Android 101: Writing and Publishing Android Applications

@romannurik May 2010

Agenda

1. Writing your app

  Platform features

  Surfacing your UI

  Intents

  Speech, Location, Sensors

  Native development

2. Publishing your app

  Registering

  Targeting

  Buying & Selling

  Other distribution types

  Featuring and promotion

Writing your app

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  Android is an open platform, and it’s open source

  Develop mostly in Java and XML – C/C++ for Native development (NDK)

  Replace the core apps with your own

  Source code available – SDK and core apps –  http://source.android.com

Android

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  Shipping 60K+ devices per day

  More devices = more business

  SDK supports: – Many screen sizes/resolutions – Screen density independence

Multiple Devices, Single App

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~120 / ldpi ~160 / mdpi ~240 / hdpi

Small screen ~ ≤ 3.0”

Normal screen ~ ≤ 4.0”

Large screen ~ ≥ 4.8”

Multiple Devices, Single App

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Note: This data is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Android Market within a 14-day period ending on May 17th 2010

http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/screens.html

Screen Size & Density Breakdown

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An Android application is actually a collection of several components, each

defined in AndroidManifest.xml

Application Components

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  Activities

  Services

  Content Providers

  Broadcast Receivers

Application Components

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Launcher icons

  Status bar notification

  Widgets

  Quick Search Box integration

  Live Folders

  Live Wallpapers

Surfacing your UI

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  Users can multitask – Apps get paused, not closed

  Background services –  Invisible apps with no GUI – Unobtrusive event notifications –  Listen to music and check

email simultaneously

Concurrent Applications

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  Intents “link” activities, services, and receivers together

  Intents consists of – An action (i.e. ACTION_VIEW) – Categories (i.e. CATEGORY_DEFAULT) – A URI (i.e. content://contacts/people/123) –  “Extras” metadata

  Intents can also be to hard-coded class names (com.foo.FooActivity)

Intents

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Application B

Application A “Intent”

  Apps can communicate with each other by providing and consuming each other’s Intents

Inter-App Communication

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Example: Inter-App Communication

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  Enables voice-to-text capability

  Invoke via IME or Intent

  English, Mandarin Chinese & Japanese

  Integrate with 3rd party speech recognition service

Speech Input

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Example: Speech Input

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  LocationManager – Service determines location and bearing – Register for periodic updates by time – Register for proximity updates by distance

  Google Maps library –  Includes MapView – Programmatic access to Google Maps API – Handles user interaction to control Map

Location and Mapping

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Example: Location and Mapping

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  Camera

  Microphone

  Accelerometer

  Compass

  Example apps: Layar, Google Goggles

Hardware and Sensors

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  Used in conjunction with the SDK

  Performance-critical, C/C++ code

  Just launched NDK r3 – Support for OpenGL ES 2.0 – Compact, efficient binaries

  Typical uses: – Games – Re-use existing C/C++ code base

Native Development Kit (NDK)

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developer.android.com

Getting Started

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1.  Download the SDK

2.  Install Eclipse and ADT

3.  Look through tutorials and samples

4.  Run them on the emulator or your device

5.  Write your app!

Getting Started

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  Android has a strong, active developer base – Google Groups – Stack Overflow –  IRC office hours

Developer Community

Publishing your app (in Android Market)

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• Android SDK

• Development resources

• Developer Advocates

http://developer.android.com

• Create profile & register

• Developer Distribution Agreement

• Setup merchant account

http://market.android.com/publish/

• Sign & upload .apk

• Deployment options

• Marketing & promotions

1. Develop 2. Register 3. Publish

Publishing Android Apps

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  Upload at any time, as many times as you want

  Publish whenever you are ready

  Users have access to app right away

  Update app at any time

Publishing Android Apps

Registration

Basic Setup   Contact information

  One-time fee –  no limit on number of

applications

  Developer agreements –  Developer Distribution

Agreement –  Content Policy Guidelines

Distribution Countries   Launched in major

markets throughout Americas, EMEA and JAPAC.

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  Device capabilities – SDK level: Minimum and Maximum – Screen size: Small, Normal, Large

  Location –  Target countr(ies) – Operator(s) (if applicable) – Matched to user’s service provider

Targeting Options

Selling Android Apps

“Seller” Requirements   Checkout merchant

account required

  Developer collects 70% of application price

  Transaction fee is equivalent to 30% of the application price; goes to operating costs.

“Seller” Countries   9 countries supported

–  United States –  United Kingdom –  Austria, France, Germany,

Italy, Netherlands, Spain –  Japan

  4 currencies supported –  USD ($) –  GBP (£) –  EUR (€) –  JPY (¥)

Buying Android Apps

“Buyer” Requirements   Google Checkout

account required

  Methods of payment –  Credit & Debit cards –  Carrier billing (if available)

  Purchased apps are tied to buyer’s Google account, may be installed unlimited times

  24 hour refund period

“Buyer” Countries   Americas

–  Canada, United States

  APAC –  Japan, New Zealand

  EMEA –  Austria, France, Germany,

Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

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Prices are listed in “Seller” currency

Confirmation to buy

Estimated price in “Buyer” currency

Choice in payment method

Buying Android Apps

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  USB side-loading via Android Debug Bridge (adb) – Useful in development and

debugging

  Download from website – Useful for private

distribution – Website may be access

controlled

Other Options for Distributing Apps

How to Increase Exposure

Market Ranking

  Relevance

  Downloads

  Ratings

  Retention

  and other factors…

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Getting Featured

Promotion Banner

Featuring and Promotion

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Partner Device Launches

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Events

Questions?

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  Monetize!

  Auto display highest paying ads

  Targeting – Keyword, demographics, location – Ad placement

  Control ad appearance and positioning

AdSense for Mobile Applications SDK

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  Tracks install referrer

  Tracks Pageviews & Events

  Integrates with Google Analytics dashboard

Analytics Tracking for Mobile Apps

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Note: This data is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Android Market within a 14-day period ending on May 17th 2010

http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html

Version % of Devices 1.5 (API Level 3) 34.1% 1.6 (API Level 4) 28.0% 2.1 (API Level 7) 37.2% Other 0.7%

Device Dashboard

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