are android users cheap , or does google android market just suck at promotion?

[hans007]

I wasn't really sure which sub to put this in but I figured this one probably was the most relevant.

So my friend made an app for iphone called "getDrunker". its 99 cents, you basically select types of alcohol you have and it does some sqlite queries and gives you drinks you can make with what you have.

he sells like 10 paid copies a day on itunes. more on weekends.

so given i'm an android fan, and wanted to get better atthis, he gave me the database and graphics and i did a native port for android.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.GetDrunker&feature=search_result

they are indistinguishable from each other.

now on itunes there is a free limited version as well, which we haven't launched on android yet. that said, for you android users out there...

do you ever buy paid apps? or is the market just really horrible to use?: Like on launch of the app we got maybe 4-5 buyers the first day. then after that no one and its been over a week.

the irony is my friend who writes ios apps in his spare time, doesn't use an iphone, he uses an android phone also. so our theory is now that either google's store sucks at promotion or people who buy apple products are just the type who don't care about spending money (which sort of makes sense) or both.

Anyway just wanted to hear some opinions as to why people don't buy things nearly as much on the android store

 

[Deeko]

I buy things from the Android Market, but I'm not really the norm.

That said, studies have shown that having a free/light version drastically increases sales of your paid version. AdMob is easy to integrate, so hook it up and release a free one. You'll see some revenue off that, and you'll get more revenue to the paid one, too. Just make sure the free one has a link in it to the paid version.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

You need a free trial version. If I can't try it out, very little chance I'm going to buy it.

Aside from that, you could just make it free and put ads on it. That will probably make you more money

 

[vshah]

i've probably spent about $100 on android apps in the past couple years

 

[Spoooon]

You need a free trial version. If I can't try it out, very little chance I'm going to buy it.

Aside from that, you could just make it free and put ads on it. That will probably make you more money

This. And I don't use an adblocker on my phone. I'll whitelist apps (DroidWall) that I continue to use and just uninstall the ones I don't like.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The Market is also really bad at searching unless you know exactly what you want. I don't understand how Google, the search giant, sucks so bad with that.

 

[theeedude]

Apple users are cows, Android users are bulls. Which one do you think is easier to milk?

 

[alent1234]

iOS and android user here

buy from app store all the time, haven't bought anything from the android market. my wife uses an iphone 4 and buys maybe $5 of apps a month

there are so many free apps on iOS worth getting that i rarely buy paid apps. did spend $3 last week on dead space, scrabble and some other one for the ipad when EA was having a sale. when i had an iphone i rarely bought apps as well

one nice thing about iOS apps is the in-app purchasing. you can download a free app and buy features for $.99 each or so. I think Google only added this recently if they ever did. got a free coloring book on the ipad for my son and will probably spend the $2 for the 20 or so pictures that are locked

something like your app i would never buy, but then i'm almost 40

generally the app store is much better than the android market. the apps are usually better quality and more big names in there.

 

[MagickMan]

I think I've spent ~$50 on apps playing with my Nook Color.

 

[foghorn67]

I use Android blogs and their RSS feeds to find out about new apps that I haven't heard of yet. I'll try the demo and most likely buy it. I spend at least 10 bucks a month on apps, sometimes more.
The only thing I won't buy is live wallpaper. Most of the new cools ones are the only thing that thwarts my EVO's insane speed.

 

[runawayprisoner]

It's interesting no one mentions you can purchase an app from the Android Market, use it for about 10 minutes or so (less than 15), then uninstall it to get a refund. Effectively making it a free trial for 15 minutes.

https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=134336

Goes on to show people don't buy so regularly from the Market... if they did, they'd know this. Or maybe it's just that they don't care about this in the first place.

I spend easily $10-$20 on iTunes for random music and apps every other week either for myself or for my family, simply because there are good deals on $0.99 apps or we would like to support local artists with their albums. It's the norm. But I find myself purchasing on Android Market like... once every other month. There just has to be something useful that's not customization-related for me to break 15 minutes, otherwise...

 

[NikolaeVarius]

It's interesting no one mentions you can purchase an app from the Android Market, use it for about 10 minutes or so (less than 15), then uninstall it to get a refund. Effectively making it a free trial for 15 minutes.

https://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=134336

Goes on to show people don't buy so regularly from the Market... if they did, they'd know this. Or maybe it's just that they don't care about this in the first place.

I spend easily $10-$20 on iTunes for random music and apps every other week either for myself or for my family, simply because there are good deals on $0.99 apps or we would like to support local artists with their albums. It's the norm. But I find myself purchasing on Android Market like... once every other month. There just has to be something useful that's not customization-related for me to break 15 minutes, otherwise...

Or you know, the psychological barrier is there that prevents you from spending money in the first place even though you know you can get it back.

Or you know, the fact that 15 minutes may not be quite long enough to really get a feel which means that I don't really care for it.

