Android Alterate Market Review: AndroidPit

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AndroidPitThis is the first in a series of reviews that focus each on one alternate Android app market.  This one is about AndroidPIT.  Also check out my previous post on Android app market evaluation criteria.

If you’re an Android developer and looking to make money from your app (from ad revenue or from app sales, or both) then you’re probably interested in what you can do to maximize your revenue.  Otherwise you probably would have released the app for free and without ads.

FINAL UPDATE – AndroidPit closed down their app market, it’s done.

Don’t Just Wait For Success

Success may come easily for some apps, but I don’t like to leave things to chance.  I believe that it’s worth taking steps to make your Android app get seen and downloaded.  That means a little more legwork than just uploading to the Android Market.

Android apps are still a different game from iPhone apps. Not just because there are multiple app stores available, but also because there are different ways for users to browse and discover apps.  Don’t make the mistake of releasing your app and then doing nothing else to promote it. Continue reading →

Examining Amazon Appstore Signatures for Android Apps

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My App is in a number of places, including the Amazon Appstore and the Android Market.  I regularly test updating my app, since I keep it installed on my phone.

There is a new wrinkle, because my Amazon versions are now different from the version for everywhere else.

So, after this last update to the Android Market I noticed something a little odd – the Android Market can detect that my app has been installed, and that there is an update available.  It fails to update, however, due to the signature keys not matching.  Hmm…

So I investigated.  It’s easy to check the signature of your app. Continue reading →

Custom Ads in Mobclix

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OK, I feel a little foolish.  Just a quick note in case you made the same mistake I did.  When you are creating a custom ad in Mobclix (I believe it is the same for iPhone and iPad, but I did this for Android) the process has a little trick.

Unlike Admob text ads, or Adsense ads, the “Banner URL” does not refer to the URL that will be displayed to the viewer (either as part of the ad or when the graphic can’t be shown).  Rather, it is the location of the graphic resource that you want to use.  You can self-host it or put it on the web in some other manner.

In other words, rather than uploading your image, you just tell them where to find it.  I don’t know if that causes performance issues or if they cache the ad and serve it.

Either way, I resolved my frustration with the “broken” Mobclix custom ads.

 

 

Admob vs. Mobclix Round 2 – Getting Paid

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The Race is on!

This month I passed the payment threshold for both Admob and Mobclix for my Android app Droid Secret Tips.  Now, that threshold is 5x higher for Mobclix over Admob, but the thing I’m looking for from both is actual payment.  Call me a cynic, but it’s all funny money until I see some payout.  Also note that the higher revenue I’m seeing from Mobclix is responsible for why both reached payout thresholds at the same time.

BTW you might also want to read my previous post on Admob and Mobclix revenue.

Update: Mobclix went into bankruptcy, and had lots of trouble paying developers before that.  Their technology has been acquired by Telefonica, and the new platform is called Axonix.  A review for that network may be coming, but you can poke around here now to find good choices to use instead of Mobclix.

Further Update: Axonix is MIA now, another casualty in the ad network landscape.

Payout Requirements for Mobclix and Admob

Admob: Continue reading →

Amazon Appstore Growing Pains

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After a week of the Amazon Appstore for Android apps being open, I am starting to see a few growing pains.  I’m sure the team at Amazon will sort things out, but here are a few things I’ve noticed.

Your experience may vary, but there are a few things to be cautious about.

My concerns

  • You have to link to Amazon for all market links in your app.  However, since you don’t know when your apps will be released there is a high probability that one app will hit the store and link to… absolutely nothing. Continue reading →