The Android developer community needs an application testing group now, and you should join.
Imagine. You make an app. You post it for review. One hundred… G1 users download it, play with it and report back. You get the feedback you need to make your app better. The market gets a quality filter. Apps improve – Android evolves.
There are relatively few G1 phones out there right now. Owners believe in the Android movement, and should participate to help ensure its growth. Practically – to support better application development; and for marketing purposes – to build voice and attention.
How do we get feedback now? Developers spend time on emulators; and coin on a few phones for their colleagues. Testing is informal and not-so-objective. This is indicative of an emerging, innovative market. Natural, but limiting and not necessary.
With an open marketplace any app has a chance of commercial success, and arguably the more noble contribution of costless utility to an early base that will spur mass acceptance of a better technological approach.
For all the beauty of an open marketplace, there is an early stage inertia. Without some sort of quality review, shoddy contributions are posted which turn off new users. Yes, a few sour apples can spoil the bunch. An independent, at your option, review prior-to-publishing process would encourage the version-challenged purveyors to strive for a higher level of performance.
So the Android app market – a beacon of free market, merit-based competition gets better. Because the apps get better, before they appear. Because the community makes sure.
Kraft does not put a new cheese on the supermarket shelf with out a taste test. Movie studios hold advance screenings… There is a historical sensibility to market research before product launch. Testing prior to release. Focus groups.
I propose something leveraged and aligned with our era. A site – testers sign up, those that honestly contribute are raised to administrative status. Those that play foul are subrogated. In time the group becomes self regulating – serving the interest of both developers and end-users. Better apps that better meet the desire of G1 owners.
Android is a good thing, so you should join. I am preaching to the choir, but asking you to sing. We believe in Android. It is an open development environment. It will change the dynamics of the mobile software and hardware market for the better. It supports innovation in a fair and free manner. Google seems to me one of the few companies that get it…
A grass-roots effort can make an impact. A feedback mechanism will support the development of innovative apps. If 100 testers said ‘what if it could…’ then development would improve, new better apps would emerge and the Android market would live up to the promise.
The other OS, handset and carrier markets exist to serve their own interest (not that this is bad, but I am working a bigger idea). They review and approve apps based on criteria diluted by concerns over rev share, bandwidth usage, network impact, legal constraints... and not necessarily the fundamental value of the app. The user does not care. They want cool apps.
Android developers can move first. Make the apps better, encourage those with talent, provide reliable resources to let the market know what has value, and what does not. It is natural. It will happen. Apple does not do this. They have a wizard of oz approach. Microsoft can’t and the carriers won’t. If the Android community steps up – the impact can be significant. Self fulfilling prophecy. Open will prove to be right, sooner; and these remaining ridiculous walls will crumble.
I’ve started in the forums – to recruit testers. I am encouraged but not surprised by the positive response. ‘I’m in.’ ‘Sign me up.’ This out of the goodness of their heart? No. They get it. One guy said: ‘Testing bugsy apps is a pain in the ass, but I guess you take the good with the bad in order to grow.’ Another said: ‘Good idea… hard to implement.’
Here goes:
1) Start now. I put threads in the forums. I put this blog here. You read it. Some percent will participate and a portion will spread the word. I will collect enough testers into a group to make it more valuable than what exists today. Start now because... the sooner the better.
2) Simple initial feedback. Once there are testers, accessible at a single place, start the process. A standard set of categories for feedback will be suggested such as development (bugs, usability, interface, navigation, etc) features (requests, suggestions, needs) and market (price, terms, value). Simple legal terms will be there, and anyone that participates will opt-in… so no one is liable for anything.
3) Make the test panel meaningful. Take suggestions… formalize the feedback, set rankings, report results. The challenge is to get a panel that reflects the entire G1 user base. Having testers across demographics (age, location…) so results can be projected with some statistical reliability onto the overall market. It will be a challenge to get testers that are not hard core developers… which would skew results… but we have to start somewhere and improve over time.
4) Publish the results. Independent rankings themselves will provide value. As the method improves; the market will lend credence and we will have a method of ensuring better apps get the attention they deserve; and the sour apples are sent to ripen. Rankings, reviews… the system itself will draw attention, investment and popularity to Android.
Help. It’s difficult to recruit participants one-by-one through the forums. Thus the blog. Even harder to find non-developer G1 users willing to test. Thus the request to help recruit. I imagine every developer has a few friends with G1s willing to test their own apps, why not others?
OK. A pitch for you to spend some of your precious time contributing to something that today has somewhat intangible benefits. Maybe this effort will align perfectly with the promised growth of the new devices, networks rollouts and subscriber growth. Maybe it will serve as such an advantage that the apps will just be better than apps in competing markets. Maybe you will be developing for an audience of 20 million soon. Maybe not. But this is one thing you can do.
Join as a tester by emailing your contact info and email to griff.blog@gmail.com.
Send link to this blog to any G1 user you know http://griff-new.blogspot.com.
