Problematic Android Apps Market now kenna sued by 2 users

[Rogue Trader]

Android users like me will cheer for this. The "fragmentation problem" is coming back to haunt them, making it difficult for their Apps developers and therefore sales. C'mon Google! Fix it!!!

Google Sued Over Bogus Android Apps, Return Policy
By Chloe Albanesius

March 16, 2012 02:57pm EST​

A pair of Android users have sued Google over the company's app download policies, accusing the search giant of profiting off bogus apps and providing an insufficient window of time in which they can return underperforming apps.

Google misled Android users into thinking that apps in the Google Play Store "were in working order, were compatible with all Android phones, and functioned as represented," according to the class-action suit, which was filed in California Superior Court .

Google's 15-minute return policy, meanwhile, is far too short, according to the lawsuit, making it "almost impossible to return the application for a refund."

The suit, a copy of which was posted to PaidContent, names California residents Dodd J. Harris and Stephen Sabatino.Harris purchased "Learn Chinese Mandarin Pro" for $4.83 in December. The app did not perform as advertised, according to Harris, but he didn't figure this out until 20 minutes after purchase, at which time the option to return had expired.

Sabatino, meanwhile, bought aBTC, a BitTorrent client for Android, for $4.99 in January. He was unable to download a torrent with the app, however, and tried unsuccessfully to return the app after an hour of tinkering with it.

The Google Play app policies do indeed provide a 15-minute return window and only allow users to return a particular app once. In December 2010, Google dropped the return window from 24 hours to 15 minutes "since most users who request a refund do so within minutes of purchase," Google said at the time.

The suit, meanwhile, takes Google to task for its app approval process, or lack thereof. In the interest of openness, Google allows any app in the Google Play Store, formerly known as the Android Market. This has led to a number of malware-laden apps in Google's app store. As a result, Google last month added a new layer of security, dubbed Bouncer, which will scan apps for evidence of malware.

The suit is seeking class-action status, damages, and attorneys' fees and costs.

In other Android news, meanwhile, it appears that buyers are not the only ones irked by Google's app policies. The Guardian reported today that Android app developers in Europe have been waiting for weeks to get paid. They are asking Google to develop some sort of developer relations team that can handle such issues. "I have had no email contact, no replies to my enquiries, essentially no confirmation that there is a problem, yet I am still owed many thousands of pounds," one developer told the Guardian.

To avoid bogus apps, check out PCMag's roundup of the 75 best Android apps in the slideshow below.


For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.​

 

[Rogue Trader]

They just replaced the head of App Store last week. Hopefully things will get better soon!

Eric Chu Steps Away From Overseeing Android’s App Store, Jamie Rosenberg Expands Role

KIM-MAI CUTLER
Saturday, March 10th, 2012

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There was more than meets the eye with this week’s rebranding of Android Market as Google Play.

Accompanying the new name and look is a shift in how the store is being managed. Eric Chu, who has worked on the Android team for four-and-a-half years, is stepping away from overseeing Android’s app store and is exploring other options inside Google.

Jamie Rosenberg, who has been a director of digital content for Android and was the public face for the Google Music launch, gets increased oversight for apps and games inside the store. (His title isn’t changing though.)

Rosenberg came to Google two years ago from Microsoft. Before that, he was vice president of premium services for Danger, the company that Android chief Andy Rubin co-founded and that went on to make the T-Mobile Sidekick.

Paired with the Google Play rebranding, the move shows how Google is changing the way it thinks about distributing and selling digital content on Android and the broader web. Google wants to have an online storefront that encompasses much more than apps and that isn’t just limited to Android device owners.

The internal management structure for Android Market was problematic from the start, according to a source who has worked closely with the team. Eric Chu headed up developer relations and business development while David Conway handled product management. Because there were two heads with relatively equal power, it was difficult to understand who had final say and that led to unnecessary politics.

The team behind Android’s app store also needed more resources for years. Because Rubin judges the success of Android primarily through device activations and mobile search revenue, the app store has been a secondary priority inside the group. This is even though apps are a key reason consumers might choose one type of device over another.

I interviewed Chu on-stage at the Inside Social Apps conference last year. We had talked about all the ways Google planned to improve the Android ecosystem over 2011. At the time, he said in-app billing would come out soon (which it did in March of last year) and that the store was going to find ways to give more exposure to apps (which it also did at Google’s developer conference I/O later in May).

While Android has definitely improved over the last year as a revenue source for developers (especially with the in-app billing system Chu rolled out publicly in March), it still causes frustration for some. This past week, indie developer Mika Mobile said it would stop supporting Android because the revenues didn’t make up for the complexity of developing for such a fragmented ecosystem with many devices and versions of the OS.


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[Alamaking]

Android sucks