-longer-sold” in description while at the same time the store was (and still is) full of old apps that use the name of that old game not only in description but even in their names - meaning mine would be totally burried in search results completely while those old (and mostly crappy) apps would be on top.
Will your store allow paid apps (paid by bitcoin)? I like the idea of your store but including yet another IAP code takes too much time and makes it harder to release. I prefer using the same APK on all stores I can.
Basically Opera seems dead now. If you click on the DOWNLOAD btn, it counts as 1 user, weather they download it or not. Then all downloads go to Google Play. They had the best initial exposure, for new devs. A new app had a great spot for exposure, something no one else is doing, well I mean Amazon or Google.
The Skubit market doesn’t sell apps directly. It relies on the bitcoin IAP library that developers can use to handle purchases however they want. I know integration of new libraries for each app store causes fatigue. You can use OpenIAB, which supports a bunch of different app stores. OpenIAB supports Skubit since release 0.9.8.
Otherwise, if you choose to use the Skubit aidl bindings, they are identical to Google Play:
And lastly, you can export the Google Play virtual items into csv (through Google Play) and then import that file using the Skubit developer site
So creating the virtual items is pretty much a snap. You could also manage the virtual inventory through an API:
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