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Whenever you see an article like this, it is always useful to check out what they've made: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Software ht

Whenever you see an article like this, it is always useful to check out what they've made: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Software https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Sof... Speaks for itself.

eropple 14y ago
I'm not sure I completely disagree with his argument--folks I know who are not putting out crapware like this say similar things--but you're right in that it's hard to take it seriously when his products are apps like this.
julianz 14y ago
Good point - I wouldn't buy any of those even if they did show up on a What's New page.
EternalFury 14y ago
What have you made? Let's show and tell.
ameasure 14y ago
His point is that certain changes to the Google Market are making it harder for indies to get noticed. That is a legitimate concern that should be of interest to HN app makers. Whether or not you like his apps is irrelevant.
geofft 14y ago
I'm not sure that's an interesting argument. The author's claim is that _their_ sales have gone down. And of course there will be some customers interested in those sorts of things. Unless you're arguing that there are better direct equivalents of those apps on the market these days and there's more competition from good apps, I don't see how "your products have always been poor and have not recently gotten worse" answers "our sales have gone down".
- CrazedGeek 14y ago
  That's the thing, though -- nearly every app they release is fairly generic. Not bad in a vacuum, but the apps got a ton of competitors and they didn't differentiate themselves. It also doesn't help that the exact functionality of their most famous app (EasyTether) has been baked into the OS since ICS (and similar functionality has been in since Froyo), and their second most famous app (WordFeud) relies somewhat on network effects and has been mostly supplanted by Words With Friends.
  - ZoFreX 14y ago
    /Their/ most famous app?! This is "their" app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.etpc#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLm1zdHJlYW0uZXRwYyJd https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.et... This is the /actual/ Easy Tether app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.easytether_polyclef&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5tc3RyZWFtLmVhc3l0ZXRoZXJfcG9seWNsZWYiXQ. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.ea.... So not only is this developer a hack, they're also a thief.
    - coredumped 14y ago
      good catch
      - ZoFreX 14y ago
        See Barrkel's correction to my post
    - barrkel 14y ago
      I wouldn't leap to the thief accusation. The "actual" Easy Tether app you link to says "Mobile Stream" is the publisher in the app store, but the app id is com.mstream.easytether_polyclef. If Polyclef was a thief, why would Mobile Stream use the thief's name in the id? I think it's the way it is because EasyTether was developed by someone living in Russia (look at the whois for mobile-stream.com), but they had no way of charging for it on the app store in the early days - there used to be a very restricted set of countries. So they got Polyclef to publish it (whois polyclefsoftware.com points to Louisiana). And that's what the description on the first link says - "EasyTether is developed by Mobile Stream and published by Polyclef Software".
neya 14y ago
Thanks for the link, heads up. I'm an Indie Game developer as well and I'm sure building a quality game (read as 'not-a-rip-off') will get me more hits than this guy assumes I wouldn't. Probably the app discovery is screwed up as he says, but its not as serious as he claims nor is it the end of the world, you know. Good games can market themselves (word of mouth)...and if they don't, I can still advertise on various other channels (like adwords, admob..etc) to help people 'discover' my app. The same goes for Appstore as well...Marketplace discovery is just one way, there are lots of other ways to market your apps/games...
tudorizer 14y ago
After reading the title and then the article I felt a bit sad, but now that you posted this link and I'm confused. As much as I respect hard work of other people, what's the point of this plethora of sub-standard apps? Getting a wider net of possible quick sales? Going with a publisher should be avoided as much as possible and it's a very ignorant answer, but for the end user, it seems that only these types of games seem to be worth their money.

eropple 14y ago

I'm not sure I completely disagree with his argument--folks I know who are not putting out crapware like this say similar things--but you're right in that it's hard to take it seriously when his products are apps like this.

julianz 14y ago

Good point - I wouldn't buy any of those even if they did show up on a What's New page.

EternalFury 14y ago

What have you made? Let's show and tell.

ameasure 14y ago

His point is that certain changes to the Google Market are making it harder for indies to get noticed. That is a legitimate concern that should be of interest to HN app makers. Whether or not you like his apps is irrelevant.

geofft 14y ago

I'm not sure that's an interesting argument. The author's claim is that _their_ sales have gone down. And of course there will be some customers interested in those sorts of things. Unless you're arguing that there are better direct equivalents of those apps on the market these days and there's more competition from good apps, I don't see how "your products have always been poor and have not recently gotten worse" answers "our sales have gone down".

CrazedGeek 14y ago
That's the thing, though -- nearly every app they release is fairly generic. Not bad in a vacuum, but the apps got a ton of competitors and they didn't differentiate themselves. It also doesn't help that the exact functionality of their most famous app (EasyTether) has been baked into the OS since ICS (and similar functionality has been in since Froyo), and their second most famous app (WordFeud) relies somewhat on network effects and has been mostly supplanted by Words With Friends.
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  /Their/ most famous app?! This is "their" app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.etpc#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLm1zdHJlYW0uZXRwYyJd https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.et... This is the /actual/ Easy Tether app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.easytether_polyclef&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5tc3RyZWFtLmVhc3l0ZXRoZXJfcG9seWNsZWYiXQ. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mstream.ea.... So not only is this developer a hack, they're also a thief.
  - coredumped 14y ago
    good catch
    - ZoFreX 14y ago
      See Barrkel's correction to my post
  - barrkel 14y ago
    I wouldn't leap to the thief accusation. The "actual" Easy Tether app you link to says "Mobile Stream" is the publisher in the app store, but the app id is com.mstream.easytether_polyclef. If Polyclef was a thief, why would Mobile Stream use the thief's name in the id? I think it's the way it is because EasyTether was developed by someone living in Russia (look at the whois for mobile-stream.com), but they had no way of charging for it on the app store in the early days - there used to be a very restricted set of countries. So they got Polyclef to publish it (whois polyclefsoftware.com points to Louisiana). And that's what the description on the first link says - "EasyTether is developed by Mobile Stream and published by Polyclef Software".

neya 14y ago

Thanks for the link, heads up. I'm an Indie Game developer as well and I'm sure building a quality game (read as 'not-a-rip-off') will get me more hits than this guy assumes I wouldn't. Probably the app discovery is screwed up as he says, but its not as serious as he claims nor is it the end of the world, you know. Good games can market themselves (word of mouth)...and if they don't, I can still advertise on various other channels (like adwords, admob..etc) to help people 'discover' my app. The same goes for Appstore as well...Marketplace discovery is just one way, there are lots of other ways to market your apps/games...

tudorizer 14y ago

After reading the title and then the article I felt a bit sad, but now that you posted this link and I'm confused. As much as I respect hard work of other people, what's the point of this plethora of sub-standard apps? Getting a wider net of possible quick sales? Going with a publisher should be avoided as much as possible and it's a very ignorant answer, but for the end user, it seems that only these types of games seem to be worth their money.