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On the positive side, although google has no customer service or email for feedback, there's a chance that someone from google will see this comment here, and do something about it. A chance is better than nothing.

In this context, Steve Jobs personally responding to emails (apparently) is amazing positioning. Even if only to say "we disagree", it's a factor of infinity better than google.

I like Google, but they seriously need to put more effort into customer service. I used Google Checkout after it first launched. When you had a problem the only customer service option was Google Groups. There were basic problems, like the inability to view more than one page of transaction history, that went unfixed for months. After that experience, I decided I wouldn't rely on them for core business functions beyond AdWords.

If I've said it once, I've said it 1000 times: Google does everything 75%. They break into a market just to be in it and then they set it aside and move on. Nothing is ever finished and polished with Google aside from search, the one thing they really nail. If Google treated each of its products--or even each of its core products--the same way that Apple treats its few products, Google would run the world.

It's a Les Grossman "scorched earth MFer" policy. They build super-sexy beta products or buy hot startups (Wave, Nexus One, Android Marketplace, Dodgeball) and lure in devs and consumers, then get bored like a cat playing with a half-dead mouse and move onto the next shiny competitor up the block.

Meanwhile, no one wants to go into the space that they take up for fear of getting gently and graciously crushed in marketshare, and no one wants that market after they've left it, for fear that "if Google can't make money on it, we can't either". For example, if it wasn't for FourSquare, location-based social SMS would've been dead after Dodgeball; no VC would've touched it after Google bought it and failed.

Yeah, several years ago I go stuck trying to integrate a Google Search Appliance that a client went off and purchased on their own. The documentation was a joke and the code samples were sparse. The only support you got was a Google Group. Pretty sad considering it cost 20k.

It sounds like they already know about it, you know from all the times it has happened already. Unless HN is hugely influential I don't see how this will change their behaviour.

This is in spite of the fact that the Android phone sales are apparently equal the number of iPhones phone sales.

From what I understand, Android sales are currently similar to iPhone sales (in the US) in terms of phones being sold today, but there are a lot more iPhones already out there than Android phones (because the iPhone has been selling for longer I guess). Which means at the moment there are fewer people to buy Android apps. This also varies considerably from country to country -- for example, apparently Android sales are tiny in Australia compared to the iPhone.

Yep... the most recent (private) data I've seen suggests something in the range of 3x iPhone advantage. That same companies paid products also sold roughly half as many units on Android compared to their top-25 iPhone product.

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/05/26/admob-metrics-for-april... has some numbers for comparison.

There are also a lot of iPod touches out there.

That's an important point. Android is a complete non-starter in the non-phone MP3 device market, and the Android tablets are just starting out and have little market penetration. When comparing all iOS devices to all Android devices, instead of just phones to phones, iOS numbers definitely get a big boost.

My son has a iPod touch 8G, and I have an iPhone 3G (also 8G). The iPod touch is by far the more performant of the two - it's almost like a different device. I don't know what goes on in the guts of my iPhone, but I find it surprising on how much computing power it takes to run the cell-phone side of things.

Also, the android Market is available in far fewer countries, and sometimes apps don't show up in different regions even when they have a Market there.

This is not considering the potential difference in disposable income between purchasers of £45/month iphones and £15-20/month androids

Out of all of those problems, I'd say the fact that you can't get a web address to point people to your apps is the worst. I almost don't believe this is true, except that I still can't seem to find a web address.

Also, if you lose your Apple developer certificate, you can at least download a new one.

Indeed. For all the fucking geniuses at Google they sure do phone it in a lot. I don't often agree with MG Seigler, but he's right that Android is succeeding in spite of Google.

Christ, Google, an entire ecosystem of web sites exist that serve solely to provide a web interface and searching for your own marketplace. Bizarre.

The market url to your app is market://details?id=com.your.packagename

But that only works on a phone...

where you actually install the app...

So link to one of the many android market web frontends out there, like androlib.com or my personal favorite, appbrain.com, which even has an app to allow users to install your app "from the web".

Out of curiosity, what is the chance that these front-ends will survive and thrive? It would be a pain to have to deal with a rotating series of front-ends when all you really want is a simple link directly to your app. Sometimes having and ecosystem spring up is really a sign of a broken system.

If you want a "simple link directly to your app", then use the market:// schema so that users clicking from their phone can go directly to the market page to buy it. For users on a desktop computer, show them a QR code with the market:// link so they can grab it from their phone. I'm not sure how much simpler it could get?

This does not sound simple. There should be a standard Market HTTP url which brings one to a page autopopulated with the details and the QR code of the app.

Anything extra step for my potential customer to get what they want is a potential lost sale.

I've clicked on links in my phone's browser to download a marketplace package. Use the the "market" scheme followed by a search by package name to construct a URI clickable inside an Android phone. For instance: market://search?q=pname:<package>. This is documented at http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/publishing.htm...

Or you can do a QR code which will link directly to the app when scanned.

Or you can make the link as a market intent so that android users who click on it, it will automatically launch the market app with the application in place.

Or wait till google release the web version of the android market rumored to be out this fall.

I say this mostly because we sold literally 20x less of the exact same app on the Android market vs. the iPhone market (the apps were marketed the exact same way). This is in spite of the fact that the Android phone sales are apparently equal the number of iPhones phone sales...

iPhone users buy more apps.

Remember that it's currently not possible to actually buy apps a lot of places in the world.

Android has a pretty high market share here in Norway, but we can only use free apps. I have no idea what's taking Google so long. Anyone know the percentage of Android phones that can actually buy apps?

This is one of the reason I have found the Android app market horrible when compare with the iPhone market.

and

This rule is so arbitrary and non-intuitive.

right, because apple's never been known for arbitrary and non-intuitive rules when it comes to their appstore...

I don't know that they have. Rejected apps are a very small minority and so far my reaction to every rejection I've heard about was "why did they think this would get approved?".

You have very selective hearing.

No, really. The amount of apps that get rejected is minuscule compared to the ones that are accepted. It's just that the rejections are trumpeted so loudly. The only one I heard that was iffy was google voice, but I can understand AT&T not wanting that one allowed.

Even if the sales of Android and iPhones are the same, it doesn't imply that spending on apps will be. If the phones are being bought by different demographics then they almost certainly won't spend money on apps in the same way.