Like it or not, the freemium model is here to stay. Last year, Google started allowing in-app purchases for applications on the Play Store, allowing developers to put out a bare-bones application for free and charge customers for additional content from within the app itself. This move only applied to the Play Store, and [...]]]>

Like it or not, the freemium model is here to stay. Last year, Google started allowing in-app purchases for applications on the Play Store, allowing developers to put out a bare-bones application for free and charge customers for additional content from within the app itself. This move only applied to the Play Store, and not third-party application markets.

The Amazon App Store is certainly the largest of the third-party app stores and today they have announced that they too have started allowing in-app purchases on applications hosted on their store. Amazon’s integration brings with it one of the primary advantage Amazon brings to the table: one-click purchasing.

As an Amazon Prime member, I’ve come to trust and depend on Amazon’s payment process, a process which makes it stupid easy for me to throw more and more money at Amazon every day. Now developers of Android applications will have the option to provide this same type of experience to their customers. Several developers are already on board, most notably ZeptoLab, Disney, Glu, Gameloft, Conde Nast, Dow Jones, and the New York Post.

Developers interested in integrating in-app purchasing to their Amazon App Store application can check out Amazon’s Youtube channel for more info. And all you Android users out there, what do you think about the move toward in-app purchases and “freemium” application models? Sound off in the comments.

When Google announced the Android Design website aimed at helping developers feel more at home with Holo, the theme used throughout Android 4.0, Matias Duarte made it clear that Android development was headed into the next phase. Google is looking to create a more cohesive experience when it comes to developing for Android for [...]]]>

When Google announced the Android Design website aimed at helping developers feel more at home with Holo, the theme used throughout Android 4.0, Matias Duarte made it clear that Android development was headed into the next phase. Google is looking to create a more cohesive experience when it comes to developing for Android for both manufacturers and third-party app developers alike.

One way Google is looking to do that is with a deep, interconnected community where developers can network and lend each other a helping hand. Today, Google announced that they’ll be using their own Google+ to bolster that community, starting with an official profile page for the Android Developers website.

Google will use the Android Developers Google+ page for “development tips, discussing updates to the SDK and developer tools, highlighting new Android training classes, and posting video and pics from Android developer events around the world.”

Google will also use the page for Google+ hangouts, scheduled to take place at 2pm Pacific Time every Wednesday. More hangouts will be scheduled at different times once things progress, but for now you can watch the hangouts after they’ve been uploaded on YouTube if you can’t watch live.

The Android Developers Google+ profile makes a nice addition to Google’s blossoming developer community. Along with the Design guide and Android training program, developers have a number of places to turn for advice on any problems they face.

The Android platform has been evolving rapidly, and Google keeps growing with its many services and products. These are two of the main reasons why Google I/O has become one of the biggest events in the tech industry. Last year, tickets sold out in less than an hour, and things are becoming quite difficult [...]]]>

The Android platform has been evolving rapidly, and Google keeps growing with its many services and products. These are two of the main reasons why Google I/O has become one of the biggest events in the tech industry. Last year, tickets sold out in less than an hour, and things are becoming quite difficult for our fellow coders. We definitely expect this Google I/O 2012 to be a huge event as well.

Google knows this event is very important for developers and has decided to extend the event by one day. The event will now last three days (instead of two), so attendees will be able to spend more time learning what makes the Google world spin.

Sadly, though, this extension comes with a bit of a down side. Those who are eagerly waiting for next year’s Google I/O will have to wait a bit longer. Google I/O usually takes place in April, but this has also been changed. Next year’s Google developer conference has been pushed a couple months back. Next year’s event is scheduled for June 27-29, so get ready to see what is to come. This is Google’s advice:

In the meantime, be sure to brush up on your coding skills. They’ll come in handy when the new application process opens in February. That’s all we can tell you for now, but we’d advise against making travel arrangements until then.Monica TranGoogle Inc.

The event will still be held in San Francisco, CA, at the Moscone Center. There ya go, guys. Get ready for some coding awesomeness (and free stuff!). What do you guys think we could see at next year’s Google I/O? Maybe Android’s next version, Jelly Bean?

