Hear me out, I'm coming from an iPhone. After perusing the Android market for a few days since I bought my Galaxy S, I've seen a strange trend. Not a lot of paid apps. Now, I know this isn't an issue for most people, and I'm going to try to not sound like a pompous ass here, but coming from the App Store, I've become accustomed to higher quality paid apps. I don't mind paying a few bucks for an app I'll use every day. With apps on the market like Calorie Counter by Fatsecret, and a few others that are ad supported, I can't help but imagine that someone wouldn't toss the dev a few dollars to remove the ads. I know that if I were given the option to remove the ads from an app in exchange for a few dollars, I'd jump on it. I'm wondering if I'm the only one that feels this way.
I'm coming from iPhone too and would rather there were more quality apps even if that means we have to pay for them. From what I've seen reading the forums, there are a lot of people who simply won't pay for an app, period. If that's an Android cultural thing, then paid apps (and perhaps better quality apps) are a long way away. Personally, I'm totally digging the return policy, will check out paid apps and return the junk.
Remember that paid apps are not available in many, many countries so some people simply do not have any choice.
Android is based on open source, that's why free app will always be easier to come by since there are many talented people out there who take it as a challenge to make a good program in thier free time and let others use it to. I also disagree with the fact that an app has to be paid for before its classified as 'quality standard'. In the app market you will find a lot of amazing apps with first star quality that any commercial enterprise will happily cash in on however i will also agree with you that there are a lot of junk apps to sort through while looking for the good ones. long live open source
The answer is a definite YES! I'll gladly pay for an app that increases my productivity and saves me time.
I like the fact that some many of the apps are free And I do buy apps, but it's usually to support a developer I really like. Most free apps DO have an option that if you donate, you get to use the ad free version with some added features I like that there's a choice for those who would pay for the apps and thos that want them free.
I'm with you on that point. Personally my bank will decline any foreign purchases until I call and authorize it, which makes checking out the many fine European apps a big pain. I feel this is something Google needs to work on. I feel their non-American pain. I understand what you're saying and am not so wealthy that I don't prefer freebies. I'm trying to look at it from a commercial developer's perspective. The feeling of a job well done does not put food on the table. I don't think Android is going to see the explosive growth of quality apps that Apple is getting until there is a solid business model which compensates developers for months of hard work.
There are some awesome paid apps out there, and I have gladly paid for them. There are some awesome free apps that don't have any advertising, but I have PayPal'ed the developer a few bucks every now and then to let them know I appreciate their work. I think many Android users will pay for apps or donate to developers. It's just a matter of educating them about the choices available.
Austria France Germany Italy Japan Netherlands Spain United Kingdom United States This is the list of countries that developers can sell their apps in. Nine! Nine freaking countries.... Compared to what, Apple's 33? That's why there isn't many paid apps out there. We can't sell them even if we wanted to! Can you tell im pissed... Lots of countries can put up free apps, thats why you see so many free ones. http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136758 http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=138294
By higher quality I assume you mean more uniform? There are a tonne of absolutely fantastic apps out there, both free and paid. Over time, you will see more paid apps, and more free ones. Over time, the apps will improve - No matter what they cost. There are truly terrible paid apps, and almost perfect free ones - The art is finding the good apps among the drivel, which is what the rating system is for. Oh, and I'd buy more apps if the market supported paypal. As it is, I avoid any apps in a foreign currency as my bank imposes a conversion charge which is normally more than the app costs. Is there any particular reason they DON'T support paypal, actually?
I'll purchase foreign or local apps if they're quality and the dev puts in the time to maintain it. For example, I always support koxx, he's always pushing out updates to improve his product.
