xinsight

I wish I knew where customers came from, but the app Store and Android Market are both black boxes.

I'm sure some people find apps from within the store (e.g. searching for "swedish") - but I expect most to come from youtube (where there are lots of GoSwedish videos) and then search for the app by name.

Update: Or maybe I just need to do more to get the word out. I sold 10 Android copies yesterday! (Thanks HN!)

I'd also like to see Android thrive (mainly to keep Apple from behaving badly) and you make a good point that Android is steadily moving into the mainstream. But it will be a challenge for Google to shake the impression that Android users are reluctant to buy apps.

btw, another post from marco that shows his skepticism towards Android: http://www.marco.org/2011/04/02/time-bombs

Thanks for the encouragement.

I was going to release a free version on Android before writing up my experiences. I thought the liberal return policy on Android would eliminate the need for "lite" apps - but the return window is only 15 minutes which seems a bit tight. Better to have an app where you can fully evaluate it and then buy when you're ready.

It's called GoSwedish - a friendly introduction to learning Swedish. http://xinsight.ca/goswedish/

Findability within the Market might also be a factor. A search for "swedish" in the App Store, and it's on the first screen. But it's quite a long scroll down on the Android Market.

I ported an iOS app to Android. I've sold three (!!) copies while in that same period, the iOS version has sold about 300. I dropped the price from $5 down to $2 over easter and still didn't sell a single copy during the sale.

The two apps have the same content and the sales funnel is exactly the same. (The only difference is the iOS app has lots of 5-star reviews.) It seems clear to me that Android users can't or won't pay for certain kinds of apps.

Thoughtful approach on app pricing and customer selection.

The point that resonated with recent experiences was this one:

"How much effort do I really want to devote to satisfying people who are unable or extremely unlikely to pay for anything? (This is also a major reason why I have no plans to enter the Android market.)"

I'm not sure if the competition between developers is the biggest problem in the Android Market. What makes it hard seems to be a combination of the number of people using the Market and how willing they are are spend money. From my limited experience, it seems about an order of magnitude harder to get Android users to open their wallets than iOS users.

I only experience them on government and bank websites.

I can see how some naïve users might want the extra-confirmation that they are cancelling this action – but I there's not reason for them to be visually similar and positioned almost next to each other.

I use this frequently. Unfortunately it doesn't work with Photoshop.

> It's the two-tap "upload to youtube/vimeo/facebook" that did them in.

Great point. For sharing, connecting to a computer via USB isn't nearly as nice as tapping a couple of buttons. (But Flip was easier to point and shoot. No hunting for the photo app, loading it, switching to video, etc.)

re: gadget axiom - I've also heard about the "pocket exception": Devices with many functions lose out to specialized devices - except when the device can fit in your pocket. (Sorry, can't find the source.)

I agree, they could have gone in a lot of directions with an inexpensive camera. I guess the problem was that Cisco wanted the mainstream market - and they weren't going to go after the various niche markets like: timelapses, infrared, fast shutter cams (e.g. skateboarding tricks), sport cams (e.g. mountain biking, longboarding)...

Or maybe Cisco didn't want any competition for their line of rather plain, low-quality home security IP cameras.

Did the HD video capability of mobile phones (e.g. iPhone 4) kill the Flip? If so, this has happened before; Pure Digital's first product was a cheap point-and-shoot camera that you'd take in for processing, but it was also beaten by the rise of (equally poor quality) cellphone cameras.

Interesting take-away from a user experience perspective. A dedicated device that is famously easy to use, still loses out to more complicated devices that do everything.

History of Pure Digital and Flip:

http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/flip-video-wrong-wrong-wron...

I'd prefer to just get rid of DST.

One of the last things he did in office was move it 2 weeks earlier. Canada followed along and now North America is out of sync with most other countries.

The classic version of this is:

http://availableincanada.com/

The problem is often that the work is not clearly defined. Sitting down and thinking about the project, what the client asked for vs. what they really need, listing the unknowns, doing some tests to validate an approach... this can take a lot of time.

What I want to start doing with projects that aren't clearly defined, is to simply do an initial contract to nail down some of these details. Build a prototype, do some tests and write a detailed spec - and then the next contract will be building it for real. (Maybe with some inexpensive outsourcing.)

I've used Apple's in-app purchase system and it has sone serious limitations. First, it's limited to about 3000 SKUs. Second, there is no way to automatically import (or update) the product information. So, from a technical perspective, Amazon simply cannot use IAP - it's far too limited.

I'm sure the author means well, but I doubt this passive approach (where everyone else has to fix the problem) combined with the irritating, holier-than-thou tone will get much traction.

A little greasemonkey script to add outline, along with some visual examples of would be far more effective way to advocate the issue.

You left out the most important and confusing step: Running the app. That requires not clicking on the icon you see in the dmg folder, but opening the applications folder and scanning all the apps looking for the unfamiliar one that was just installed.

The biggest problem with the North American banking system is the reliance on the antiquated cheque system. In the EU I can send money to any other EU bank account quickly with little or no fee. You can pay bills and send money - and no need for an intermediatary like paypal. The inherently insecure concept of letting others pull money out of your account don't exist. Pushing money also reduces the whole range of service fees relating to bounced cheques and insufficient funds.

Sure, if you live 30km from where you work, you probably aren't going to ride a bike (or walk, or take transit). If you lived <5km, you'd waste less time commuting.

re: rain - sounds like rain gear is important. So are fenders.

re: showering - i've found that simply biking at a more relaxed pace avoids the whole sweat issue (besides in the morning, it's not the hottest time of the day. Biking home might be more of a problem, but then there is a shower at the end.) Plus even if you have some hills, you get in shape and will barely notice the exercise.

re: carrying extra work - what exactly are you carrying? I find i can haul a laptop and a lot of junk with a pair of panniers. Also good for picking up groceries.

Also, besides the environmental issues mentioned - i'm always amazed that drivers don't love cyclists. Every bike on the road means less traffic and one more parking space.

Looks like an elegant app for data collection. As for your methodology, I'm wondering how much you'll be able to conclude. For example, there will probably be a high correlation of people are relaxed and in a park, but does that mean that parks make people relaxed? It could be that people take a break, relax and then go to the park.

Yes, but obvious to hackers = high possibility of prior art

It's amusing that timing attacks work essentially like those often-mocked Hollywood movies where the computer/hacker cracks the password one character at a time.

Sure, take time to gather evidence, work with authorities and document the crime. But there is no good reason to leave those apps in the top seller lists once they've discovered the problem.

The content is also quite tight on an iPad. (e.g. The mockup logo is touching the left side of the screen, or is maybe chopped by 1px.)

Also, the examples are blank for me. (not sure if that is an iPad or general problem.)

A perl script running via cgi could do it, no?

There's an interesting edge condition i ean into during user testing. If you created a paypal account in the past, associated your credit card with it and then forgot how to access it - you cannot pay with your credit card. Paypal forces you to login with your old account. This along with paypal strongly encouraging people to create an account no doubt contributes to the "paypal requires an account" confusion.

Indeed. If you use shared web hosting (like Bluehost) there are often hundreds of other websites running on the same server. It is trivial to write a script that runs with the permissions of the webserver to snoop other websites' files. Read the config files (wp-config.php in the case of Wordpress) and you can then access the database directly and wreak major havoc.

Sorry, my tone might have been off. What I meant was: Buckwheat pancakes don't have glutin and are amazing. If you don't know about them, give 'em a try!