Selling an application both in the android market and outside it

Question

I understand it is possible to sell the same application both in the market and outside it, great.

I still don't understand a few things, that AFAIK are not mentioned in the contract but I might have missed or misunderstood something, so I'm going to ask.

Disclaimer: I know you're not a lawyer, etc. etc.

Let's say I give in the market a demo version, and I sell in the market the full version too. May I also sell the full version outside the market?

I understand that you can't give away the demo in the market and then collect the payment outside, but what if I do allow the user to buy it in the market, but also allow him to buy outside the market?

What if I charge a lower price if he buys outside the market?

Answer 1

Unless there is some kind of exclusive clause (which i have never heard of) you can do whatever you want whith your application. There are many applications that are sold in and outside the market (check AppsLibs, SAM etc...) Plus, Google is not Apple (by that, I mean they try to keep things as open as possible, they do not force you to do this or forbid you to do this for... for some reason)

Answer 2

Google (unlike Apple) couldn't care less, it makes 0% from the apps it offers on its Market. It's only the carrier that makes that 30%.

So if you hope to bypass the normal 30%, expect some carriers to be on the ball (especially once your solution becomes widely known) and to ask Google for your app to be removed.

And Google will remove your app (if asked by a carrier). At least, that's what Google did when T-Mobile asked them to remove all the tethering apps from its Market (and I'm not speaking of only the T-Mobile Tab on the Marketplace, in that particular case, Google removed all the Android apps that allowed tethering on T-Mobile phones from both the Carrier Market tab and even the normal Android Market tab as well). The only things remaining there under those keywords are petitions from some seriously pissed off T-Mobile users (that are not technically savvy enough to tick a checkbox in their preference and get their tethering apps from outside the Market).

But if you're on Verizon or Sprint for instance, you can still find the tethering apps in the Android Market (probably because as opposed to T-Mobile, they both have a 5 GB cap per month for their "unlimited data plan*", instead of being truly unlimited).

Answer 3

As far as I know (and understand the TOS), there is no problem with any of this. Neither with Google, or any of the carriers (the tethering issue was a separate problem).

The clause you should be wary of is the following: 4.5 Non-Compete. You may not use the Market to distribute or make available any Product whose primary purpose is to facilitate the distribution of Products outside of the Market.

Which - as I have heard the clause interpreted - basically means you may not use your in-market apps to promote sales of your apps outside the market. So, e.g., you would be violating the TOS if you place an ad in your app that tells the user that they can buy it for 20% off by going to your website.

Essentially, as I understand it, you can sell your app however you want to, but you may not use the Android market as a free advertising platform.