Custom criteria for Android Market Filter?

Question

I have been trying to make my application available on Android Market, only to specific individual accounts/devices.

Is there any way to specify an arbitrary Market Filter? It currently has filters for country/carrier, but we need a finer grained filter than that.

I thought about adding my own system library and specify it in <uses-library> tag, but that would not work if user gets a system update from Google.

Non-Market option is not desirable, since we'd lose auto-update feature, etc. Another option is to make the app unusable by unregistered devices -- but I would rather not show the app on Market and not worry about the app being tampered.

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Is there any way to specify an arbitrary Market Filter?

No.

I thought about adding my own system library and specify it in tag, but that would not work if user gets a system update from Google.

It also requires you to build your own firmware and get all your users to use that firmware, which may not be very practical. It would take you less time to write an update-the-APK-from-the-Web feature.

Any ideas would be much appreciated!

The Android Market is public and is designed for use by the majority of Android users. If you want private distribution, distribute your app privately, please.