Developers complain about Android sales..
The Android Market probably produces less than $5 million a month, despite a recent report that issued that estimate, one successful application developer says.
On Monday, games developer Larva Labs revealed its sales figures for its Android apps and complained that Google needs to make some changes to help developers improve their prospects. It suspects that the Android Market probably produces far less than $5 million per month, as estimated by the AdMob report. That same report estimated that the iPhone application store generates $200 million a month, the veracity of which also has been the subject of much developer debate.
Larva Labs joins a chorus of developers, many of whom have been long clamoring for changes in the way the Android Market works in hopes of earning more from their applications.
One of Larva Labs’ games, RetroDefense, was ranked first among paid apps in the Market and is now at number two. Another of its games, Battle for Mars, is ranked number five. Both games have been featured at the top of the Market and on the Android Web site. Yet the games are averaging $62 per day in sales combined. “Very difficult to buy the summer home at this rate,” Matt Hall of Larva Labs noted in the blog post.
He compares Larva Labs’ experience in the Android store to some of the better-known success stories on the iPhone. The game Trism, for example, earned $250,000 in its first two months in the iPhone store, according to its developer at Demiforce. Over about three months in the Android store, Trism falls in the rank of applications with 100 to 500 downloads. At $2.99 per download, that's a maximum of less than $1,500 in sales.
One issue is that there are far fewer Android phones than iPhones in the market. But developers say there are bigger problems with the Android Market than that.
Since the Market began accepting paid applications, developers have complained about a number of items that haven’t yet changed. One is that the only way that users can buy applications is using Google Checkout, a payment system that isn’t widely used. Developers want to be able to offer customers more payment options that they might find more convenient.
They may get other options in the future, although it’s not certain when or in what form. In the terms of service that Android users must agree to before using the phones, Google says that it may make available various payment processing methods for buying products from the Market.
Larva Labs and other developers also complain about some other somewhat basic limiting features of the Market, such as a short maximum on how many characters a developer can use to describe their application and the inability to include a screenshot in the description.
In a follow-up blog post on Tuesday, Larva Labs pointed to additional issues such as Google's policy of allowing users to refund an application for any reason within 24 hours. The “refund process is just too simple,” one developer agreed in a Google forum thread titled Sad Application Sales.
Developers say that users can too easily game the return policy. “If my plane is delayed and I get a solid two hours of enjoyment from a $3 jumpy game, I shouldn’t be able to refund it 24 hours later,” Larva Labs’ John Watkinson argues in the Tuesday blog post.
Google did not immediately reply to a request for comment about Larva Labs’ complaints.
iFax for iPhone..
Faxing app almost eliminates the need for a desktop fax machine:
Attorneys, real estate agents, and accountants all have one thing in common: they’re still using fax machines. When nothing else will do except a hard copy of your signature, then faxing is a must. Unfortunately, fax machines and going mobile don’t go together too well, unless you use Maplewoods Associates’ exceptional iFax app—a tool that does one thing and does it well.
Interestingly, iFax has some commonality with scanner apps like JotNot and DocScanner[Click to Buy]—you snap a picture of a document, and then send it to your intended recipient. The similarities end there, however.
Scanning tools don’t really take the place of a desktop scanner, because a scanner still serves other functions, such as high-res photo scanning and image-to-text conversion. But with iFax, you can probably ditch your fax machine—at least, if you only send faxes and you don’t need to receive them. (For that, just use the free eFax.com service.)
iFax is a useful app because of how it takes advantage of the iPhone camera. (iFax lists compatibility with the iPod touch as well, since—in theory—one could attach an image stored in the photo library, but you really need the built-in camera to get the most out of this app.) One common use: you can print out a contract on your Mac, sign it, and—with iFax—snap a photo of the contract and fax the document. Or, you can just compose a basic text message and send the fax without the effort of typing a doc, printing it, and faxing. Any app that means you can skip antiquated hardware such as fax machine is worth having, even at the slightly overpriced $15.
Yet, iFax is a also well-designed app: there’s a wizard that walks you through the process of typing the fax number, setting the urgency, attaching photos and documents, and sending. One trick—you can snap a screenshot of anything shown on your iPhone (just hold Power and press Home), such as a Web page or PDF, and then attach them to a new fax and send. I’d prefer built-in PDF functionality for the price, though, so you can fax any PDF. iFax does not require that you sign up for any fax services or even create an iFax account, a major time-saver.
Faxes take quite some time to send through the iFax service—about 20 to 30 minutes—but the service worked reliably in my tests. Also, iFax doesn’t do anything other than help you compose and send a fax. There are no features for storing faxed documents, cleaning up an image by making it sharper or brighter—e.g., making a signed contract you photographed look more legible—or even keeping track of fax numbers, although you can add a number from iPhone contacts.
TomTom for iPhone 3G and 3GS arrives.
TomTom iphone navigator.
released august 17,2009-tomtom [link to get app].
The TomTom navigation app for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS [iTunes link] has landed on the App Store. Available in five versions –including the US and Canada, Australia and New Zealand– its prices range from around $74 to $132. Of course, that doesn’t include the announced car kit with bundled mapping software.The TomTom app for iPhone 3G and 3GS users includes a continental map of Europe or map of UK & Ireland from Tele Atlas, and is available to download through from £59.99GBP.
UK - From one iPhone PND app to another: details of TomTom’s upcoming iPhone cradle and its pricing have emerged, courtesy of a premature listingon Handtec’s site. The accessory – first announced back at Apple’s WWDC in June – includes not only a windscreen mount but a charger, amplified speakers, hands-free kit and separate GPS dongle.
For that, Handtec will charge you £99 plus VAT ($168), though you also get a copy of the TomTom application for the iPhone. We’re assuming that, like CoPilot Live for iPhone, that one-off charge covers ongoing use of the app, rather than it demanding a monthly subscription, but then stranger things have happened.
As has been observed, that price puts the TomTom iPhone system pretty much on a par with the company’s entry-level standalone PND units. Of course, with those entry-level units you don’t get live data that TomTom will be able to incorporate by virtue of the iPhone’s 3G connection.
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