Good post, Bob. One point I would make is the main reason I link to my app(s) on the Market is to make it easier for users to leave ratings/comments.
It's a good point, though, about not showing your users a page with competing apps! Also, a dithering user would be presented with an easy way to uninstall (possibly inside the 15 min window). I've already added my "Market" class and think it's enough to leave Flurry to do all the monitoring. I'm just not sure it's worth building a market code into all my website links (there are only 4 or 5) and setting up the redirects/rewrites etc. On Jan 18, 11:20 am, Bob Kerns <[email protected]> wrote: > I *think* I commented already (but it hasn't shown up, so I can't > reply to it!) that what I'd do is, rather than point directly within > my app to the market, I'd point to a web page of my own, and I'd > include links to both Android and Amazon on my web site. > > I'd like to clarify that my intent was not to evade their > restrictions. It's a bit unclear to me exactly what the restriction is > -- for example, I don't know if they'd consider pointing to company > site, which includes market links, would contravene their policy. I > hope not, but if so, I wasn't trying to sneak it past them. > > Rather, what I want to point out is, that you're better off in > general, directing them to your site, which you can change and update > freely, and can contain far more content than the market. It's a much > better place to handle any issues that may arise, and it is a better > environment for cross-selling to your own app. > > Plus, you are free from any "people who bought this also bought this > similar competing product" that a marketplace might choose to offer > your customer. They'll get that when they get to the market, but you > get first chance. > > I think it'd be worth checking for known marketplace apps, and > including them as query parameters in the URL you supply. This would > let you better handle policy issues. > > I would also compile multiple .apk's of my app (automatically) with a > <meta-data/> element indicating which market it came from. THIS IS > USEFUL INFORMATION! I'd also include that in the URL. > > In fact, I actually already do this, but only produce one .apk for the > Google market, and one for non-market. Not because I anticipated this > sort of policy, but simply because it makes plain marketing (and > product support) sense, being able to track which channels are > producing what traffic, bugs, etc. > > So -- whatever you have to do to handle this, from a contract > standpoint, I would start technically by: > * Building into your app -- WITHOUT FORKING THE SOURCES -- the market > source information > * Doing all product links OFF THE DEVICE and OUTSIDE THE APP via the > browser. That may or may not get you out of their policy, but that's > not the point. > * PASSING ON the market information whenever you link back to your > website. > * TRACKING that information in Flurry as well, so you can spot any per- > market patterns in either usage or failures. > > I'll point out that Amazon's policy here, and Google's policy about > selling through their market, aren't really all that different. I > don't like either one. I think they should both focus on providing a > high-quality product delivery and fulfillment service that makes me > WANT to use their market over handling their competitors or (more to > the point) handling the transaction myself. > > Google hasn't done that. If Amazon does, I'd be wracking my brains > thinking of ways to funnel more of my product sales through their > service in preference to Google. > > From my standpoint, they are both selling me a service -- costing me a > portion of each sale -- and then trying to control me, to extract > more. They are acting like -- a cellphone company! > > So I don't like it, but I try to deal. > > On Jan 11, 8:45 am, Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > I posted a question previously asking what people thought about the Amazon > > Market. I uploaded the free and premium versions of one of my apps just to > > give it a whirl...can't hurt, right? > > > My app was rejected, and for what I believe to be a ridiculous reason, and > > it gives me a really bad first impression of their market. I have an info > > section on the app in both versions where I have a few text links promoting > > myself (Twitter, Facebook page for my app, etc). One of these links is my > > market url (*market*://search?q=*pub*: etc). They cited this as the reason > > for rejecting my apps. > > > Quote: > > Per a published change to our policy, your app has failed an Installation > > test case. Linking to Your App: When pointing to other apps from within your > > app, including up-sells, completion of purchase must be from the Amazon.com > > app store (unless the app is not eligible for listing in our store). > > > This is really really lame and very anti-Android in my opinion. Instead of > > forcing me, the developer, to recompile my app specifically for them, why > > don't they just ADD A FREAKIN INTENT FILTER FOR MARKET URL'S!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! > > lol. Dude...Android 101. > > > Anyone else have any experience now that enough time has lapsed to be > > approved/rejected? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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