Google Play paid apps vs iTunes

dreampunchboy

So I'm getting closer to publishing my mobile game. If all goes well it will happen at the end of next month.
Been busy sorting out platforms to publish to etc, want to get all in order before I get a surprise.

And so I did :P

I want to share this to get some clarity as I'm sure there are a number of you guys that know more about this.

I signed up for IOS. Got the free and paid contract sorted. Everything is in order, I just need to upload and get approved.
I left Android for last as it shouldn't be as complicated as Apple right?

So yeah, got a surprise when I saw our country ain't listed here for Merchants:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/table/3539140?hl=en

I wasn't planning to sell my game. I just wanted 1 in app purchase to remove ads.

So in essence the work around is to get my buddy in Canada to signup for me etc
or to go free with ads.

Anybody have some comments on this, workaround, ideas or knowledge on Google's plans for SA?

SkinnyBoy

Kenya is the only tech african country according to the west

edg3

I don't have much knowledge of iOS or Android stores further than the general ideas I picked up reading over time in arbitrary places. What I can say is that handling the money you would earn through a middle person can be painful. When XBLIG was still a big thing that we wanted to get onto as SA devs the way to get money was essentially through an international party. You need to take into consideration the tax laws of the country where your money goes to directly and then the laws that govern sending money from that country to South Africa. A good example is if a US company pays you directly for money you receive on their online platform you pay only SA income tax on it due to an agreement SA has with the US. However, if the money went to a third party in the US first the third party would have to pay tax before sending money to you and then you would still be taxed on the lower earnings you receive. You could claim it back but there is the intermediary step that adds effort in managing your earnings.

also, a shameless plug, if you are using Unity to build your game and you are a student you should consider the Windows Phone and 8 stores as you can publish on them for free and get paid directly to an SA account. You should target as many platforms as you can! When I get around to releasing on iOS and Android I'm going to do a write up on my comparative experiences across them all as well as give some usage and download stats for those that are interested.

codeRooster

Im sitting with the same problem, so in the meantime im doing games for IOS till google adds SA as a merchant.

ffz

You might want to look at the Samsung App Market, as well as the Amazon kindle app market.. both support south africa as a payment destination. Also look at 100% indie, they are associated with the Samsung App store, instead of 70% revenue you get 100% revenue and some free marketing.

http://www.100percentindie.com

cheers,

Ffz

dreampunchboy

@ffz thanks, will have a look

dislekcia

I would advise against 100% Indie. Their initial marketing campaign that went on about 100% revenue to you was pretty much false, and hung on some weird exclusivity crap. It was basically just a ploy to get devs to sign up and be stuck in a store that nobody paid attention to. Not a got reputation to have...

TobyK

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Google to support South Africa - just last week or so they added a whole bunch of countries, not including South Africa. I've been waiting since 2010 to put up paid apps, and gave up. Many South Africans can open a UK or US bank account, which makes things easier. I believe any South African (altho definitely Indians) can open a bank account with State Bank of India (they have a local branch), and India is supported as a Merchant country.

The other options are Samsung Apps (as mentioned previously), and Vodacom Apps. Both stores are friendly to local developers and regularly feature locally-developed apps (they have featured some of my apps). They are pre-loaded on relevant devices and support paid apps, including carrier billing (i.e. pay using airtime, at least in the case of Vodacom), so that's a big plus! Obviously, that's just for the local market, but as mentioned, Amazon Appstore is fairly popular overseas.

rumor

We have signed up for Google Market Place, Samsung Market Place, iOS, Windows, Desura, and are still in the process of doing Opera and Amazon.

Android we created a business in Australia which we distribute from.

As for Samsung it much tougher market place to get on, they test the games thoroughly and send you back videos on what basis they have rejected your app. We are on iOS and Android and got rejected twice on Samsung due to small things. Chillingo and Samsung run the 100% Indie revenue, which is currently sitting at 90% revenue, but will be dropping to 80% at the end of this month. They have all the information written up nicely on there site, I personally haven't found anything bad about the 100% Indie initiative. The free marketing isn't really free its something they offer once you are on there and there marketing team get to decide on how to market your product, if its marketable.

If you dont make it onto Google Marketplace dont worry, as Samsung, Amazon, Opera and just about every other new market place allows for the sale of APK files. Also the new kid on the block for us westerners is KII, We are still looking into distributing on it, but havent heard back from them yet.

TobyK

Another intriguing option isto sign up for a prepaid Visa credit card and use that to register your merchant account. For example, sign up for Entropay here:

https://secure2.entropay.com/unprot/registration/userInformation.html

Then use it to register the merchant account as follows:

http://androidituts.com/how-to-sign-up-for-google-play-developer-account/

I haven't tried this yet, but might give it a go. Obviously, getting the money back into the country will be tricky, incur fees and taxes.

Boysano

Oh dear, got the same problem :( sigh...and I was just starting to like the idea of only making Android games on google.

I just got myself a google wallet.

Used a friends Barclays account with home address and telephone number to do it, after I created a new gmail account under UK.
I even did it via SA proxy and still worked.

I do have access to a wallet now on my 2nd dev account, so let see if it works when I test IAPs tomorrow :)

charly

What about something like Payoneer?