If you’ve been following Android-related news over the past few days, you’ll surely have spotted the recent comments from French software company Gameloft, that they intend to scale back their development for Android (I won’t rehash the news here or go over why I think it’s a bad move for Gameloft, but if you want to read more on it, check out the article at Android Guys).  Whilst the general response to the news from many Android users is one of indifference – Gameloft’s Android offerings aren’t exactly up there with the classics, their stance is one that Google need to take notice of.  The market undeniably has some major flaws:- 

App discoverability

Firstly, for a developer, discoverability of your software is a concern: with the number of apps in the Android marketplace steadily growing, it’s easy for an app to get lost amidst the Megan Fox wallpapers and Seinfeld soundboards.  There is an argument that the onus on promotion should lie with the developer, and that’s a valid point, but from a users point of view, it’s much harder to just stumble across an interesting app by nosing around in the market than it was even two months ago (although, mercifully, we no longer seem to be continually bombarded with paid for apps offering images of Japanese girls by the likes of Sapphire Apps as we were a little while back – kudos to Google for nipping that one in the bud).  Google have made changes, including allowing screenshots in the Marketplace to help assist with app promotion, but cleaning up the market would probably requre far stricter restrictions on the quality of apps that are uploaded, weeding out the apps that don’t come up to scratch.  That’s a stance I don’t expect, nor want, Google to take – the Android platform is all about openness, it’s diversity is one of it’s biggest strengths.

Payment issues

Secondly, payment options – I’ve heard from a number of developers who are more than a little disgruntled with the stats they’re seeing on Google Checkout.  One developer told me they see as many as 10% of their potential sales disappear at the checkout stage because their customers don’t have, or don’t want to use, a credit card.  It can’t be that difficult to offer alternative payment methods, such as Paypal, can it?

Piracy

The third issue, is probably one of the biggest concerns for all developers of paid apps- piracy.  Software piracy in Android is a big problem according to the developers I’ve spoken to.  The policy of allowing a user to return a paid for app within a 24 hour trial period gives would-be pirates ample time to get their hands on an app, crack it, and then return it for a full refund.  Again, there is an argument that the developers themselves need to work out their own anti-piracy methods, but there have been complaints from some devs that the usage terms of the Android Market make some copy protection methods difficult to implement.  Developers ArtfulBits are hoping to convince developers to implement a pirate blacklist check in their apps.  The idea being that there is a centralised database of phones that have been know to use pirated software, apps are coded to check the blacklist on startup and close automatically should the phone they are being run on be on the list.  This seems more than a little draconian to me, open to exploitation and a real headache for those who are affected by false positives, or who own a second hand phone which was on the list at some point.  The fact that developers are even considering such measures highlights how big the problem is.

So what can be done?  Perhaps we need one of the independent marketplaces to step up to the plate and make an alternative market that gives developers the platform they want to promote their apps and gives users an easily navigated market to browse?  Maybe we do just need our devs to man up and shoulder the responsibility for themselves?  I’d love to hear your suggestions and thoughts on the current state of the Android Market, good and bad.