The days when hackers and developers beat manufacturers to the punch with software updates are back again. Earlier this week, the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich was released, starting the countdown to custom ROMs on devices everywhere. It’s only been four days since that release, and there are some popular phones already being [...]]]>

The days when hackers and developers beat manufacturers to the punch with software updates are back again. Earlier this week, the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich was released, starting the countdown to custom ROMs on devices everywhere. It’s only been four days since that release, and there are some popular phones already being treated to their first helping of Android 4.0′s cold, creamy goodness.

The Samsung Galaxy S II, currently one of the most popular smartphones in existence, is one of first devices to receive an almost fully functioning AOSP Ice Cream Sandwich port. WiFi and Bluetooth still haven’t been figured out on the Galaxy S II, but fixes should be along very shortly. My guess is that before the end of the year, Galaxy S II owners will have several different Ice Cream Sandwich based ROMs to choose from.

Along with the GSII, the LG Optimus 3D has also been treated with an ICS port. Not much is known on the status of the Optimus 3D ROM, but judging by the performance in the video below, things are well on their way to being fully functional.

Of course the Galaxy S II and Optimus 3D are just two devices out of many that have semi-functioning Android 4.0 ports already. If you’re into hacking and modding, and your device already has an ICS ROM to call its own, be sure to share it in the comments below.

The Google/Samsung event has just resumed, and the last bit of news was directed to our beloved developers. Those who are excited to start using their newly announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus devices (when they get them) will probably want apps to be completely optimized for the new operating system. Google has just released [...]]]>

The Google/Samsung event has just resumed, and the last bit of news was directed to our beloved developers. Those who are excited to start using their newly announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus devices (when they get them) will probably want apps to be completely optimized for the new operating system. Google has just released the SDK, so all developers can start taking advantage of those awesome new features.

One of the most important functions of Ice Cream Sandwich is that it unites phones and tablets of all sizes. Developers now have a unified platform, so it will be easier for them to make a good product across all form-factors. And, of course, it’s more user-friendly for the consumer.

The SDK is available straight from the Android Developers site, which you can find by clicking here. Once new apps start getting built from the ground up with Android 4.0′s features, things should start getting pretty fancy. As always, we’re interested in what our readers want. And, in this case, what the developers in our audience are planning.

What can you guys recommend to our beloved developer community? What apps and which features would you like to see optimized for this OS? If you happen to be a developer, would you mind giving us a preview/explanation of what might be coming in your apps?

Image via guidetotheappgalaxy.com

Ever since Google+ was first released, developers have been waiting for their chance to use the service in new and exciting ways. Back in August, a small sampling of devs were granted access to the code necessary for testing third-party Google+ applications. As announced today, all eager developers will finally get their shot at testing [...]]]>

Ever since Google+ was first released, developers have been waiting for their chance to use the service in new and exciting ways. Back in August, a small sampling of devs were granted access to the code necessary for testing third-party Google+ applications. As announced today, all eager developers will finally get their shot at testing the waters.

Google has made a small sampling of code public for all developers to play around with. In the words of Google, “this initial API release is focused on public data only–it lets you read information that people have shared publicly on Google+.” Some examples of the actions this release will allow you to perform include obtaining profile information and pulling up a list of most recent public posts.

Google says it will be working hard to release more code as time goes on. For right now, developers are reporting success with the initial release. This is a great sign of things to come. All the third-party social networking apps available now that allow for Twitter and Facebook integration will soon be able to incorporate Google+ as well. TweetDeck, Plume, FourSquare; the list goes on.

Developers, have you had a chance to look things over? What do you think? And consumers, what kind of apps are you excited to see gain Google+ compatibility?

On Wednesday, Google announced via their blog how Google App Engine (GAE) pricing will change as it moves out of  ”preview” mode. I won’t bore you with the details of these changes. The important takeaway is that many GAE users will see substantial increases in operating costs. Since we are an Android blog and not an [...]]]>

On Wednesday, Google announced via their blog how Google App Engine (GAE) pricing will change as it moves out of  ”preview” mode. I won’t bore you with the details of these changes. The important takeaway is that many GAE users will see substantial increases in operating costs. Since we are an Android blog and not an App Engine blog, you may be asking why we’re writing about this here. Well, we’re writing about it because it has a potential to impact the availability and pricing of Android Apps that rely on App Engine.

