Distribution of Android application

Question

Hi, I'm in the process of researching if and how an entrerprise Windows Mobile .NET application can be ported to Android. The question that I'm into right now is how to distribute and update the application once it's developed.

The current .NET application is "installed" on a device using an approperiate system image. The program then updates itself by downloading new updates from a website during usage and installing those updates on the next startup. So now the question is, how is this task best performed with an android application? I've received indication that the company would like to get away from using images so that more devices can be supported, so using images is not a requirement. However, it is an internal enterprise application and as such no external users are to be able to download it, so simply putting it on android market for anyone to download is not an option. Does anybody know if there is an "easy" solution to this problem in the Android world?

Answer 1

If using android market not an option - than you'll have to write it yourself I would 1) Set interval of how often you check for updates. 2) On start of your application i'd check for update ( comparing version of your app and available version ) and if it's available present user a dialog - update is available pls download. 3) Once user downloads the app, it'll be installed and upgraded. You don't need to worry about different devices - if you do it right - one apk fits all.