Post release blues

Well, I spent much of the weekend uploading 10 separates apps - five free and five paid - to the Android MarketPlace. The reaction? Imagine crickets chirping, or a tree falling in the woods.

Ok, it's only been a day or two, but my concern is that I spent the last 3 or 4 months developing a dud of an app - for the wrong platform, to boot. I hadn't really thought it would be quite as time-consuming as it turned out to be, I mean, to get it *right*. I keep trying to figure out why; and I did learn a lot. A partial list includes:

1) Customizing graphics and colors
2) Creating and reading an XML database
3) Converting that to an SQL Lite database
4) Incorporating frequency of usage data into the database
5) Programming Google's app-licensing
6) Using Linkify to set up links and emails
7) Setting up core/dependent projects
8) Using the DDMS, mostly for taking screenshots, but also for the MAT
9) Changing images sizes and types using Preview
10) Using Gimp, mostly to change screen colors.
11) Creating and using a horizontal progress bar
12) Coding async tasks
13) Download media from a url
14) Playing media
15) Using a customized font
16) Obfuscating the code
17) Packaging a database with the application
18) Coding a Spaced repetition algorithm
19) Using radio button controls
21) Using button controls
22) Using an application object
23) Using a ListView
24) Find memory leaks in the Java heap using MAT
25) Find memory leak in the native heap using something adb shell dumpsys memstat
26) Using Robotium to do functional testing
27) Using Android's Junit to do unit testing
28) How to root an android
29) Using the exerciser Monkey
30) How to create Yes/No, and Toast dialogs
31) How to create an Activity with a Dialog theme
32) How to spin text in an animation
33) How to fade in and fade out an image
34) How to use a Timer class to update a progress dialog
35) How to use a text view within a scroll view
36) How to create a Custom Dialog
37) Horizontal layouts
38) Difference between margins and padding
39) Centering controls, text
40) How to keep a ListView from having a black background
41) How the Android source code has default layouts that you can use and customize
42) Using a Broadcast receiver
43) What manifests and permissions are all about
44) How export, sign and upload an apk
45) Why using and the external cache is better than using external storage
46) The difference between a target and minimum api
47) How to get an app to automatically load on the SD card
48) How to get rid of the dreaded R error
49) How to maintain application state using an application object
50) NFC vs. NFD normalization forms
....etc., etc., etc.

This is all great and I can think of myself as an Android developer at this point, although to be honest, this is not a deep-dive. I have essentially scratched the surface of Android development with all this. Four months of programming makes you a contractor, not a guru.

And, there is always the money question. As far as I can tell IOS means money, android means free. Free is good as a user, not so great as a developer.

So, here's my strategy at this point. Although I heard Jumptap was good, IOS is better. So, I'm going to spend about one more day getting admob or jumptap, installed, an then turn my attention to IOS. I hope it goes more quickly - but I'm afraid it could easily be another 3-4 months.

The good news is that I have an SQL Lite database set up.That's done already. I have a bit of experience in IOS and actually have an app on the appstore - look under Eye Quiz App.

I also have the background graphic in place, which actually took quite a bit of work to get right.

Also, I have the app pretty well specked out - at least on Android. The look and feel could change completely on IOS. If it's faster, it's better. Why not just choose some pretty colors, instead of an exact match to the Android, whose customized GUI was so labor-intensive?

Or, I could drop it altogether, and go with a different idea. One that might be a bit more compelling. I had a bunch of ideas one night, and wrote them down - and lost them!

The question is - what am I really in his for? How smart is it to stick with the original plan and just go with the Japanese quiz and IOS development? Is my goal to establish my bona-fides as an IOS developer, or is it to really make some money? There are so many apps out there, it's hard to imagine having a "hit". Wouldn't it be more reasonable to freelance, at least? Or maybe develop an HTML5 version, so I don't have to maintain multiple code bases?

Should I spend this valuable time coming up on a niche Japanese app - or come up with a grand idea, get some funding, and get out permanently from under the man?

It's time to stop and think.

Well, at least I'll throw the ads in the free version of the app.