Following on from recent complaints from both users and developers alike about the shortcomings in the Android Marketplace, I thought I’d take a look at some of the alternative Android app stores that are available. There are more than I’d initially assumed there would be, but the one that interested me most was AndAppStore. AndAppStore provide apps for all Android devices, whether they are Google Approved or not, and, unlike the majority of app stores, they provide 100% of any royalties directly to the developer, taking no cut at all. Here is the description from the site’s About page-
AndAppStore is aimed at serving users of all Android devices (both Google approved and unapproved), and we try to help the Android community in as many ways as possible, including;
- Helping Users get access to Android Applications irrespective of whether their Android device is Google approved or not via either the on-device client or web interface.
- Helping Developers by providing a site where they can list their applications, taking no
fees for paid applications, and giving them access to users on both Google approved and unapproved devices.
- Helping OEMs & Porting Groups to give their users access to applications via our royalty-free on-device client which they can include on their devices and in their Android distributions.
The store was started in October 2008 and, whilst the contents of the app catalog is a mere fraction of the total number of apps in the Android Market proper (at present there are 272 apps listed in AndAppStore), I found their website significantly easier to navigate than the offical market, and apps can be purchased and downloaded directly from the site if so desired.Customised versions of the AndAppStore client for use by OEM’s and other interested parties have been developed, with Android-x86 and Vobis among those using AndAppStore in their distributions. Recently, there have been some controversial allegations surrounding a custom app store client which Funky Android, the company that operate AndAppStore, claim to have developed for Archos. Funky Android allege that a breach of a non-disclosure agreement between the two parties has taken place as, according to Funky Android, the client currently in use on the Archos 5 Android internet tablet, AppsLib, originally used the same system architecture and data formats as the version of AndAppStore which was supplied to Archos (in newer versions of AppsLib the data formats have moved away from the alleged similarities to the AndAppStore version). For obvious legal reasons, I’m reticent to go in to too much detail about this issue, but if you would like to read more, FunkyAndroid have issued a couple of press releases on the allegations here and here.
Another advantage that AndAppStore has over the official Android Market is the acceptance of payments via PayPal, so those users who have a debit card which is not accepted by Google Checkout, such as a Maestro card for example, can purchase apps. Considering that I’ve recently heard complaints from some developers that as much as 10% of potential purchases of their apps are failing at the checkout stage, this can only be a good thing for developers.
As part of my research in to the store, I had the opportunity to put a few questions to AndAppStore developer and Funky Android director, Al Sutton:-
What was the inspiration for AndAppStore?
When AndAppStore was set up very little was known about Google Market and how developers would get access to it, so the main source of inspiration was to give developers a service where they could distribute their apps in the way they wanted to.
As time progressed we were approached by OEMs and porting groups working on versions of Android which weren’t going to have the “Google experience” label and so were looking for a way to give their users access to Android applications. We were more than happy to let them include our client in their devices and in return we received some fantastic feedback from them and their users which gave us even more ideas.
We’re now getting inspirational suggestions from both sides, which is exactly what we wanted. Developers tell us how they want to distribute their apps and users tell us how they want to get them, so we can look for commonalities between the two and that gives us some areas to think about.
AndAppStore passes 100% of royalties to developers, with it’s revenue coming mainly from advertising and from providing customised versions of the app for OEM’s and hardware manufacturers. Without giving away any figures, has the business grown as much as you’d envisaged on startup, not as quickly, or even quicker would you say?
Initially things were slower than we expected, but as more devices started to be released without Googles Market we’ve seen user numbers increase. We’ve been pro-active about approaching OEMs and porting groups as well as publicising the fact that our on-device client is royalty free, and both of these approaches helped to boost our business to the point where our regular monthly income covers the running costs, and any customisation work can be used to fund expansion and investment in new ideas. We did suffer a fairly major financial setback when Archos failed to pay us for the work we did for them, but we’re now back on track.
