Sony reveal Playstation Suite game store for Android

I love those moments in life that make you think everything just changed. Android was huge in 2010, with growth numbers to prove it, but the app store is its Achilles' heel. Android Market is brilliant at many things, but selling apps unfortunately isn't one of them. Developers have struggled to make money on the Android platform with freemium seeming like the only way generate revenue, but only if you have a huge brand. No revenue means a lack of premium quality apps in Android Market, something that you didn't really notice when mobile was all about smartphones, but that will become much more obvious as the number of Android tablets increase.

Sony's announcement of a Playstation Suite app game store for Android means that everything just changed. There's genius behind Sony's decision to make the store "hardware-neutral", which is a pretty big step for the company when you consider that gaming has been all about hardware for years, because it means that all Android users will have access to to Playstation Suite. Sony's store will also attract major game developers in a way that Android Market hasn't been able to. Fragmentation will still be an issue with Engadget reporting that it will only be available for Gingerbread level Android, but then when isn't it on Google's platform.

I can help but feel that this is a big moment for Android. Having premium games on the platform will make a big difference to current users and help attract even more people to Android. It looks like it's time to start clearing space on a home screen for all of the different app stores I'm going to be using in 2011.

Source: Engadget

Google sends Android into space

It was only ever a matter of time before Android colonised space. As part of a project to collect data from the edge of Earth's atmosphere, Google sent a series of Nexus S phones up into sub orbit using helium balloons. All of the footage from space of the little green robot was captured using the Nexus S. Looks like that phone has a pretty good camera. I wonder if anyone found the Android that broke away on re-entry, or whether he's still floating around out there?



Source: Mashable

Android Market updated - publishers and developers rejoice

Google have announced on their Android Developers Blog that they will be adding new features to Android Market, to improve things for both consumers and developers/publishers. In their own words,

"this new Market client introduces important features that improve merchandising of applications, streamline the browse-to-purchase experience, and make it easier for developers to distribute their applications."





Sounds great, so what's new?

• New categories for widgets and live wallpapers.
• Related apps features on individual app pages.
• Single page view on app pages, rather than tabbed.
• Refund window reduced to 15mins.
• App file size limit upped to 50mb.

The reduction of the refund window and the increased file size limit are clearly meant to appeal to games developers, who have voiced their concern about publishing into Android Market before. It's great to see Google improving on some of the known issues within the Market. Let's hope that this is the beginning of lots of updates that address the problems with purchasing and selling apps on Google's platform in 2011.

Source: Android Developers Blog

HTML5 vs Native Apps: Google Debate

I get asked quite often whether HTML5 is going to mean the end to apps. Normally, I respond that this isn't a clear cut answer, because different tech giants want different things for the future. One can imagine Google wanting a browser only future, but apps are so important to Apple that you can't believe they'd abandon a model that is earning so much revenue for them.

What do the experts think? Well, Google's Reto Meier and Michael Mahemoff recently debated HTML5 or Native for Mobile Development? at the Google Developer Day in Prague.

Angry Birds generating $1m per month on Android for Rovio

Rovio's Mighty Eagle Peter Vesterbacka talks about the success that his company are having with Angry Birds in a video for Google's AdMob team. One of the most amazing things that he reveals is the amount of revenue that their freemium model is generating on the Android platform, which he states will be $1m per month by the end of 2010. That's on over 5m downloads at the time of filming, but given that Angry Birds in now up to 7m downloads on Android, I'd expect that they've already surpassed that target.




Other interesting information in the video:

Retention
App retention rates are important. Angry Birds is at 80% retention. Focus on retention and not disposable apps.

Engagement
Time spent in your app is massive for advertising potential. There's no point going for the ad model if your app isn't engaging. Angry Birds users spend 65m minutes a day playing the game. That is insane!

Other revenue streams
Are there other revenue streams that you can access from your app? Rovio are launching a range of Angry Birds toys. Obviously, there's no point releasing a plush doll for your tube planner app, but alternative merchandising should be considered.

Source: Tech Crunch

There's an app for that

Here's an introductory presentation that I put together for Random House on apps. It was a great excuse to really plug the Android platform.

There's an app for that - An introduction to mobile apps on Prezi

id's John Carmack reveals Rage HD app coming to Android soon

id's Rage HD app for iOS is one hell of a great game and a demonstration that mobile gaming has a serious future, it's not just going to be all about casual games. The good news for Android fans is that id's John Carmack has revealed that they're working on Rage HD for Android as well.

What's the hold-up? Well, it seems that fragmentation is proving to be the little green robot's metal Achilles's heal once more. In Carmack's own words, "there's a lot of things with how the distribution platform works and the diversity of the platforms that you have to target, where things are still much, much nicer on the iOS world."

It will be interesting to see just how long it takes id to overcome the fragmentation issues on Android and what monetisation strategy they employ with Rage HD in the Android Market. Surely, there's no way they'd go down the Angry Bird's free with ads route. I'd guess id will maintain exactly the same pricing policy and two app strategy on Android as on iOS.

Personally, I've chosen to embrace Android fragmentation and ignore the critics. The benefits - lots of brilliant devices for consumers to choose from - clearly outweigh the negatives - pain for developers. I can't wait to play Rage HD on Android. I'll pay for it and promote it as much as possible to other users.

Source: Engadget