By We just received an e-mail from Google that sums up the changes that have been happening in the Market over the past few weeks. The majority of information has been widely disseminated and discussed in gory length(15 minute refund window), but let’s just get it all out on a single page.
Hello,
We’re writing to inform you about some changes to Android Market that require your attention.
As we mentioned in an email sent last week, we’ve been updating Android Market with several new features that may affect your applications. That update is now complete and the features are now active:
* The purchase refund period is now 15 minutes, and the maximum size for .apk files is now 50MB.
* The details page for every app now displays the app’s “Promotional Graphic” assets at the top.
* Market is now capable of filtering based on screen sizes and densities. NOTE: Filtering based on GL texture compression formats is not active at this time, but will be available in early January 2011.
* Applications are now automatically added to new Live Wallpapers and Widgets categories, as appropriate.
We’ve also activated two new features on the Publisher site:
* The maximum size of the description field for an application is raised to 4000 characters.
* A minimum of two screen shots is now required for all applications. You can supply up to eight screenshots for each application.
Additionally, we’ve recently redesigned the categories on Android Market to better support users and developers. We’ve split some popular categories, renamed others, and added completely new categories. At this time, we recommend that you take a look at the categories and ensure that your applications are assigned to the best categories for them. For details, see the Android Market Help Center:
http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=113475
Finally, we wanted to bring to your attention that Android Market now offers a new form of payment for users on the AT&T network — Direct Carrier Billing. This payment option lets Android users on the AT&T network purchase applications more easily.
Thank you once again for your continued support of Android Market.
Regards,
The Android Market Team
[Image Thanks to Talk Android]
I think it was Andrew from Androinica.com that said he downloaded a football game app and after 8 minutes the refund option was gone, WTF Google. He said this on the Androidguys Monday podcast.
did it take 7 minutes to download and install?
That’s 8 more minutes that he would’ve gotten in the Apple app store.
so they are complete then? Any word if the API is going to be opened back up so sites like App-Brain can once again function as viable market alternatives?
I bought Need for speed shift yesterday for just a $1 and it took more then 15 minutes to download the game because after you download it from the market its about 1.3mb but when you start the game it require to download additional 90mb. What if I didn’t like the game and wanted a refund. Good thing the game rocks!
The 15-minute window is already active on the servers. I noticed today, so I went ahead and upgraded the Market too figuring we’d already lost the 24-hour window. It’s nice to look at but when you’re browsing that green thing really does take up half of the screen. The stars are yellow too, which makes me miss the old Market.
Oh, and for those who want to upgrade the Market, Google for version 2.2.7 (I think) at xda. If you flash the zip that’s in the thread after clearing the Market cache it seems to have gone okay for everyone. The apk install method has had teething issues.
Not too sure yet.
– Had a force close with the market yesterday on my Desire, never did with the old 1
– The scrolling of the featured list is now very laggy when not on wifi
– The My Apps section takes a lot longer to load and just shows a white screen while doing it with no loading spinner like there is on the Apps and Games sections
As a publisher of content, I hate the 15 minute window. If someone does not like my app I WANT them to be able to get a refund. I’d rather it go longer rather than shorter.
This sucks for me.
Wow, I just went over to the Google Market forum to complain and you should see the overwhelmingly negative response to the 15 min change.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=2f0bddb2adedc898&hl=en
does this spell trouble for people with custom lcd_density settings?
my g2 is set to 200 from 240 stock. will I still be able to get apps that maybe are meant for the stock density – right now i can, they just appear slightly smaller on screen?
@HeneryH Thanks for that link, Google should allow the dev to chose or make it one hour.
@joedon3 That does make more sense and that makes this 15 minute refund even more stupid. He said that within minutes he knew that he didn’t want the game and now he is stuck with it.
They should fire the fool who thought up the 15 minute rule.
Google just needs to make it so the developer can specify the refund time window between 15 minutes and 24 hours or even longer perhaps. This way, the negativity is deflected away from Google for small refund windows and developers who want larger refund windows can still opt for them. That way, games can have shorter refund time windows and apps can have longer ones. Everybody wins!
Looking forward to direct carrier billing for everyone
I guess 1 positive outcome of this is I will be saving money on buying apps. 15 minutes is no chance to test an application. So unless I know an application will do exactly what I want and it works perfectly on my device I won’t take a chance anymore. Sadly I think this will hurt developers in the long run.
I am interested in seeing how the refund drop to 15min changes the sales rates of apps. I personally think it will simply increase piracy rates. People will “try” the app, like it, and not bother to go out and buy since they already took the time to acquire it illegally.
Im using the Nexus S and I still see the old version of Marketplace.
@nick Thats a good thing buddy, it’s a good thing :-).
I have an N1 and I still don’t have or necessarily want the new market. I played with it on my friends fascinate and I was turned off. It’s way to much info being thrown at you and the huge green h.u.d. thing is way too intrusive in my opinion. I just don’t see my self getting used to that.
I’d much rather keep my current market app. I must say I love the new similar tab it makes this perfect, they totally didnt have to go all xbox 360.
My brand new Nexus S is still running the old market…why?
15 minutes isn’t a big deal when most apps are only a few dollars. If that’s killing you, skip the fast food for a day. What is killer is the 2 image requirement, and the option for 8. I hate reading the description to what appears to be a killer app but having no idea what it looks like, especially a theme type app. My complaint is the main screen takes too much room on my phone (although, not a problem on my Tab). Not a real deal breaker, but the Update All button was nicer on the bottom too, close to the Android OS buttons. Seemed easier to use located on the bottom. Overall though, I’m liking the new changes and hope to see even better upgrades to what was a poorly monitored market system.
Ever since I got the new market, I’ve been getting way more disk low on space alerts. But I updated a number of apps at once, so I don’t know if an update is causing wonkiness or if It’s the market itself. Either way, I’m not happy.
15min: too short, let the developer pick (1-24hr).
“skip fast food”: there is another reason to allow returns. its not just the money. it is the feedback. by returning the app, a user is telling the developer that they didn’t like it. that is a good thing if we users want better apps.
Good article very much. Useful for people who did not know.
Thank you for sharing knowledge.
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