[Spirit FM] mikereidis:
Future of OTA Radio on Android:

I say "OTA Radio", but it boils down to analog FM. Nobody has ever supported AM radio in an Android phone.

Digital HD or DAB+ etc radio is non-existent on smartphones. See: The "Euro Chip Initiative" and "The Universal Smartphone Radio Project": http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=50419281&postcount=451

I have no crystal ball, but the trend seems downward.

Attempts to standardize on an FM API for Android have all failed.

Future of Spirit:

From the perspective of Spirit, financial support has been strongest from owners of high end Samsungs, since I added support for GS1 in 2011 and GS2/Note in 2012.

We've now seen 3 flagship phones from Samsung on which FM is impossible to enable (very purposely): GS4, Note3 (except the very rare Sprint variant) and now GS5. Thus my primary sources of financial support are drying up.

The only 2013 devices that are officially supported by Spirit2 are LG G2 and Moto G, and sales on these devices is sadly tiny. And I'm not seeing any 2014 devices so far that I would be able to officially support, though I will keep an eye on the Sony Xperia Z2.

It does not help that all Nexuses (except the now ancient Nexus One) also have FM permanently disabled in hardware (very purposely).

I am further troubled that both HTC and Samsung have disabled 3rd party access to their FM APIs. It's impossible now for Spirit1 to work on the latest stock Note3 and HTC One ROMs. I experimented with Samsung stock API support in Spirit2, but have now removed the code; it's useless to fight the trend.

Add the fact that Google is adding security features to Android that are IMO welcome, but are making things more and more difficult for root apps. At least AOSP ROMs like CM11 tend to be more welcoming.

How long can I keep Spirit going ? :

I currently make income that's around the low end of liveable. My long hours make it about the minimum legal wage here. Employers pay 5 times as much in my field, plus benefits and vacations.

My income was "decent" in the spring of 2012 when I stopped posting a free version on Play, added GS2 support and raised the price of Spirit1 Unlocked to about $10. Since the spring of 2012, my income has dropped, pretty much every month, to a bit more than half it's peak. See my pricing posts if you think I can "make it up with volume" by lowering the price.

Introducing Spirit2 has induced a small bump. Please help me bump it higher... I hope I can keep Spirit going full time until at least the end of 2014, after that things get fuzzier.

My niche (OTA FM radio) within a niche (AOSP ROMs) is narrow enough that I have pretty much ZERO paid app competition. Worse, it's getting narrower as time marches on. Nobody else has been "crazy" enough (and/or capable enough) to try this. But it's narrow enough, and narrowing fast enough, that I have to acknowledge it.

So, as a responsible, home owning adult, parent and husband, I have to start investigating other app opportunities. If/when my income drops sufficiently I may have to devote more time to other projects. Perhaps in the areas of audio, Bluetooth, AOSP and even wearables. :)

I understand that many pirates can't afford, or would never support Spirit. That's life, that's economics; it must be accepted.

If the piracy rate was 90%, then converting just 10% of the pirates into customers could double my income, and keep Spirit2 going for at least the 3 year life that Spirit1 has so far.

Thanks for listening. :)

Mike.