Free Trial and Full For-Pay Versions of an App

Developers have been asking us how to distribute free versions of their apps to users but with a path to monetization. We have introduced a way for developers to deliver a free trial version of their app, maybe with limits on the number of levels to play, or only a certain amount of time to play before ending, giving the user an incentive and path to upgrade to the full version of the app.

Just build two versions of your app — the full version and the limited “Trial” version. When you are ready to submit your app, upload both the full and the trial APKs. 

When the customer is considering your application, they can choose to purchase or get the Free Trial version. See this example purchase dialog:

Customers can try your app and use it until they reach the limit you have set. You choose how to present the up-sell opportunity to buy the app. For example, see this splash screen with an “Upgrade Now!” button:

Pressing the button downloads the full version which replaces the trial version and is still able to access any user or game data that has already been created during the use of the trial version. The trial version uses the Shop Intent with the EAN (unique ID) of the for-pay version to present the offer to upgrade to the full version.

See the following article for more information: https://nookdeveloper.zendesk.com/entries/20126777-how-do-i-build-a-trial-version-of-my-app

 

CTIA and AnDevCon Events

NOOK Developer will be at CTIA New Orleans next week, May 8-10 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

We are hosting presentations showing the Developer Opportunity on NOOK hourly in Mobile Apps theatre, located in booth 6019. If you are going to be visiting CTIA, please come to one of our sessions or just come by to see the latest NOOK devices and talk to us about your applications.

The following week we will be at AnDevCon in Burlingame, California, May 14-17. Attend the Barnes & Noble keynote on Monday at 5:15p by Claudia Romanini and Stephane Maes, and join our developer workshop on Tuesday at 1:45p by me, Tom Chavez.

Act now! Use our discount code BARNESNOBLE to save an additional $200 off the full conference pass price.

Thank You for an Amazing Year of NOOK Apps!

One year ago, we went live with NOOK Apps on the Barnes & Noble storefront. Since then we have released thousands of wonderful apps that are used every day by millions of people – individuals, families and kids alike. By providing a whole new experience of digital content consumption, NOOK complements and extends our customers’ love of reading.

Barnes & Noble customers are pleased with the wide range of apps and content they can enjoy on their NOOK devices and developers are very happy with the amazing success they continue to experience on the NOOK platform. From the NOOK Color to the latest NOOK Tablet, Barnes & Noble looks forward to continuing with this success in expanding our app catalog and delivering engaging apps to satisfy our customers.

So we want to say a big Thank You to you, our app developers, for your part in our amazing first year. As always, our doors are open to you. Onwards in changing the future of reading!

NOOK Apps Developer Policy

If you have ever wondered how we review your app submission, you’ll be pleased to read our NOOK Apps Developer Policy which covers how we do app reviews in our two-step process.

Long before you finish your app, you can submit your meta data for review. This includes the icon, screen shots (or mock-ups), description, categories and rating. Submit this for the first phase of the review process.

While you are waiting for the metadata to be approved, you can work on your app and be ready to submit it as soon as the metadata is approved. Before you submit, please check the brand guidelines and trademark guidance so your app won’t be rejected for these marketing issues.

Want to know what we are going to test in your app? Check the Testing Guidelines document and try these tests and you will greatly increase your chances of getting approved. Even with these guidelines, here are the top issues that cause an app to be rejected. If you avoid these and your app works as it should and follows our guidelines, it won’t be long before it is approved and available in the NOOK Storefront.

Events Page Updated — Come See Us!

We have updated our events list at https://nookdeveloper.barnesandnoble.com/product/events.html. Recently we were in Berlin at DroidCon where the NOOK Developer staff hosted a stand for developers to learn about Barnes & Noble as well as to sign up to deliver their apps on on NOOK devices. It was great meeting German developers and hearing about their Android apps that they want to bring to NOOK and enjoy the success that other developers have selling apps on NOOK devices.

Mobile Monday London hosted NOOK Developer representatives recently at the March 19 meeting. In the afternoon, Nook Developer Evangelist Tom Chavez presented a developer workshop with technical information about developing for NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet, as well as how to join the NOOK Developer program and submit applications for review and release. Steve McDonnell, director of business development,  opened the workshop with a presentation about Barnes & Noble, the NOOK opportunity, and NOOK customer profile–including our “typical purchaser, Julie”.

NOOK Developer will have representatives at London Book Fair April 16-18, CTIA in New Orleans in May, AnDevCon in Burlingame in May, and Google IO in San Francisco at the end of June. Watch our events page for other places NOOK developer staff will be visiting soon.

If you are hosting a developer meetup and would like a representative from NOOK Developer to speak, please send a message to Tom Chavez at tchavez at book.com.

Corona SDK for NOOK Apps

Today Ansca Mobile announced that Corona SDK will be supporting NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet starting December 1 within the Corona SDK daily builds. This is great news for Corona SDK developers who are now enabled to monetize their applications on NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet.

Corona SDK for NOOK Announcement

Welcome Corona SDK Developers!

NOOK Apps Team

International Developers Welcome

We are pleased to announce that we are nearing another significant milestone in the expansion of NOOK Developer.

In the coming days, developers whose companies are based in Canada, Australia, the UK, Ireland, Germany and Spain, will have the opportunity to sell and promote their content and applications to millions of Barnes & Noble customers in the United States.

We invite developers based in these countries to simply apply to become a Qualified NOOK App Developer. Then, once qualified, developers should complete their banking and account information along with their applications Meta-Data submission and submit this for review to us.

The success of NOOK Color™ and NOOK Apps™ continues to grow. Developers in the US are already experiencing amazing monetization opportunities for their apps on NOOK Color.

NOOK Developer Team.