Changes to App Market and an Apple perspective

[kennyc]

Summary

Shorter return periods, content filtering, and more promotional graphics are on the way for Android users and developers. Unfortunately we’re still stuck with the 325-character description limit.....

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/burnette/b...id-market/2151

and holy moley look at the spin apple puts on it:

Google rewarms Android Market, still half baked next to iPhone App Store

Despite the delivery of a variety of new and improved smartphone models, the Android experience is still straggling behind Apple's iPhone, particularly in the area of its App Store.....

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...app_store.html

[Logseman]

Instead of allowing users to instantly refund any purchase made within 24 hours, buyers will now only have 15 minutes to decide they don't want an app.

Blast them. That's what I get for buying from them. I've spent more than 60 euros in apps and I get this in return.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Logseman

Fuck them. That's what I get for buying from them. I've spent more than 60 euros in apps and I get this in return.

Have you ever had to do a return?

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Have you ever had to do a return?

Some of them. In fact, this allowed me to check some apps liberally. I tried some RSS readers, for example, until I found the best one for me (GReader Pro). Same with Twitter clients.

[kennyc]

Thx


.

[Logseman]

Complying with the PG-rating of this forum, I've edited the F bomb. I'd like to ask if you could remove it as well

However, they could just have set one hour or two. 15 minutes is ridiculous. The fact that you could have your money back was one of the things that made me very happy about Android's Market. Even if piracy is in my reach, I have supported it with good money.

[Crowl]

That seems an excessive reduction in the return period that could actually harm sales compared with something like an hour because if something doesn't win you over right away most will just tend to dump it rather than testing it more thoroughly and getting stuck with an app you don't want.

[gtriever]

15 minutes seems awfully short, although I'm usually able to make up my mind in that period. I've returned a couple of apps, mainly for two reasons: (a) the app Force Closes or freezes, and (b) after install it's glaringly obvious that it doesn't fit my needs.

[kennyc]

I agree about the 15 mins thing....sheesh....unless there are downloadable trial versions.

[Logseman]

I've just returned an Android terminal emulator. I wish I could have been able to judge its functions a bit better, however... the 15 minute limit just doesn't let you.

[Graham]

Having just joined the Android army (sorry Desertgrandma, well done Kenny) I'd agree 15 minutes seems short, but in general I've found the Android Market perfectly useable - not at all the mess I'd been led to expect from some commentators. I've been able to find the things I want with no difficulty, and browsing from the phone came up with a great game (Star Trader Rpg) which I was more than happy to pay for. The 15 minutes testing period should be assessed against the fact that most of what I've been looking at had a free trial version anyway, and the user comments are generally illuminating.

What's more, we've also got websites like AndroidZoom which give desktop access to the market and assist with making choices.

Graham

[jasonkchapman]

I agree that 15 minutes is short. It's annoying, but not (to me) that big a deal. I think game developers were the ones pushing the hardest for this, since a lot of folks were installing games when they wanted to play them, then returning them until the next time.

This will just push more developers to put out hamstrung demos or feature-limited free versions, so I'm not sure it'll have that much of an effect overall.