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Comment by palebluedot | Hacker News Reader

I have published apps, and I would gladly pay an annual fee for increased publisher support.

The developer documents and engineering engagement is already pretty good from an actual app development perspective... but when things with the android market goes sideways, the support and communication is really pretty bad. To make matters worse, it is usually completely out of the app developers control to fix it.

When it was an issue that I knew others were facing, I felt pretty confident that it would eventually be fixed, because enough noise would be made.

I know several Android developers, and they all feel frustrated and befuddled by the lack of developer support - and we are all willing to pay extra for it. This is, with at least what we know now, another step backwards.

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The problem with this argument is that many of us are making significant money in the Market, and we feel pretty strongly that for that 30% cut Google gets of our sales, we should be getting way better support. Hell, GREAT support. Then turning us away from a public forum is like spit in our face.

Over the last year, I ALONE have given up enough in that 30% to pay the salary of at least a part-time employee just to handle support.

People claim to THINK they know where this 30% is going - maybe to a carrier, or maybe to Google, but Google hasn't officially explained what that 30% is for - at least not anywhere that I've seen.

I have seen articles claiming that Google gets nothing from sales, though it's not really clear. See [1] for example that says that the entire 30% goes to the carriers and billing settlement fees.

[1] http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/02/google-takes-he/

Hmm. I am not saying they shouldn't be doing better, with just their 30% cut. I am saying I would be willing to pay an annual fee for better support, and the other developers I know personally would as well.

It is not mutually exclusive position - I am being pragmatic, and if $X/year gave me good support, then sign me up... even if I think they should be doing better with their 30%. I just ultimately want the problem solved; I am definitely willing to pay, because I don't want my revenue stream jeopardized for the lack of market support should a problem arise. But yes, they could be doing better right now.

heck i would pay hundreds if i could have live support and perhaps a rep/agent that I could ask questions too

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