Dev explains why paid Android apps ruled out

Indie game developer Retro Dreamer in a post Tuesday highlighted a wider-reaching problem with Android app sales. The company declined having any paid app on Android as the way the Google Play Store (Android Market) was inherently much more complex than it was on Apple's App Store. Google's Wallet system (replacing Checkout) treated each sale as though it were a sale direct to the customer; the process made it difficult for a small developer to even consider supporting other countries, since they had to account for every country's individual rules, such as European or even US state taxes.

Apple's model took care of this behind the scenes, making it much easier for a developer to branch out. Google's approach was thrusting the responsibility on companies that was deemed excessive.

"Why is this market leaving it up to me to figure this out?" Gavin of Retro Dreamer asked. "I obviously don’t understand it, and it’s not economical for me to figure it out for the sake of a few 99c app sales in all these different countries. What exactly would I be getting for my 30% payment processing fee [to Google]?"

The firm didn't want to dismiss Android outright, but it saw from comments that other developers were facing the same experience by using the Google Play Store. In the near term, the only full, paid apps for Android would be on the Amazon Appstore, while iOS users were the only ones who could expect paid apps worldwide.

By Electronista Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :  

iPhone, industry, Google, Android, App Store, mobile phones, Apple, Amazon Appstore, Google Play Store