How Did You Hear About Your Android Applications?

I want you to do something for me first. Go ahead and look at the home screen of your Android tablet or smartphone, as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1. The typical look of an Android home screen. Some of these applications are used daily, some not at all.

I’m sure you will see a collection of many application icons that will fall in one of three classifications:

• Type 1: Applications that are used daily: For me, these are Text Messaging, E-mail, Calendar, Firefox, Android Market, QuickOffice, and Angry Birds. Many of these applications I have as the first icons I see when I unlock my screen on my Motorola Droid X.
• Type 2: Applications that are used every once in a while: For me, this is YouTube, SoundHound, Barcode Scanner, Dictionary, and others that I want to have ready when the occasional need arises.
• Type 3: Applications that are used seldom to never: These are apps that you might have downloaded on a whim, maybe during a fad. These are the programs that you look at and think, “Oh yeah, I remember downloading that,” and then say, “Why is this still there?” These are also the first to be deleted whenever you need to clear some more space on your Android device.

If you really want to make money as an Android application developer, you will want to create a type 1 application. These are the types of applications that get the most amounts of downloads, because they are more than just desired: they are needed. This is not to say that you cannot make a living from type 2 or type 3 applications, and the level of need for these applications is different for each individual user.

The main reason why I bring up these three categories for applications is to demonstrate that, unless these applications came with your device, you must have heard of them somehow. Then you thought “I want that,” and took the time out of your busy schedule to download them. Since you are going to be asking Android users all around the world to do the same for your application, you had better give them something that is worth it.

Try to think back as to how you discovered a few of each of the three types of applications in the first place. You may have had a friend or family member recommend them. Maybe you even saw them on another Android device and wanted them on your own. Maybe you read about them on a blog. Maybe your friends on Facebook wrote about them on their walls. Maybe one of your coworkers at the office was showing them off around the water cooler or the break room.

In all of these cases, all the people who even just mentioned the application were taking part in marketing an Android application.