Is There A Market For Android Market?
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009A couple of weeks ago, I answered a question about pricing difference on the iPhone and Android stores. But the real question that developers want answered is “Can I make enough money to justify the time and effort in creating an Android app?”
Of course, one of the best ways to make money from the Android Market is to win Google Android Developer Content. The price money of $100K can certainly cover the mandatory snack food required by programmers. But outside of this, is anyone making money on the store?
Judging by the stories of a few developers and companies, the answer is no, or at least, not yet. The big reason cited is that thee are just a larger volume of customers on the iPhone. The other advantage that the iPhone has to Android is the iTunes desktop app that makes exploring the iPhone app store a relatively easy procedure. The Android Market is available only through the Android-powered phones with their small screen. One problem with this small screen market is that it really limits how apps are described to potential customers. On the iPhone, a full screen of text and photos are available for customers to preview. On the Android Market, app previews are limited to a small icon and 325 character long descriptions.
Other complaints about things like using Google Checkout to purchase apps seems a little weak. At this stage, I think it is a difference in the way the customers view app buying. On Android, there are many free apps of good quality. Why spend the money for premium apps? On the iPhone side, customers are so used to spending small amounts of money for apps that they pay for questionable apps simple because they are popular. For example, one app caled The Big Red Button is just a image of a big red button that plays a sound when it is pushed. Its function was clearly described in its preview, but still people purchased the app for $0.99 and were angry that they had bought this app at all.
