You realize they could have simply disabled the third-party-installer option, right? (Or not written one to begin with.) They are far more than an application vendor in this space, and if they really wanted to "control the distribution channel for mobile content" they could have. (Also, that "big chunk of revenue" is completely spelled out, and the fingers get pointed at the carriers, not at google. Its the price of getting to be part of the out of box image.)
But its good to know you and Al will be here to jump up and down advertising your respective services anytime a question mentions the google market.. On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 2:11 PM, Shane Isbell <shane.isb...@gmail.com> wrote: > It's pretty clear that Google wants to control the distribution channel for > mobile content. Fortunately, Android is open enough that other smaller > players can enter the market. In fact SlideME Marketplace has been around a > lot longer than the Android Marketplace. My expectation is that Google is > going to be a ruthless in trying to knock out competition, so the > fragmentation may not be as bad as you suggest. > > When we started out on the SAM client and SlideME over a year ago, we fully > expected that Google Market would be tightly controlled and that there would > be a big chunk of revenue taken out of the developer's pocket. They haven't > disappointed. Our strategy has been to focus on openness and maximum payout > to the developer and it is working pretty well for us and the developers. > > Also Google is making obvious mistakes that an experienced mobile player > wouldn't make, both in terms of the Android Marketplace design, as well as > the client. Now that we have the billing issue cracked, you'll see a > widening gap between SlideME Marketplace and Android Market (in what I > believe will be our favor). We've put in a lot of groundwork that we are > just now starting to capitalize on. So a little fragmentation here is not so > bad for the developer or the user. > > Shane > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---