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I'm coming from the iOS side. I'm particularly interested in knowing if there are similar hurdles on the Android side on these points:

  • developer fee -- do you have to pay $99 a year to build for android?
  • provisioning devices - do you have to go through a complex provisioning/digital certificate/device-id routine to get the app you're developing on a device for testing?
  • marketplace distribution - do you have to go through an approval process to get your app to users?
  • payment - is it easy to get paid for your app? What is Amazon's cut?

Thanks. I know I could probably find these answers scattered on the web, but it would sure save me time to just hear from an experienced Android dev.

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Short answers

  • developer fee - You don't have to pay a fee to develop Android apps on the emulator (like iOS) or on the device (unlike iOS) you only have to pay a one time fee of $25,- to publish your app on the Android Market.
  • provisioning devices - You don't have to go through any process. Just connect your device to your laptop, or whatever and you can test on the device (what you need to do is enable USB debugging on the phone itself, by starting the Settings application and selecting Applications > Development > USB Debugging)
  • marketplace distribution - There is no approval process, but once your app is out there and it's really offensive or whatever Google will remove your app. You can always post your app on your own website though. Or send it in an e-mail. All possible.
  • payment - Don't know Amazon's cut (I'm not a US resident), but Google's cut on the Android Market is similar to Apple's cut on the App Store... that is 70% for the developer, 30% for Google (and Apple)

More info: https://market.android.com/publish

Cheers,

Johan

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  • There is no developer fee. There is a fee if you want to publish on Google's market, but you don't have to - you can just offer your program for download anywhere you like, just like distributing a Windows application.
    – Oak
    Aug 6, 2011 at 13:41

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