You see, while GAE was in preview status it was–for lack of a better term–dirt cheap for developers to use as a server back-end for their Android Apps. There was a substantial free quota granted to developers, and many got by without ever hitting that quota. With the new pricing model, the free quota has been decreased to the point where many of these developers will probably hit it and trigger usage charges. This in itself isn’t really a problem. After all, Google is offering up its infrastructure and should be compensated for its use. The problem is that the new pricing appears to be incredibly expensive in comparison to the old pricing.

As part of the announcement, Google made available a tool to analyze and estimate costs under the new pricing model. Almost immediately, reports started hitting the web in which users were claiming to see anywhere up to 30 times their previous costs. App Engine is used for a lot of different things (not just back-ends for Android apps), so we can’t say how many Android apps might be affected by this. What we can say is that App Engine is a natural choice for Android’s Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) service, and Google made it easier to integrate Android and App Engine at Google I/O when they showed off the new Google Plugin for Eclipse. For these reasons, chances are likely that a sizable number of Android apps will be affected in some way.

Some Android developers are already looking for ways to make up for the new operating costs. For example, Steven Van Bael, developer of Bookmark to Desktop, has posted on Google+ that he is looking for ways to compensate for an estimated additional $100 per month. That can be pretty hard to do with a free app. Accordingly, the two most obvious options are to remove the app or start charging for it. Of course, a third option is to use some other back-end service, which may carry its own costs and might require considerable work to get up and running.

I asked on Google+ for input and here’s what some other Android developers had to say:

This new pricing pushes me to find a way to monetize the app quickly, or it’ll die. As I really don’t want to charge the user, if I make a move toward Admobs, Google is winning on both sides. This is really sad after all the advocating that has been built over Android/GAE integration.Patrick L.

We are mostly on the verge of the limit and I guess we will have to cut features. I can't fully blame Google though. Free is hard to maintain.Moritz P.

There’s a storm a-brewin’ in the Android Developer scene. At the heart of the storm is a claim that Google isn’t paying Android Developers the full amount due to them.

In a report filed on the Android Market Support forum on July 28th, one developer noticed his sales for the month did not match [...]]]>

There’s a storm a-brewin’ in the Android Developer scene. At the heart of the storm is a claim that Google isn’t paying Android Developers the full amount due to them.

In a report filed on the Android Market Support forum on July 28th, one developer noticed his sales for the month did not match the payout. While it’s not unusual for the Android Market order processing to lag a little bit, the developer claims these orders were in fact charged, but simply didn’t make it into the monthly payout. As it turns out, this developer is not alone; many other developers have spoken up, indicating this issue has also affected them.

Through further investigation it was found that the processed orders that were not paid out all came from the same source:  the web version of the Android Market. It appears that, when a customer purchases an app via the web version, the order is processed slightly differently, thereby stopping the payout to the developer.

As of Thursday, August 4th, Google has stated they are aware of the issue and are working on a fix; however, no time frame for a solution was given. Until there is a confirmed fix, we recommend making purchases via the on-device Market client. After all, we want our developers to be paid for their hard work in a timely manner, right?

This isn’t the first time Android Developers have called Google out (see here and here) on these types of issues. Not surprisingly, some developers are beginning to urge Google to be more transparent in these types of problems. The idea has even been raised that Android developers need to unite in the form of a union in order to get Google to be more responsive to developers’ concerns. While I don’t think a union is the answer, I can appreciate the sentiment that Google should be more forthcoming with developers, especially when it comes to payments (which many developers rely upon as an important source of income). The fact that it took a week for Google to respond to this issue makes it glaringly obvious that something needs to be done.

Again, I’d like to remind you that you can help out developers until this is confirmed as fixed by making your app purchases via the on-device Market. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

As far as transparency goes, what do you think? Does Google need to be more transparent with developers (and users) when it comes to Android? The recent study of open-source projects we posted yesterday suggests Google could stand to be more transparent in general.

