Summary

This concludes the discussion on marketing your Android application. You should still read the next chapter, which will teach a lot about programming with Android.

If you’re already a programming expert, then let me give you the last bit of advice that I can: keep moving forward when it comes to your applications. If you want to start a career as a developer, then you are going to have to continually create new applications as well as improve upon the older ones. That can be a difficult juggling act.

I am not that experienced of a developer, but speaking as a writer, I know how hard it is to begin something new. Oftentimes, you have to make the time to start the new thing, and it is often easier just to perpetuate the old, even though the old can be out of date. I’m sure that you have discovered that there are a lot of applications and other businesses that are outmoded and maybe even obsolete, but people still maintain them out of a weird sense of tradition. Don’t let that happen to your applications. If an application can be improved, try it. If it can’t be improved, and you have tried, then let it go and try something else.

The important thing is that you keep on trying, keep on improving, and keep moving forward in your career. This is a time when you want to hold on to milestones such as your thousandth or millionth download. Keep those milestones around not so you can brag, but so you can keep track of your progress.

Keep making progress in your programming as well. Programming is something that is tough to learn at first. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, but it really never becomes easy if you are always trying to innovate.

If you can find help programming, don’t be afraid to ask for it, but don’t ask for it too much. There have been times that I have been stuck, and I asked for help, only to discover that had I given the problem a few more hours, I probably could have stumbled onto the solution myself.

The only reason why I have succeeded in programming is because I had help. I know some people who are like gurus of programming. That is, they have some odd instinct that allows them to just look at a problem and see a solution. Chances are, that solution just comes to them because they have had a similar problem that they worked out in the past.

Even programming gurus get stuck at times, and encounter things that are difficult, especially if they are trying to do something new. I guarantee you that the more original your idea for your application, the harder it will be to implement. Hopefully it will be easy to market an application that solves a specific and unique problem, but don’t count on it!

Chances are, what you are doing on your application has probably been done before, and you can do a keyword search on Google to discover how to solve the problem. Simple things like buttons and interfaces have much written on them online.

I have found that programming applications is fun because of the joy of creation. The more original your idea is, the more joy it brings, but the harder it is to bring it about.

I wish you the best on your applications, and hope that you can really change the market itself. Enjoy bringing about change, and don’t quit unless you can afford to.