We held off supporting pay-for only applications until after we’d reached this point because we didn’t want to rely on having to take a cut of developers sales or to have t
o announce one rate and then later increase it because we hadn’t got our business plan correct. We’d initially planned to allow pay-for only apps a few months before we did, but it was important to us we got it right and made it sustainable.
o announce one rate and then later increase it because we hadn’t got our business plan correct. We’d initially planned to allow pay-for only apps a few months before we did, but it was important to us we got it right and made it sustainable.
Are there any restrictions or criteria to be met for apps that can be distributed through AndAppStore? Do you screen the apps in any way?
We don’t screen the apps or have any requirements because we want accommodate all developers, but we do listen to user feedback. We do have the ability to suspend applications and developers being listed, but we’ve so far not needed to do that and all of the developers who’ve listed apps have been very professional in the way they’ve handled feedback from users.
Recently, your company released a couple of press statements detailing an alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement by Archos. Has this dented your confidence in engaging in customisations for third parties, in particular the larger companies such as Archos?
The problem with Archos hasn’t put us off at all. They’re only one OEM in a field of many, and whilst we would have preferred them to act in a more respectful and professional manner we’re under no illusion that all OEMs are the same. The directors of Funky Android (the company behind AndAppStore) have several decades experience of corporate environments and so we know that every now and again situations like the Archos one can arise.
We’ve been in contact with companies bigger and smaller than Archos and every other company or group we’ve dealt with has either acted in the way that any business would expect to be treated or gone beyond what we’d hoped, so we’re still happy to offer customisations to any OEM or group who is willing to pay for the work to be done.
Which genre of apps (eg games, networking utilities) have proven most popular on AndAppStore?
Games & Entertainment holds around 1/3 of the apps listed at AndAppStore, with Puzzle & Word games being the biggest sub-category within it, so that’s the one that’s popular with developers.
In terms of user popularity, well, it tends to vary. Our weekly top 10 at the moment has a range of things from a comic book viewer to a file manager, and from a twitter client to a terminal emulator, so it’s a very mixed bag.
Analytics firm Flurry recently released figures that suggested a massive 94% increase in new Android development project startups over the past couple of months, have you noticed a similar increase in apps being uploaded to AndAppStore?
We have, and it’s been amazing to see. We now see developers listing more releases in three weeks than we saw in the first three months of operation, and the rate of new listings continues to increase.
One potential hazard for Android according to some experts, is the possible negative impact of fragmentation of OS versions, user interfaces and hardware. Do you see this as being a valid threat to the OS’s success?
I can see that it could cause some problems, but I think that’s something will work itself out. With multiple vendors already supporting Android on their devices it’s going to be difficult to convince developers to support a feature only available on a limited number of devices. Developers may include code to enhance their applications to make use of a feature if it’s available, but I doubt many would make a vendor-specific API a requirement to run their application because that would instantly reduce the number of potential users of their application by a significant amount.
The other thing to remember is that fragmentation tends to bring competition and innovation and that’s always good for users and developers because whoever starts something new tends to try and make it easy to use and efficient because thats’ how you attract people to it, so yes there may be some negatives, but there will also be positives from it.
Do you use an Android device yourself, and if so, which one(s)?
I do, I have a trusty G1 which I carry around with me. I also get to play with the devices companies send to us to work on customisations and compatibility issues, which is always interesting, and one device I currently have, a HighScreen Zeus, almost tempted me away from my G1 due to its’ compact size. Unfortunately it’s only going to be available in Russia.
In the future the company is going to be getting in an HTC Tattoo for QVGA testing, and then it’ll be a choice between the Motorola Droid/Milestone, Acer Liquid, and Sony Xperia X10 for WVGA testing, so I’m looking forward to trying each of those out.
I’m impressed with AndAppStore and their apparent ethos of empowering developers. As uptake of Android based devices grows, I can only see the site going from strength to strength.
AndAppStore’s site can be found here. There is also an installable AndAppStore client available at the site.