One more question… I am guessing since the new Nook Samsung Tablet is having problem running older Corona built Apps that there are likely a lot of newer devices (like a standard Samsung Galaxy Tab 4) that they are going to be crashing on?
Scott
You should be able to build for modern Nook devices with any build of Corona SDK. You must use a build older than 2264 to build for the Nook Color. For the Nook Tablet, I’m unsure because the specs say It’s Android 2.3 and I don’t know if 2.3.3 will run on it or not, but clearly 2263 or earlier will work on the Nook Color.
As for Samsung, the only support we had was for the native.showPopup() for ratings and going to the app store’s page for the app. It has zero to do with Samsung’s new requirements.
If you want to submit to Samsung, you won’t be able to use native.showPopup() to get to their store access for ratings or showing links to other apps.
Wow, I finally got google play added as a platform where I can submit my android app, and then I get samsung taken away. Oh dear 
Also, being european, nook is still an issue, since they don’t allow for me to register for their developer programme.
Yes I had the same issue with Nook as they dont support Norwegian developers yet. But I guess its not a big loss (but would be amazing to be on all platforms).
My app has been approved on Amazon and is scheduled for the developer select program (1/2 mill ad impressions for free) so this is great news.
My app was also approved for Samsung yesterday and is available in the Samsung store. Im not sure why people have issues with Samsung but my app was approved.
Btw what did you mean by this? Did you publish your app in Google Play Store?
A tips would be to create different package name for each store.
Also I had to use expansion package for Google Play while Samsung and Amazon allowed larger apk sizes (so extension file was not needed). Otherwise the apps itself is 100% identical. Only difference is package name.
The main issue I had, was that I did not restrict the devices list on samsung, and my app just did not even open on really old looking 1st generation touch devices.
I did actually just fill out a nook registration form. 6 months ago I wasn’t able to do this, so maybe you can check it out? It does not mean I’ll get approved, but I’m curious to see if they will allow me to register. So maybe it’s possible after all now?
Did you try it recently? https://nookdeveloper.barnesandnoble.com
I have not published it on google play, since I’ve been working on my next title, and I released my first game before Luxembourg had google play support. It’s only been available for about 6-8 weeks now, so I’m first trying google play, then I’ll see if I will do amazon or not. I don’t know if you really need a different package name? I mean, you’ll want to buy it once from an android store and not go buy it again from a different one really so I wouldn’t create separate bundles but a corona staff member might tell me otherwise. I definitely used the same bundle on both samsung and amazon when I published it. ( I only created one RSA key )
Yes I tried with Nook 1 week ago and filled out the form. They told me it was rejected cos my country was not supported. yet. This is the reply I got.
We regret that we can only accept accounts from the USA, Canada, UK,
Ireland, Germany, and Australia. If you have a location in one of these,
please update and submit again. We hope to add other countries soon.
I also applied all devices and still got approved. You can download my app Sleep Bug Kids Lite on Android and see if its similar.
The first time I submitted to Amazon I got approved for certification but I was not approved for developer select program. It just said my app failed for most of the devices. I sent a support mail and asked them what the problem was. The issue was actually really simple. I had an about feature displaying a settings icon instead of an about icon. So I changed this and got approved for developer select.
But if your app does not even open on old devices probably your case is different. Do you have a lot of graphics? Do you use @2half images for graphics (for memory consumtions)?
Did you follow this?
http://docs.coronalabs.com/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html
I would send them a email asking if they could tell exactly what is wrong.
I would seriously consider using different package names. Maybe someone else can enlight us but I have read several places (before I released the app) that this was important.
Also the only thing you need to do is build your app for each store and change the package name. Takes 1 minute.
Dont see any argument for not publishing it on all Stores. After all its really fast.
Yea I also use the same RSA key on all my apps across all stores.
Also for Amazon you should try to get approved for developer select. My app is scheduled for the 1st of August. Not sure if it will help but its worth a try.
I’m assuming by package name you’re referring to com.company.appname. Why would you need to have different package names for different stores?
I’d say it’s important to keep the package name exactly the same across all stores. However when you make the package name you should strictly adhere to the com.company.appname structure and *not* include the store name in the package (like com.company.google.appname or com.company.nook.appname).
If you want to differentiate paid/free versions you can add an extra tuple, something like com.company.appname.free or com.company.appname.paid.
