92% of Market users can launch AIR apps

According to last Android Market Google Play stats, only 7.8% of the users are still using an Android OS version less than 2.2

It's a good news for AIR and its 2.2 requirement !

Generate your own PKCS12 certificate for AIR

I know... it's another one about certificate but perhaps you'll need this like I did.
If you follow this blog, you know I'm in need for a +30years certificate.

Problem
Flash Builder wizard generate 25 years certificate only

Solution
generate the certificate myself!

Again, thanks to keytool :

keytool.exe -genkey -keyalg RSA -storetype pkcs12 -alias <your_key_alias> -keystore <certificate_file>.p12 -validity 12000

Enter your password when requested only and fill the questions to complete

Note the -validity value is waiting for a number of days (not years!) so 12000 is about 32 years

Check the certificate of an APK

Following previous post, if you lost your certificate file, you have 2 problems
1/ you won't be able to update your APK on the market anymore
2/ you are unable to retrieve details about the certificate used

While there is NOTHING to do for the first problem, there is a way to retrieve the certificate information.

Coming with jdk, you should use jarsigner :

jarsigner.exe -verify -certs -verbose <app>.apk

For each file of the apk, it will give you something similar to

X.509, CN=WillNa, OU=, O=, C=FR
[certificate is valid from 19/12/10 08:38 to 19/12/35 08:38]

this is the certicate details available.

Retrieve information from your p12 certificate

Some days ago, one of my distributors asked me a package with a 30 years long certificate. I was pretty sure my current package was long enought but I didn't remember how much so I looked for a way to get it from this cryptic p12 file.


Be sure you have a jdk and not a jre installed else keytool won't be available.
The command to read information from a .p12 certificate is

keytool -list -keystore <certificate_file>.p12 -storetype pkcs12 -v

the magic option is -v
This way you could see the full informations

My p12 was 25 years long, it seems Google asks 30 years long now

Warning : it's not possible to update the certificate, the only way is to create a new one with the same informations and 30 years validity.
Sadly, doing this cancels the update system of Android.
Current users won't be able to update your app with the previous certificate, they have to delete and redownload it.

So backup and double backup your certificate !

Monetize 'cheap' apps

Interesting post on InMobi's blog

It tries to explain you how much you could win in releasing ads based apps vs paid apps.
Of course, you shouldn't forget it for CHEAP apps only !

The side note of this post is that you have 2 ways to monetize your apps : ads or update your sell price ;)

Another even more interesting thing of this post is the linked Excel sheet : it allows you to quickly find if you will earn more advertising your app.

I made a test myself:
* for apps will a small number of downloads, the answer is defintly "NO"
* for 1M+ downloads, the answer is "YES"
Like for money, the more download you have, the more download you'll get !

Android Market v2 not for publisher

I'm using the new Android Market for some weeks now...
Google successfully made a market...worst than the previous one!

I won't talk about the (un)usability (category on left, search....) but only of a point which affects publisher :
I'm still looking for the old 'new free app' and 'new paid app', I only found top and best value

I don't see how your new released game/app could be a success if people don't even know it was released !
Does it mean you have to made some advertising ? Does it mean you have to rely on (very badly working) keywords, users will so 'discover' you app by chance/mistake ?

So yes, I dislike the new market. The only option I see is to use AppBrain to browse apps and Market to buy and update them....
It's a solution for myself as an user, not a solution as a publisher

Adobe did again...sadly

Some days ago, Adobe released Flash Player 11 for Android.
Great, no ? Enhanced player, 3D support etc....

Well, yes and no, Adobe made (again) the mistake to release an heavy app without App2SD support....
On my HTC Desire, it needs 17M of internal memory, almost as much as AIR (which at last support App2SD now)....
It's not a problem on my Nexus S but I had to remove 2 or 3 apps on my Desire to install FP11...
At this rate, for the next version, I'll finish with a Desire with bundled apps + AIR and FP only...
(yes, Google Earth, Map and Market are just too heavy also)

Does it mean my Desire is now a obsolete smartphone ? Does it mean Adobe optimized their player for speed nor for size ?
I don't know but if you read the comments (at least here in France) on the market, it's only complaints about the size, not the new capacities... Not very good....