If you think some of Android’s third-party apps [...]]]> Google showed off a new version of the Android Development Tools at I/O, but the company wasn’t ready to release it just yet. Well, they are now. Google just announced on its Android blog that the new ADT is all set to be enjoyed by developers.

If you think some of Android’s third-party apps look a little unpolished, you’ll be happy to know that this new version of the ADT focuses mostly on the Visual Layout Editor, with more than 20 features aimed specifically at making it easier for developers to design their apps. With new features like “Extract Style” and “Extract Include,” making your Android app look good is now easier than ever. There are many more features in this update, and you can see a list of them all right here.

Hopefully, this new version of the ADT will give Android apps a much-needed improvement in the UI department. Having said that, it is up to the developers to take advantage of these new tools–which we hope they will. After downloading the new ADT, you should watch the hour-long Google I/O session (embedded below) in which Android engineers show everything that’s new in this ADT.

A couple of days ago I received a shipment that just may qualify as the coolest thing to show up at my doorstep since I started running this site. The only downside to my awesome delivery is that I’m [...]]]> UPDATE: The contest is over, but the video below is still totally awesome. Check it out!

A couple of days ago I received a shipment that just may qualify as the coolest thing to show up at my doorstep since I started running this site. The only downside to my awesome delivery is that I’m supposed to pass it along to one of you. My loss is definitely your gain as now one of you has a chance at winning a brand-spanking new Qualcomm Dual Core Snapdragon MDP MSM8660.

For the uninitiated, the MDP is a developer smartphone based on the MSM8660 chipset from Qualcomm. Its got a custom dual core 1.5 GHz CPU powering a 3.8″ WVGA screen with an Adreno 220 GPU and a 13 megapixel camera. Whaaaaaat? Yeah. For real, check out the video and data sheet blurb below:

Qualcomm’s MSM8660-based Snapdragon Mobile Development Platform (MDP) enables 3rd party application developers and manufacturers to create, optimize, test and showcase, rich multimedia and graphics-intensive applications for a wide range of mobile devices.

The MSM8660-based Snapdragon MDP is a robust development platform with tightly integrated hardware and software powered by Qualcomm’s second-generation enhanced 1.5 GHz CPU. It brings together the development platform and debug tools developers and manufacturers need to accelerate the development of their applications, all optimized for mobile devices built on Qualcomm’s MSM8660-based Snapdragon chipset.

Applications developers can use the Snapdragron MDP to create applications with features such as high-definition video and exceptional graphics with dedicated 2D and 3D engines. As a test platform, the Snapdragon MDP runs applications in a true mobile phone environment, giving you a rich and dynamic mobile experience from the end-users’ perspective — well before your applications go to market.BSQUAREMDP MSM8660 Data Sheet

Contest rules: For developers only

As you might have noticed, this isn’t your average phone. This thing is aimed squarely at a working developer. The device has WiFi support but there is no cellular connectivity. Brand new, the MDP costs $1350. We want to make sure this kit lands in the hand of a working developer or studio, so entries are limited folks with the following qualifications:

• Must have application(s) available in the Android Market
• Must have serious, demonstrable work towards a major Android release

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post explaining what you’d use the MDP for. Would you use it to improve you existing application? To build a new super app? Leave a comment below and make sure to use a valid email so we can contact the winner. We’ll be verifying the winning comment (which will be drawn at random) to make sure the winner is a working developer. Only one entry per contestant. We’ll draw and announce a winner this Wednesday (5/4/11).

If you’re not a developer, this contest is not for you, but don’t fret! We’ve got plenty of awesome reader contests coming up soon. Just use this as an opportunity to go say thanks to your favorite dev and tell him about this contest then maybe you can be the awesome one for a while.

Uplinq 2011 Conference, 30% off

In addition to the free MDP, Qualcomm was nice enough to send along a discount code for registration to Uplinq 2011. Using the code AND123 will score you 30% off registration to the conference, which is being held in San Diego on Jun 1-2. Angie and I were lucky enough to score a couple press passes and will be on hand to witness all the new mobile hotness.

In conclusion, for the skimmers: we’re giving away an MDP to a developer, we’re attending Uplinq in San Diego on June 1-2, you can get it on all the action.

Update: Congratulations to Adam S! Enjoy the new powerful new tools!