I buy apps because I know I will use them, not because I think it's a good deal or if it just costs 99 cents.

 

[dpodblood]

Another part of it is the open source nature of the Android platform. Much like there are free versions of software for Linux (Open Office instead of MS Office, Gimp instead of photoshop, etc) there are a lot of free apps on the Android market, which are just as good as their paid alternatives. I had an Android phone for just over a year, and there was nothing I couldn't find in the market for free. At the worst it would be ad supported.

 

[runawayprisoner]

Or you know, the psychological barrier is there that prevents you from spending money in the first place even though you know you can get it back.

Or you know, the fact that 15 minutes may not be quite long enough to really get a feel which means that I don't really care for it.

I buy apps because I know I will use them, not because I think it's a good deal or if it just costs 99 cents.

15 minutes is more than enough for me to get a good taste of most things IMO...

And apps on the App Store drop from their $9.99 or $4.99 place down to $0.99 quite regularly. I wasn't talking about an app that has always been $0.99, but rather apps that suddenly get a price drop. That's why they are called deals.

For instance, I got some games last week. Dead Space, Reckless Racing, and Scrabble together for less than $3.

 

[gorcorps]

As said, a free trial or ad-based version is important. IMO it's even more important in the Android market because there's no quality control so you have no idea what you're getting for your money. There's a return period, but I also don't think that's all that well known to the general public. Apple does a pretty good job weeding out the apps that are completely broken, so at the very least you know whatever you're getting will function. That's not true about Android apps, and until you get a number of good reviews nobody will know if it's worth anything or not.

Also as mentioned: the google marketplace search is terrible. Seriously, even when I know the exact title name I might not see what I want. If I cut off the last word I'll see it. It's completely random and I'm still shocked at how truly bad it is. I just don't get what it's doing.

 

[dpodblood]

I agree. Trial versions of paid apps are a must. I'm not going to pay anything for an app, not even $1 if there is no way for me to test it out first. Anyone can publish an app in the android marketplace, and reviews in the app store just aren't reliable.

 

[zoiks]

I do buy Android apps from time to time if I know I'll use them.

 

[Anubis]

i buy apps that do something specific i want. i however never just randomly go browsing apps. the only time i open the market is when it tells me i have updates or i'm looking for something very specific

seriously i use like 5 apps on a daily basis

 

[ponyo]

There are very few apps on Android and iOS worth paying for. There are better free apps on the Android side so fewer people buy. iOS seems to favor paid apps. Plus piracy is much easier on Android. But I doubt you're losing sales due to piracy for your app. People have to want the app in order to pirate.

 

[Anubis]

There are very few apps on Android and iOS worth paying for.

people keep saying this however having used an iphone and explored the app store its EXACTLY the same.

there are very few apps in general on any platform worth paying for. outside of some niche app the markets are the same and IOS only wins cause its been around longer

 

[NikolaeVarius]

people keep saying this however having used an iphone and explored the app store its EXACTLY the same.

there are very few apps in general on any platform worth paying for. outside of some niche app the markets are the same and IOS only wins cause its been around longer

I don't get it. You agree with him on the first part, but then you use the word however, and then you kind of reinforce his point.

And yes I agree, Apps are never worth paying for unless you know what you're going to do with it or have a need that must be taken care of.

Am I going to pay 2.50 for a Spaghetti marhsmallows game? Or 3 dollars for a program that tells me information that i can get for free online.

No. No matter how cheap it is, I don't care if it's a dollar. If I don't know if I'm going to use it, I'm not going to buy it.

 

[alent1234]

yesterday i installed a location cache app to see where i've been. when i tried to run it i got a message that i have to root my phone first to use it.

tells me all i need to know about how much google cares about the market and quality control

 

[NikolaeVarius]

yesterday i installed a location cache app to see where i've been. when i tried to run it i got a message that i have to root my phone first to use it.

tells me all i need to know about how much google cares about the market and quality control

https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.rrelmy.android.locationcachemap

I assume you mean this.

ROOT REQUIRED.

 

[Anubis]

I don't get it. You agree with him on the first part, but then you use the word however, and then you kind of reinforce his point.

And yes I agree, Apps are never worth paying for unless you know what you're going to do with it or have a need that must be taken care of.

Am I going to pay 2.50 for a Spaghetti marhsmallows game? Or 3 dollars for a program that tells me information that i can get for free online.

No. No matter how cheap it is, I don't care if it's a dollar. If I don't know if I'm going to use it, I'm not going to buy it.

lol yea i stopped after IOS figuring he was another one of them

 

[runawayprisoner]

Well, I think it is fairly obvious at this point that many just prefer free trial and ad-supported apps on Android, and even when they are willing to pay, it has to be something that they can absolutely justify without fail that it suits their needs perfectly.

So can I say people are less willing to pay on Android than on iOS now?