Android apps inferior in features and quality ?

[alexalex]

Dominating the market will mean the apps WILL get better, even if they aren't now. Like I said, it will force out the lazy developers and bring in more quality apps.

Dominating the market mean the apps will get CRAPPIER. In a small market when you want to sell you need something with the highest quality. In a market where you dominate even crap will sell itself.

[DukeEsquire]

I don't see anything wrong with that? The market has spoken by refunding your app that doesn't work. Why do you even sell it in the first place?

You place a product for sale and the customer buys it to try it (unless there's a free trial version). If it doesn't work, the customer demands a refund AND leaves you feedback. Isn't that the time to take in that feedback and update your app? Or is that too much work which leads to a lower ROI than with Apple? If you end up supporting it well and the users see that, who knows, you could sell the app for more. The app isn't the only important thing, the support is usually as or even more important.

Refund doesn't mean your app doesn't work.

I don't know how long the refund window is for Android, but there are numerous niche apps that are very helpful at a specific place or for a specific moment, but then is no longer useful.

For example, if I'm at the store and I want to price compare, a $0.99 app that lets me price compare by scanning the barcode is very helpful. However, once I have the information I need, the app becomes useless to me. So, if I can refund it after using it, I receive a benefit for free.

Furthermore, there are lots of apps that are games that are fun for maybe an hour or two but then get boring. In other words, they are worth the $0.99 cost because they entertained you for about a hour--which is reasonable--but after you are bored, you can still return the app for a full refund even though you received $0.99 worth of enjoyment out of the app.

The counter to the refund issue is that this is someone almost any retailer needs to deal with. I know plenty of people that will buy a fancy dress for one event and then just return it after the event. They aren't saying the dress isn't worth the price tag, but merely acknowledging that the value of an object changes over time and place.