[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinarabbit:
hmm, well, i strongly disagree there is "no" solution

lets look more closely at the problem

On the developer side, they are doing the best with what they have, which is a very limited education focused on a very narrow field.. not your marketing wizs.. they are doing what they know, which is ad-based internet revenue generating as a valid form of advertising..

but that doesnt work when it takes up a tenth of your screen.

and the other side of the problem is that companies like Coco-cola, or whatever, who are not very tech-savvy, have hitherto had to rely on said webdevs to place their ads and run their online marketing

but make no mistake, the overwhelming majority of internet marketers are not actually marketers at all, but are little web designers and social media architects etc, that have really no concept of how to set-up, run, or manage a proper Marketing Campaign...

both sides are to blame..

u cant understand why I am so upset, so I'll tell you right now it likely has something to do with the fact that I have been in Marketing for the last decade. real, actual marketing, and have taught advanced-level marketing at some of the best marketing institutes, including those in Singapore.

anyway.. there are many ways to make money, ads in your app that people have to pay to remove is one way you can try to earn money

another way, and perhaps one of the best ways, is micro-charging, a concept fully realize in Korea, Japan & China, but which Americans can't seem to grasp at all.. and I have my doubts as to whether they ever will.

firstly, the carriers wont ever do whats needed for micro-charging to work, namely, allow you to take it out of your account, largely because America is not a Pay as you go telecom system, but one you pay per month and are given a set plan..

in Asia, you recharge your phone by recharge cards, and with a click of a button you deduct money from your balance for whatever you want

and Secondly, because America cant seem to figure out the numbers, and take that leap of faith required to charge people $0.01-$0.05 cents per function, rather than $0.25 and up... and offer them enough activity for their money they had a good time with it...

EA Sports is an example of such a company failing to grasp this basic Asian concept.

EA bought Popcap, and being a North American company is having a hard time making it successful in China.. Plants vs Zombies 2 for your Android Device is currently only out in China, and its one of the most popular games, currently... But those EA dorks ACTUALLY THINK PEOPLE WILL PAY 2RMB FOR 5 SECONDS WORTH OF IN-GAME FUNCTIONALITY.. ok. actually, its for blue diamonds. but anyway..

they are completely retarded.. people play that game all day long.. charging 2 to 5 Cents per function is ok, you may use that function up to 2rmb or 2 dollars a day, and be happy to pay for it if you got a good amount of fun for your money...

but to charge someone 2 yuan because YOU think people should pay 2 Yuan, because you laugh at 1 cent.. even when its not actually costing you anything to increase the in-game value, actually makes you a retard.. in Asia anyway..

or make them pay upfront from a large number of tokens etc.. is not going to work as well as on-demand, need-it-now, 1 to 5 cent, single-click, in-app micro-pays

especially when you have 1 billion users. who play the game every day for years to come

instead, what dorky American companies get is exactly squat.. and its probably more than they deserve

OR they give you some lame crappy game and expect you to pay for having a worthwhile game

Plants v Zombies is a very fun game, challenging, and fulfilling, even if you never spend a penny on micro-charges

-------anyway

another way people make money is by offering a very great and fully functional app, that is in itself a pleasure & joy to use, and fulfills your needs.

then, YOU GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND INCREASE THE SIZE AND FUNCTIONALITY OF YOUR PROGRAM 2-10 TIMES MORE

yes, that means way more work for you

and then, you charge people small amounts to add that functionality

Pleco is an example of a successful app doing this.. they give you a great, robust, very full-featured & useful app that is itself very complete and you would not need anything more

they then offer you things you didnt even know you wanted until you saw partly how they work within the app, and you end up buying them

.......... great

and another way is create an app for free, also without ads, that people really enjoy, and then request that they donate to you if they enjoyed it & feel its worth it

they sometimes even suggest an amount.

or they ask you to pay if you use it for business, or you make money with that app, etc..

---------fantastic

AND THEN, in stark contrast to all the ad-free options above, there is the worst possible way imaginable.. you make an app which annoys the crap out of everybody, making them hate your app, causing some people to fall into epileptic seizures, when you yourself have not even the slightest concept of what marketing is..

those ads arent even targeted, maybe by region or IP address, but rest assured, many more people will be hating your company, when you stick crap in the face of people who would never use your product and are not even in your target demographic.

its completely useless

WHAT USE COULD POSSIBLY COME FROM SPAMMING AN ELITE 30 SOMETHING MALE WITH ADS OF WOMEN'S MAKEUP?

none..

its a marketing fail

and its worse than that, it actually hurts your company

and no, you cant ask your customers why your ad spamming bothers them and look at them like they're stupid for not wanting them on the limited space displays in their handheld devices

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and worse than those people are the ones who also want you to pay for complete functionality on a limited functionality app, or to remove the ads

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there is definitely solutions

Marketing companies taking over App Development from the too-geeky-to-get-it devs

let people click close on the banner, and dont make it re-open until the next time the app is opened

or something like youtube has done, "you can close this banner ad in 5-4-3-2-1"

the ability to 'click next' on the ad, with an option to say "this ad doesnt apply to me"

and for google to enforce these protocols, as well as require all in-app ads to be targeted to a specific demographic according to more than 3 demographic or psychographic criteria..

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oh, make no mistake, my friend, the problem is monumental

and, yes, there are many, many solutions to the problem.. indeed...

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