Google marketplace needs better marketing
update Android mobile apps are reportedly not selling as well as the Apple iPhone's, and some developers blame it on ineffective marketing on Google's Android Market.
Kay's observations are echoed in a blog post from Larva Lab's Matt Hall. The Android game maker is not enjoying any windfalls from the Google marketplace, in spite of selling two of the platform's top-ranked games.
Some of Hall's complaints about Android Market also highlighted the lack of screenshots and difficulty in finding paid apps. The option to show paid apps is buried in a submenu, he said.
Revenues "nothing to shout about"
Kay said revenues his apps generated on the Android platform pale in comparison to the iPhone's earnings.
While some top-ranked games have earned US$20,000 a month in the early months, this is much smaller in comparison to the six- and seven-figure numbers registered on the iPhone platform, he said.
Kay's paid apps have garnered 4.5 out of five stars in the user ratings and held top billing for about half a year, although he said he "just barely cracked minimum wage for the time [he] spent".
Sales are "relatively steady, but nothing to shout about," he noted.
Another developer, Dan Syrstad's paid app AlphaMixr is also one of the top-rated games on the Android Market.
In an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia, Syrstad said the app pulls about US$25 per day and added that he will be announcing other apps "to compensate" the shortfall.
Developers want direct billing
Another issue highlighted in Hall's blog post was Google's Checkout process, which requires users input a credit card number to buy an app, instead of billing the amount directly to their mobile plan. This lengthier process, compared to the iPhone's, acts against impulse buys, said Hall.
Syrstad agreed: "People don't want to whip out their credit card and type in all of the information to spend U$0.99 to US$2.99."
Citing analytics he conducted to track the number of click on the "buy full game" button, he said "hundreds of people a day" have the intention of buying the app's full version but drop out during the checkout process. He blames the issue on the lack of a streamlined checkout method.
"We need direct carrier billing or something similar," Syrstad said. "You want the user to say 'I want this app', maybe enter a password, and that's it."
T-Mobile is looking to launch a direct billing service for its U.S. customers, which will allow Android-based app purchases to show up in customers' mobile bills.
T-Mobile currently uses the Google Checkout process for its Android devices, but is expecting to launch direct billing in future, a representative told ZDNet Asia via e-mail.
A Google spokesperson said the recently-announced updates that will be coming with Android 1.6 aim to address these issues.