I'm trying to create some application for Windows Phone >= 7.1
During plannin my work and specyfiong technical requirements I've come across one problem.
I wan't to have free application with basic functionality. And then it should be extendable with some non-free extensions (dlls?, databases?, SaaS?)
Is it possible at the moment to use some MS api/app/etc. to be able to publish such extensions and sell them? What is the best way to do this if there is more than one solution?
Thank you for any help.
As of right now (June 2012), in-app purchases are not supported. Your only choices, then are being a paid app and supporting trial mode.
The only way you can do this at present is to handle the additional purchases yourself.
You'd have to set up a website which customers could create an account on and purchase extensions through, then have them also log into your app with those account details to determine what additional data to download or functions to enable.
You could be smart and include the website functionality into your app with a browser control. Take a look at the Amazon Kindle app for an example of how they accomplish it.
Related
We want to merge some of our games in bundle by game themes.
For example - you once buy a bundle and inside you get game1, game2 and game3.
Is it possible with UWP games, which targets Windows platform?
Can't find anything about that theme in google.
As far as I know, there is no such feature in Microsoft Store that sells multiple games in a collection. This is currently not supported in Microsoft Store. I'd suggest you submit a feature in the feedback hub about this.
I am planning to publish a new app on store. The app will be free, but you will not be able to use the app unless you purchase an in app product.
You will not have to pay to download the app, but you will have to pay use it, because without a purchased product, you can not use the app.
Will google accept my app? I couldn't find any answer for this, neither the support from google gave me a clear answer.
Thanks
Your use case is certainly unusual.
While it is possible that the app is allowed on the google store, I can almost guarantee that if someone reports your app, it might get removed under the Minimum Functionality section.
It will depend on what the description of your app says because as you should have guessed it should describe the base functionality of your app if it has in-app purchase or summarize the all features the app has to offer in case it is free.
As long as you mention in the description of the app that the user will have to purchase a product to use your application, you should be good to go.
I already have a free version of my app in App Store. Now I want to add a completely new paid version of the same app (with extra features).
Is it required to implement In-App-Purchase or can I simply add the paid version as a new app?
You can create a paid version of your app with no problem. It will get approved. So it's really up to you. But using in-app purchase makes it more convenient to the user. They will be able to switch to full version of the app without losing any data (like achievements for a game, or documents created with the free app).
If you look at the app store, you'll see both options. There are many free "lite" versions of an app, and the full versions which you need to pay for.
In-App purchases are also common, yet they need more effort to develop.
I have a Wp7 app (ready in a xap), and I'd like to give it to a client, so he can use it in 5-10 devices. But it is an "internal" client for our service, so I'd rather not publish it on WP Marketplace for all to see...
Is there any reasonable way to do this?
when you upload app on marketplace you can set it as private so only users with direct link can see/install it. There was an app which hacked WP7 that allows you to install apps without marketplace but I've heard it's not legal anymore*.
*search for it because I'm not sure about this one.
edit: http://www.electronista.com/articles/12/01/02/chevronwp7.runs.out.of.tokens.may.not.renew/
Maybe you can try http://labs.chevronwp7.com/
EDIT : Sorry, it seems that all tokens are sold out, so this is not solution for you.
As pointed out by others, you can publish a application on the marketplace as a beta, allowing 5 users to test it using their Live IDs.
But all unlocked phones can have a XAP installed. Generally, Windows Phone applications aren't designed for internal distribution. If you don't intend to publish the application on the marketplace at any point, you need to estimate in the cost of $100 per phone, per year, for the usage of your application.
I'll recommend you contact Microsoft, if you need a specialized deal.
I have a windows phone 7 application which I need to distribute to elements of my company. How can I achieve this? I do not want the application to be on the marketplace because it is a corporate application which should only be visible and used by elements of the organization.
Is this possible?
Best regards,
Bruno
There are 2 options currently open to you:
You could use Beta distribution as Tom says, but that's limited to 90 days and no updates.
You could also publish the application on Marketplace, but make it hidden so that other users cannot search for it. You would need to send your users a link so that they could install the app. See MSDN documentation.
However for the 2nd option you should beware that anyone would be able to install the application if they know the link for it. So if you need it to be secure you need to provide some other mechanism to lock it down.
There has been news about a private distribution model for corporate applications, but this is not available yet. For now you can use the private beta distribution for this purpose, all you need is a list of the Live IDs used by the people within your company.
I wrote a blog explaining private beta functionality, you can find it here