
My Android app (1.6M dloads, 4.5 rating) was suspended from Market - martinadamek
http://www.martinadamek.com/2011/04/28/apndroid-is-suspended-on-the-android-market/
======
ekidd
When I clicked on this headline, I expected to be disappointed by some ugly
Google shenanigans.

When I read the article, my initial reaction was, "Oh _yuck_. That's just
vile. I'd definitely give his app a single star, uninstall it, and complain to
my friends. Not sure how I feel about Google yanking it, though."

But the more I thought about notification advertising, the more it reminded me
of the dark days of Windows XP before the SP2 security fixes. Every other
computer, it seemed, was infected with adware, and users _loathed_ it. The
cried, they yelled, and they even bought new computers in a desperate attempt
to make the ads go away.

So upon reflection, if Google is going to pull anything at all from their
Market (besides obvious scams, and so on), they should definitely start with
applications that make users feel powerless and angry about their devices.

------
tbh
(I'm a previous APNdroid user)

Putting ads in the notification area is remarkably antisocial. This is not
what the notification area is for. It's selfish, violates the user's trust,
and quite rightly causes the red mist of rage to descend.

It may sound harsh, but your app deserved to be removed for this.

~~~
adn37
Developers have to come a long way to build an user base and good ratings, so
it would have been fair to give a warning notice prior to removing the app,
ihmo.

(speaking as an Android app dev; and yes it is too intrusive)

~~~
andybak
I disagree. It's so obviously a cheap, nasty move that no warning should be
necessary.

It's beyond intrusive. It's spam and Airpush will hopefully be out of business
soon.

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Void_
Your app is used once in a while, so regular ads wouldn't make much money, eh?
See, that's not fair to bother users regularly with ads if they use it just
sometimes.

~~~
martinadamek
Actually, this is one valid point against these ads, that I could agree with.
I guess this must be solvable.

~~~
TillE
I tried the AirPush demo and found that it actually plays the notification
sound when displaying the ad.

If that's happening at random times when I'm not using your app...that's
really, really terrible. It's spam, plain and simple. These are unsolicited
messages that happen to be sent directly rather than via email.

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jhack
I find notification ads (or just constant notifications) to be really, really
annoying. Free Power Widget does this, constantly telling you to buy the paid
version every time you turn on/off wi-fi or anything else you put there. There
has to be a better way to do this.

~~~
ilikepi
Your description of Free Power Widget's mannerisms takes me back to the days
of shareware on Win9x. Ugh...

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guelo
I hope this is Google beginning to ban Notification ads.

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andybak
Just had a revealing little chat with an Airpush sales rep via their Live Chat
system: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2493047>

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pedrocr
You seem to have a standard monetization strategy (ads+paid version) yet the
app is released as GPLv3? Has no one simply recompiled the app without the ads
and put that on the market?

~~~
martinadamek
Yes, they did. But I didn't mind, they've used that for good apps. But one
smartass didn't even bother to change the icon!

~~~
LeonidasXIV
It is GPLv3? Thanks man, this is the first time I thought about paying for an
app. Let me see how to set up payment…

Though I don't like AirPush, it would be cool if you'd find a better solution.

------
SilverSurfer972
Serves you right. Pushing advertisements in the notification bar. Thumbs up
for Google quick reaction. And thumbs down to you and your low grade methods.

------
ravivyas
Notification ads are bad , it not like a full screen TV ad but more like a
banner which plays during your favorite game, no one will like it , it was a
stupid move to do this. "With great power comes great responsibility"

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martinadamek
[update] I have the app available back in my hands, but unpublished. I am not
going to put it back right away, because of all your feedback. Thank you all
for the opinions, I've got my lesson.

------
fondue
Camera 360 started doing this and I uinstalled it. If I knew an app was going
to have this I would never install it in the first place.

Why? For me it gave the sensation of an additional app installed along with
the app I wanted and this additional app was malware. I had to dig around to
figure out what app had started doing this.

------
bxr
I don't know what route you took to decide that this form of advertizing is
"the best" for the user. Do you really think that waking me up in the middle
of the night to look at an advertizement is good for me as a user?

You contrast it to TV ads. With TV ads, I know what program the ad is
sponsoring. My TV doesn't click on at random times to show me ads just because
I have something saved on my PVR that I never watch.

I'm very glad your app got yanked, and I don't say this lightly, I am still
divided on the idea of a moderated app distribution channel at all.

~~~
martinadamek
AFAIK ads are served between 9AM-9PM. But to be honest, after reading all the
feedback and seeing all the other opinions, I am not as confident as I was
before. Now I'll need to manage this situation reasonably.

~~~
bxr
Even if they aren't served outside that window, not everyone's waking hours
are 9-9.

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shareme
Its probably 4.4 of the Android Market TOS..as far as a violation.

Or someone else has a copyright claim against you. In that case I think they
will send you a copy of the DCMA if that has occurred.

~~~
joelhaasnoot
Or upset users reported the app which led to a simple ban without much looking
into the app.

~~~
martinadamek
I also think that it might be this one.

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worldvoyageur
The advantage of an app store app over a web app seems rather thin to me.

The marketing required to get an app high enough in an app store for a user to
notice seems no different from the marketing required to get a web app
noticed.

However, with a web app only customers get to decide whether or not they use
it. There is no corporate intermediary that would, for whatever reason, decide
to not let customers choose your app.

And, as this story illustrates, the risk of being abruptly booted out of an
app store without knowing why is real.

~~~
PanMan
This seems to be an app that isn't (and won't for a long time) possible as a
webapp: It actively manages your internet settings, and webapps (fortunately)
don't have access to that.

