18 months ago, I decided I wanted to start developing an Android app.
I was already a Podcast Addict, using my PC to download all my podcasts before copying the files into my phone through a USB connexion.
So I decided to create an Android app in order to manage my podcasts from my phone.
Of course, such apps already existed on the Google Play, but it was for me an opportunity to build my own app with all the features I needed. It was also an opportunity to promote french independent podcasts in french speaking countries.
6 months later, the app was available on the Google Play…
Then I kept adding new features to make it as stable and as complete as possible.
Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done like:
- improving the UI
- adding a download manager screen
- improving the subscriptions screen
- adding a recommendation engine
- adding an internal video player
- …
Some of those future features will require new connections to my server / database. For now, I was just using a small shared server, but I will soon need to upgrade it to a private server / database in order to be able to answer incoming traffic. (FYI the server is used to store the online database queried by the search engine and mine only allows a couple of concurrent connection for now)
I also have some problems solving a few bugs because I don’t have a lot of hardware to test my app with. So I’ll soon need to buy a BlueTooth headset, a new phone and a Google TV to fix some existing bugs and to test the app on different screen sizes.
Both the server upgrade and the hardware purchase will cost me some money…
So in order to keep improving the app, I decided to change a few things.
Podcast Addict will remain free, but I will add an ad banner in the app in order to generate some revenue. There won’t be any limitation whatsoever in the app.
Then for those wanting to support the app, I will add a Donate app that will cost around 2€. It will of course allow you to use Podcast Addict without any ad banner.
In case you don’t want any ad banner on the app, and you also don’t want the paid app, you will need to disable the app automatic update on the Google Play, otherwise as soon as I publish the new release, it will replace your existing ad free Podcast Addict app.
Regarding the price of the donate app, I chose 2€ in order to receive 1€. For your information, on every app sold on the Google Play, Google will keep 30%, and then I will have to declare those new revenues for my taxes… and everyone knows they aren’t cheap in France 
And in case you think 2€ is not enough, I will add a paypal button in the donate app
Please, fill free to tell me what you think about this. You can leave a comment or you can send me a tweet.
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