Inmobi, the mobile advertising network has just announced the availability of an App publishing platform that will help them to publish apps across various app stores, which the official numbers quote to be are more than 130 in number. This includes Opera, GetJar, Mobango, SlideME etc. According to the company, this platform will benefit both the app developers and the users who run alternative or modified versions of Android which are not allowed to have the Google Play Store.
A blog post by Ujjwal Kabra on the company’s website mentions, “Although most people equate Android with Google, truth is that more than 30% of Android devices don’t even have the Google Play Store installed. These include nearly all devices in China, as well as several devices from OEMs like ZTE, Huawei, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG, and operators like Vodafone, Verizon and Telefonica.”
The main pitch is that with more than 200 app stores available, most of which will be eventually added to this new platform, it gets really difficult to reach out to each of them and decide on the most optimum distribution points in the least amount of resources. Inmobi app publish platform makes this easier by streamlining the complex process requirements for each app store and unifying the download tracking and reporting for each, while also simplifying the publishing and marketing requirements.
“Paying for position and app discovery on Google Play is becoming increasingly expensive and ultra-competitive. The launch of App Publish serves to meet the mass desire from app developers to compete in multiple channels in a simple, profitable way,” said Girish Prabhu, Head of Product Management for Developer Platforms at InMobi.
During the testing of alpha and beta stages, developers reported a gain of around 10 to 30% in the number of downloads. The best part however is the fact that Inmobi does not charge anything in the form of initial costs and is actually completely free to use for free apps which use advertising. It however takes a 20% cut from paid apps, which is used to cover the costs for completing the transactions. The surprising fact is that the apps submitted through this platform do not necessarily need to use their advertising platform, however that an avenue on which the company is expected to build on further.
As of now App Publish platform only supports Android, but indications show that independent stores for Windows Phone will also be added in the near future. For more info on how to sign up and get started, take a look at their website here.
