Angry Android Developers Ally Against Google - Android Developers Union Formed

[dgstorm]

A group of inflamed Android developers have formed an alliance against Google for what they see as serious grievances related to lack of support from Google, unfair take-down practices, overcharging, and more. Their intention is to pressure Google to improve the Market and their support of developers. They have formed the Android Developers Union and have created a blog.

One of the specific arguments they are making includes an anecdote from a disgruntled developer named Rich, who has developed 18 different Android apps for the last two years, including Port Scandroid and aBTC, the Android BitTorrent client, and the official ‘This American Life’ application.

In reference to one of his latest apps he claims, "Without any warning or notification, the application was removed. I only noticed when I went to check my sales and noticed I had not made any money for the previous week and a half." He attempted to contact Google through their normal procedures, but only received auto responses without any helpful information. Eventually, all he received from them was a letter threatening that [his] account would be deactivated and all of [his] applications would be removed from the Market if he violated the rules again. He still had not received any info or spoken with anyone as to how he violated the rules to begin with.

Ultimately he felt, "This kind of treatment is unacceptable. Since I began developing Android applications two years ago, Google has collected over $14,000 in “service fees” as part of their 30 percent tax on all sales – and the only service they have ever provided me is a threatening letter," thus he joined the Union.

The Android Developers Union has listed seven policy changes that they are trying to get Google to implement, including a renegotiation of the 32 percent Google cut on applications sold through the store, more payment options and public bug tracking to name just a few.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. Some of their issues seem very real and probably need to be addressed by Google in some way. Of course there is always a danger of attracting people that just like to incite hostility or create strife. What do you guys think of all this? Let us hear from any developers on these issues so we can get a well-rounded perspective.

Update: The picture comes straight from the Union's website and is a bit incendiary. Perhaps they don't realize that it could be offensive, or perhaps this is the face of their perspective. We shall have to wait and see.

Source: Phandroid and Android Developers Union

[Android.net]

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[furbearingmammal]

This... May not end well.

[RayBan]

when i first saw this thread, i thought it said "angry birds developers ally against google..." and i was like WHAT?! NOOOOOOOOO!

but yes, agreed FBM... this likely will .not. end well. at least not for devs. if google decides it wants to eat their lunch, google will eat their lunch.

[furbearingmammal]

Take a look at the blog, read some of the comments, and see why this is probably going to get The Fuzzy Treatment here in the next 24-48 hours.

[mamawm]

According to engadget he was encouraging users to infringe on copyrights, right there in his product description. And I would put that link on here if I could figure out how to do it from my phone.

Sent from my Eris using Android.net App

[furbearingmammal]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[RayBan]

yikes ... yeah i see what you were talking about now... don't people know that practically all bittorrents are illegal? the latest study was somewhere along the lines of only 0.3% - 3% of bittorrents are believed to be legal...

i could think of a dozen TOS agreement clauses that he violated...i guess he is just one of those people who just clicks "Agree" without reading anything....

[jev]

It's interesting that their logo has the red star and the closed fist that the socialist party uses. I don't think people fathom how bad that is.

[RayBan]

It's interesting that their logo has the red star and the closed fist that the socialist party uses. I don't think people fathom how bad that is.

no kidding... have you seen their post about the "logo"? Yeah... real tongue-in-cheek... NOT.

[furbearingmammal]

Just y'all wait. :D