Android application distribution points

At some point, the developer of Android applications becomes closely in the framework of a single Google Play store. And then he begins to think about how to bring his applications to users. It turns out that there are quite a few options to do this.

I will list those that I tried myself. Immediately make a reservation that my applications are free, with ads inside. I will deal with the publication of paid applications when there will be worthy.

Actually Google Play application store :

+ huge user base;
+ convenient publishing tools;
+ distributed worldwide;
+ no pre-moderation, almost instant publication (in a few hours);
+ useful statistics;
- registration fee;
- A huge number of applications, respectively, competition.
Conclusion:
An indispensable store for android developer. Useful comments from users, especially if you ask them to leave comments.
')

Amazon mobile app distribution app store :

+ large user base;
+ free registration;
+ quite convenient publishing tools;
+ has its own library for in app purchase. Pretty comfortable;
- pre-moderation, if everything is successful, then it happens in a week, they test it on all Kindle (and in India), they do not test it very thoroughly. From the seen, do not leave links to Google Play;
- mostly pre-installed on devices from Amazon, which imposes its own characteristics;
- main distribution: USA;
- A complex app evaluation system (only Amazon-verified shopping users can leave feedback).
Conclusion:
Good store, where you can also be. The competition is not as high as on Google Play, but the number of downloads for me was small. It is hoped that with the greater proliferation of new tablets from Amazon, it will only become more popular. It's hard to earn a rating.

Samsung Apps Store :

+ a large user base of devices from Samsung, in the whole world, with a bias in Europe and South America;
+ free registration;
+ has its own library for in app purchase. A quick look liked less than Amazon;
- very careful pre-moderation. They check on many devices, get to the bottom of everything, even to the extent that on one of the small images I had an anime girl with bare shoulders, the application was rejected because it would violate the moral principles of some countries, including Japan (!). It was necessary to remove these countries from distribution and increase the age rating, in principle, a harmless application. Verification takes up to 2 weeks;
- a sophisticated application publishing system, like the developer console itself. It is often not easy to find seemingly obvious things, such as editing application data;
- inconvenient statistics;
Conclusion:
"Heavy" store, but it generates a stable number of downloads. In addition, not so much competition contributes to the long stay of the application in new products, and good applications in the tops of categories. Pretty stupid comments.

Opera Apps Store :

+ free registration;
+ lack of pre-moderation;
- unclear size of user base;
Conclusion:
The most incomprehensible store for me, seemingly a great campaign name, but unclear places of distribution. A number of downloads gives, for free and easy to use.

SlideMe Store :

+ A large user base, they call themselves No. 1 among alternative app stores, pre-installed on devices from 120 OEM suppliers. I personally did not come across on the phones;
+ free registration;
+ convenient developer console;
- pre-moderation, although fast, 2-3 days, apparently just by the description and screenshots;
- strange factors of rejection applications. For example, the application of the Timer was rejected because "it is too simple" and "possibly created only for the presence inside the advertisement", although there are a lot of similar applications in the store.
Conclusion:
Immediately surprised me with the number of downloads, it is clearly necessary to be here. Frustrating system moderation with the rejection of "uninteresting" applications.

GetJar Store :

+ a large user base, call themselves the largest store of free applications with 2 million downloads per day;
+ free registration;
- pre-moderation, 2-3 days;
- a terrible system of publication, especially annoying to upload images again with some error, for example, the icon 128 * 128 turned out to be more than 10kb.
Conclusion:
Generates a good number of downloads, you also need to be here.

Bonus AppChina application store

It was generally very interesting to enter the Chinese application market, but this is the only store where I managed to register and publish applications. On it there is a partial anglotification of the interface, which, together with the Google translator, allows you to more or less navigate.
So:
+ potentially large user base, although difficult to assess;
+ free registration;
+ availability of the English interface (partially);
+ normal developer console;
- pre-moderation 2-3 days;
- China, that is, I think it makes no sense to publish applications with an English description.
Conclusion:
While everything is strange, you probably have to wait another time, or somewhere there was a mistake.

Total

Is there any benefit?

From mid-December I began to place applications on additional stores, as we see, there is growth.

If you are a small developer, you do not have a powerful PR campaign, and your applications are international, then alternative stores can give you a tangible increase in the number of installations / users, which for applications with built-in advertising, like mine, gives you prospects for increasing earnings.

When working with so many publishing systems, updating the application version becomes quite a challenge. Especially difficult with the "long" Samsung and Amazon. There should be laid out completely stable applications, after their "testing" on Google Play users, where the update can be uploaded in 4 hours.
Another difficulty is different versions of applications, for example, in my radio applications there are “Share” functions in which links to the application are inserted into Google Play. For other stores, you have to compile the "clean versions" without references or with links to those same stores, for example, Amazon.

Links to stores:

Google Play: play.google.com/apps/publish
Amazon mobile app distribution: developer.amazon.com/apps
Samsung Apps: seller.samsungapps.com
Opera Apps: apps.opera.com/ru_ru/developers.php
SlideMe: slideme.org/developers
GetJar: developer.getjar.com/android
AppChina: dev.appchina.com
Yandex.Store: developer.store.yandex.com