
How to make $250 a day (and get banned from the Android Market) - obviator
http://makingmoneywithandroid.com/2011/09/how-to-make-250-a-day-and-get-banned-from-the-android-market/
======
DanielBMarkham
Damn. Talk about targeted content.

The guy writes an article on a failed Android experiment, makes the front page
of HN. I click on the link and I'm on a blog with 32 articles in the last
couple of months, all highly-targeted at Android developers. Android book ads
on the side. All very nicely put-together (I know some folks would consider my
analysis an attack. It is not.)

This guy is either going to make money on Android apps or make money
advertising about them!

I like the app idea, but the story shows something really sad about these app
marketplaces -- there's so much social engineering it's not funny. The right
name, the right logo, the right first customers, the right momentum -- if the
die come up the right way, you're on a roll. But if something happens to mess
up one or two aspects of it? It can all fall apart. Or to put another way
_people buying the app are the number one signal for other people to buy the
app_. So it's kind of a weird little high-stakes popularity contest, at least
as far as I can tell.

I just think it's cool that the author took the failed app idea, turned it
around into a blog entry, and then might make a few bucks on that. Having the
targeted blog to go along with your app efforts was very smart. If nothing
else, as long as you keep trying, even if you go through a hundred ideas which
never pan out, you could end up with a nice ebook out of all of it one day.
Call it something like "How to win by failing"

~~~
ansy
Regarding your social engineering comment, I think this is a side effect of
digital content distribution in general. With all the scaling handled for you
more or less for free, success is just a matter of gaining mindshare.

It has been happening for a while with blogs, YouTube, HN/Reddit comments. For
an example just look at reposts. Pick the right title, be the right submitter,
get the right first commenter, and some blog spam article has hundreds of
votes on the front page while the original source goes without any votes or
comments.

Just on the app store, money is involved instead of karma.

------
Mizza
This is a really scammy website - I really don't like it.

The goal shouldn't be to make money with Android - it should be to make
interesting and high quality software products for your customers.

I should also mention that I make more than $1000 a month, the site's goal, by
selling Android apps.

~~~
jpulgarin
Why shouldn't the goal be to make money with Android?

~~~
Mizza
Because if that's your only goal, you end up producing low-quality, mass-
produced garbage - "shovelware" - and that's no way to go through life, in my
opinion.

~~~
obviator
I'm actually the guy running the site, so just thought I'd add my 2 cents :)
With this site, the main focus is building a business model around Android
development - "making money" with Android. That's not to say app quality has
to go out the door. In my experience, you can't really build a sustainable
business around crappy products. So it's in my best interests to keep up the
quality, even if the business development is the stated goal (and the one I'll
write most about).

Agree with you 100% that quality is key to success. I just chose to focus on
the business & financial side of things, since at the time I started this blog
there weren't many people writing about their experiences with Android.

~~~
rblackwater
I was on your side until you started pretending that "completing offers" is
even remotely close to "quality app".

------
ig1
Here's a simple rule: Don't use someone-else's trademark as the fist word of
your product name.

The first word is typically used to imply endorsement or officialness. So for
example Microsoft X or Google Y.

If you build a product based on a third party service, you can generally use
the trademark in your name for example "Bob's invites to Google+", as long as
it's clear it's not an officially produced or endorsed product.

~~~
robryan
With Google though you would ideally want to avoid it altogether, although in
this case that wouldn't really be possible. A lot of Google logos have
specific terms of use, most of which include that they can't be modified in
any way which I thinking might have resulted in the ban in this case.

------
benregenspan
"Big corporations don’t understand, even if you’re 'trying to do the right
thing'."

Really? This guy was making money by offering a dubious service leveraging
someone else's brand. As he admits, it was an experiment and the way he
conducted it was very ill-advised. Own up to it, don't whine about not being
"understood".

------
rhygar
By attracting developers like this guy, Google is going to have a very hard
time competing with Apple. The Android Market is filled with apps like this.
More so than the iOS App Store by far.

~~~
0x12
What do you think is wrong with it? 'Apps like this' apparently didn't exist,
according to the article he searched for one.

As far as I can see he simply filled a need. If google would be so kind as to
state what their problem is with it, who knows, it might see a revival.

~~~
rhygar
Android is "open" - so just about anything goes. It uses Java, that starter
language for just about anyone who learns how to program these days. So you
end up with an environment that is very conducive to spamware/adware type apps
and people trying to get rich quick. It only takes a few bad apps before it
becomes like Windows, where users are afraid to install _anything_ new or off-
brand.

~~~
jamesbritt
_before it becomes like Windows, where users are afraid to install anything
new or off-brand._

Is that even true? I keep hearing how Windows users are not selective enough
about what they install.

~~~
alanh
Sure, but it’s true for some people. Wasn’t there a story about someone’s mom
who was afraid to install programs on the PC but enjoys installing apps to her
new iPad? Now substitute a Galaxy Tab for the iPad and have her read a story
about Android app malware in her Reader’s Digest.

~~~
rblackwater
Fantastic results like these are why scientific studies all use "someone's
mom" as a sample size.

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nohat
Another possible motivation for google suspending the app was that it abused
the google plus invitation system. That probably isn't explicitly against the
rules of the android market place, but it probably is against the rules or at
least intention of google plus, and there has to be some protective bleed over
from other google properties.

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MichaelApproved
Sounds like this would make a better web page then an app.

With the web, it's easier to share, there are far fewer rules, larger user
base and if google has a problem with your logo, they can send you a detailed
C&D letter which you can take care of without losing your existing work.

------
haliax
Nice hack, and a cool way to get your feet wet with developing Android apps as
a business.

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Kwpolska
You are crazy. Why didn't you do this through a bloody website? I'd be happier
to get a G+ invite through my PC, easy and fast, rather than grabbing the
phone, praying for the battery to be still alive, turn on WiFi/data
connection, fire up Market, search for an app, download it, and THEN get my
bloody invitation... yeah, I'd stay with the PC way.

(originally as a comment under this blog post)