Yes I might be wrong. I just read some posts to keep the Samsung package name different from the Google Play package name. But I agree having the same package name would be easier.
But can I ask what benefits I am missing out in having different package name? Except having to make modifications in code
e.g.
local options = { androidAppPackageName = "\_com.googlepckname\_", supportedAndroidStores = { "google" }, } native.showPopup("appStore", options)I can’t think of any deal-breaking drawbacks of using separate package names. I just think it adds extra complexity for no reason.
I like to keep things the same as much as possible so if there’s no need to have separate package names, then don’t do it.
Having to make unnecessary modifications to code eventually leads to typos, that result in bugs.
When I first started out, I used different package names. Google play would get com.myname.myapp, where Amazon would get com.myname.myapp.az and Barnes & Nobel would get com.myname.myapp.bn. I think I did this because of an Amazon question about “Is this app available in other stores” and I was afraid they would reject apps that were not unique to them (I was naive back then).
Today I don’t know of any reason to not use the same package name every where. I even try to use the same name on Apple as the Bundle ID.
Rob
Thanks guys for the useful information! I am in the process of submitting my first android app to Google Play, Amazon, and B & N. I will try using the same package name everywhere and let you know how it goes.
Thanks, Jan
Yes please do.
So my experience so far:
Nook: they dont accept submissions from my country (Norway)
Amazone: Good.
Samsung: My first app was approved but the next version was rejected as it could not be installed on phones with external memory. This is not the app itself but Corona.
Also on iOS I get some downloads for the paid version every day. On the others nothing.
I have one app with more then 2M downloads and iOS is the thing
My app store ranking (please note I give my apps away for free and do advertising with admob and vungle. I don’t do IAP at this time):
- iOS
This store gives my apps the most downloads out of all the stores. Advertising with admob usually gives about 2x eCPMs on iOS vs android. Advertising with vungle looks to be about 4x eCPM on iOS vs android!
- Samsung App Store
In my experience, this is the most lucrative android app store. I get the most android downloads from this store by far. Advertising revenue with admob will get you the same eCPMs across all android stores, so that is not a problem here!
- Google Play
Second most downloads out of the android stores. Harder to get exposure on this one.
- Amazon
Not very many downloads, but it’s still worth deploying to. A small amount of ad revenue.
- Nook
Not very many downloads. Nook does not allow advertising and does not allow you to give away your apps for free (it forces you to charge at least $0.99). I’ve gotten a few sales off nook, but at this point not a lot of return on investment.
I am looking forward to windows store and windows phone marketplace support in corona because I think they would become my new number 2 and number 3 respectively. I have some non-corona apps on those marketplaces and they get lots more downloads than my android apps. Corona would need to add a plugin for pubcenter ads (Microsoft ads) though to make it worth while since admob pays only a couple cents eCPM for windows phone and don’t have any support for windows store. (HINT HINT corona!)
This is not our experience. We have released both Free and Prepaid apps on the NOOK store. We have also used the Fortumo system to enable IAP with our Free apps. (Although today we are only releasing our apps as Prepaid.)
Our results on NOOK have been quite successful and frequently our sales on Nook have exceeded all other Android stores. Part of the reason for this may be that we have targeted NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet devices and this relatively large audience is hungry for new apps. Of course, due to recent changes in the Corona SDK, you will have to roll back to a certain version of Corona to be able to continue to target this Android 2.2 devices, but that may in fact be worth your while.
On the advertising side, B&N does have a couple of promotional programs that they offer regularly - NOOK Deal of the Week and NOOK Free App Friday. You can work through the Developer portal to contact them to get involved in these programs. Also, they do seasonal promotional programs on a regular basis - usually tied to a holiday.
In short, we’ve been quite pleased with our results investing in the NOOK platform.
Any news on supporting Samsung store?
Best thing about samsung store - they do full QA for apps. SO far best and hardest QA i even seen on mobiles. And that is just to get approved there. That is a great thing - no need to hire external testers =)
We are not supporting the Samsung store at this time and probably won’t be in the near future until they drop the requirement to build using their SDKs. If this is important to you, you can use Corona Enterprise and access their SDK’s from native land, or convince an Enterprise customer to build the Samsung SDK’s as a plugin and sell it through the Gremlin Interactive plugin store.
Rob
Ok, I just wanted to follow up.
I was able to successfully get a new app on the Samsung Market by setting market to None when building.
Scott