Android's "Flea Market" Needs Urgent Attention

andylim writes "According to Barry O'Neil, ex-President of Namco Bandai Network Europe, Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it. It has to learn from the mistakes of the Java business in order to save Android. 'If Google is to present a threat to the Apple App Store ecosystem, it needs to address discovery and purchasing as a matter of urgency, or abandon control and hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers.'"

Comments

I don't get it?

[ckaminski]

I use the Android app market, and I find what I need. I think the Apple App Store is more plagued with marketers vying for positioning in the vaunted "Top 75" than in any other fashion. How about letting me sort by "5 stars"? Anybody?

I'm not sure I want anyone except the community "in charge" of what gets bubbled up in each category.

Re:I don't get it?

[geekoid]

http://www.android.com/market/

You can't search for apps. You can on the phone, but consumers need better integration and ways to access information.

Lets say you were interested in an Android device, how do you find out what apps are in the market?

Re:I don't get it?

[karnal]

Picture this:

I have a phone now. I'm looking at the nice and shiny android phones. But I am not quite convinced that the apps are what I might need.

How do I find out from a PC that there's something that would push me over the edge?

That's the mole hill that you tripped over.

YES!

[geekoid]

I ahve sent several emails, and posted on the form.

There online market SUCKS.

I have a G1. it's running Google android OS. It is fully integrated with Google.

Why can't I go to android.com and do a search for apps?
Yes, a Google site and you can't search for market apps.

http://www.android.com/market/

Not searchable. I'm sorry, what is Google's core business?

Re:YES!

[JustinOpinion]

Agreed. I keep thinking I'm doing something fundamentally wrong... I can search for apps on my Droid but I can't find a website that lets me search through the apps or browse the app categories. Apparently there are roughly 30,000 Android apps, but if you click around the marketplace, you'll get a sense that there's maybe 50 or 80 apps out there. This is both a problem for Android users (who can't find what they want... doing it on the phone is okay but not as efficient) and for uptake (it makes the platform look amateurish).

On the flip side, though, I can't imagine a worse move than "hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers." The carriers would turn it into a painful nickel-and-dime opportunity (forget free apps!), and letting OEMs and publishers do whatever they want would make the Android platform even more fragmented. Google is (in theory) the right entity to mange the Android Market: they have a good reputation, they are really good at sorting and search, they know how to make a good web UI, etc. In fact, it's fundamentally surprising that they didn't put together a slick interface for the Android Market...

You mean like...

[Darkness404]

Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it

You mean like Gmail, Chrome, and a ton of other products that people use while in beta? Android's main strength is that it is open, cutting edge and changeable. A crappy interface or design on Windows Mobile is going to be slow to change, a crappy interface or design in Android is going to be quick to change.

Don't want something -slightly- unstable? Get a BlackBerry and its outdated architecture. Want something that is going to be nearly the same from beginning to end? Get an iPhone, but don't expect stability.

I had a Windows Mobile phone for a bit, it crashed so often I went back to my "dumb" phone before getting an Android handset that rarely crashes.

Android is doing the most things right at the moment. Windows Mobile is screwing customers by not offering software upgrades, Apple is screwing customers by not allowing them to use their apps, BlackBerry simply is a crappy environment to code for, and despite how much Palm wants WebOS to gain marketshare, it simply isn't happening.

Oh and never, ever allow OEMs, carriers or "trusted publishers" to take over app markets, otherwise you screw your customers even more. I don't want my carrier telling me what I can and can't have on my phone, same with OEMs and I don't want a "trusted publisher" removing all competition to their product.

Carriers

[silas_moeckel]

Lets think about this, carriers love to nickle and dime you to death, hate anything that gets in the way of this, and only wish to allow enough function to sell stuff. The LAST thing the droid needs is the carriers getting involved. All I want from my carrier is fast reliable service. Some of my least technical friends have droids and after a few days of hating them they come to love them.

Re:Carriers

[Darkness404]

Exactly. How hard is it to provide decent data, voice and text communications? Stop trying to get phones and integrations and let customers buy their phones at other places and use their service. You know, for all the money Verizon and AT&T have spent in their dueling ad campaign I think they could buy and deploy several towers to actually give their customers decent service.

Re:Flea Market Analysis

[ColdWetDog]

The Android market on the other hand is more about open source, freeware, rough around the edges apps that more technically savvy users can work with.

Right you are! All of the handset makers using Android would just love to cater to a couple of thousand nerds who would rather spend an hour looking for a free solution than spend 5 minutes and 99 cents downloading a commercial one. Surely, those economic mavens rejoice at the pen-protector-and-taped-glasses set instead of the teenager with dad's credit care. A customer that thinks the best part of the day is installing some obscure patent free codec is worlds more important that somebody that wants to spend ten dollars and watch a movie.

I find your ideas fascinating but definitely do not want to subscribe to your newsletter (besides, it's free - right?)

Re:What

[catxk]

If you look at it from an Apple perspective, I guess you would think that the key to mobile OS success is a well-functioning software market. Android, apparently, does not have one. The fact that more and more phones run Android is no more a sign of success than the fact that the Ipad is sold out. Initial high sales indicates little more than successful marketing, but to ensure long-lasting success, the users also have to be satisfied after the purchase. Then again, this is from an Apple perspective. In my opinion (and I use an S60 device), the Android OS seems solid enough with or without an official marketplace.

Re:What

[Aladrin]

You joke, but how successful have they been lately? I couldn't name any recent games, so I went to check their site. Almost every title listed in their 'new games' section is junk. The ones that aren't junk are just sequels to things that weren't junk... And there's not many of them. (And for some of them, I don't think they held the rights to the originals.)

So he's going to tell a massively successful company like Google how to run their software business? Seriously?

Android app store needs consistency

[papasui]

You can't buy 100% of the applications on any android phone. For example on my wife's Motorola Backflip she can't get Google Goggles. Sit right next to her on the same network using a different Android phone we can download it. Other applications such as Facebook and Pandora are resolution limited and won't work on certain phones. Now you can argue that its up to the developers to make applications that work across the board but perhaps it should be a requirement for getting listed on the Android store. Either way, I currently have 2 Android phones in my house and an iPhone3GS. The iPhone is the one that I use the most.