by Colin Lee | at MinneBar 11 | 3:45 – 4:35 in Gandhi | View Schedule
Going live on the Google Play Store with your new Android app can be a thrilling experience for your startup in more ways than one. Countless developers launched apps expecting a similar experience to their iOS launch. Then the hordes arrived and discovered a broken experience that left them frustrated.
Thousands of Android device manufacturers sold tens of thousands of unique Android devices where many present unique difficulties. These are real numbers, not hyperbole. It's easy to underestimate the challenges of Android success.
However, it's also easy to underestimate the opportunity. The Google Play store represents 80% smartphone market share. To become a top app today, you cannot easily afford to give up Android users.
It's not only possible to succeed as a small startup on the Android platform. The Play Store may even be easier for a lean startup. Most great Play Store successes began with rough edges and dramatic failures, but grew because customers understood their value.
I'll explain how to:
keep user ratings above 4.5 stars
launch fast and learn fast
test your app cheaply and effectively
catch major flaws before they get out of hand
plan an effective revenue model
get featured by Google
Colin is an experienced software engineer specializing in Android development. He worked for Mozilla on the Firefox for Android rewrite. He has worked for many successful companies in the past fifteen years, including Amazon, Flipgrid (acquired by Microsoft), Cray, Pearson VUE, and When I Work. He runs the Twin Cities Kotlin User Group in his spare time. He now works full-time for Meetup and enjoys traveling the world during their generous paid time off.
He has been programming since he learned BASIC on the TRS-80 computer in his parents' basement at age six. He has been writing Android apps since soon after the first Android phone launched and has done so professionally since the last space shuttle landed. In that time, he's probably been pitched every silly app idea and been offered a percent stake in the zero dollars most actually earned.
