My Approach

Now that I've started to sell Android applications, I thought I should share something about my personal approach to creating and publishing applications.

• I want to create applications that provide an enjoyable mobile experience; even better if they delight the user. I'm not motivated to write applications purely by the expectation that they will sell lots of copies (though that would be nice).
• I operate a no-quibble refund policy. I want people to enjoy the applications I publish and I'm not interested in taking money from anyone who doesn't.
• Though as a developer I devote significant time to every application, including those I release for free, I recognize that an application's users also invest some of their time adopting it. Though individually small, collectively this can represent a very significant commitment by its users. For this reason, I avoid making free applications that are crippled in a substantial or surprising way; once a user has taken the time to learn the application, it should be useful to them. Likewise, once I've made the decision to release an application for free, I won't later degrade its functionality in an effort bump users into buying a paid version.
• One of the elements of the Android platform that I find most appealing is the way that applications can interoperate to form a cohesive user experience. So I take every sensible opportunity to make my applications to interoperate with each other and those of other developers.
• I take the privacy of users very seriously. Where any user or device data is accessible to me I try to explain clearly what information is shared and why. Much of my software is actually focused on devolving functionality to user and their device – granting freedoms by avoiding the reliance on a single authority.