Android 101: Writing and Publishing Android Applications presented at the the first bootcamp at Google IO 2010. Presenter: Roman Nurik from the Android Development Team.

1. Android 101:
Writing and
Publishing Android
Applications
@romannurik
May 2010

2. Agenda
1. Writing your app 2. Publishing your app
 Platform features  Registering
 Surfacing your UI  Targeting
 Intents  Buying & Selling
 Speech, Location,  Other distribution types
Sensors
 Featuring and promotion
 Native development

3. Writing your app

4. Android
 Android is an open platform, and it’s
open source
 Develop mostly in Java and XML
– C/C++ for Native development (NDK)
 Replace the core apps with your own
 Source code available
– SDK and core apps
– http://source.android.com
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5. Multiple Devices, Single App
 Shipping 60K+ devices per day
 More devices = more business
 SDK supports:
– Many screen sizes/resolutions
– Screen density independence
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6. Multiple Devices, Single App
~120 / ldpi ~160 / mdpi ~240 / hdpi
Small screen
~ ≤ 3.0”
Normal screen
~ ≤ 4.0”
Large screen
~ ≥ 4.8”
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7. Screen Size & Density Breakdown
Note: This data is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed
Android Market within a 14-day period ending on May 17th 2010
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/screens.html
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8. Application Components
An Android application is actually a
collection of several components, each
defined in AndroidManifest.xml
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9. Application Components
 Activities
 Services
 Content Providers
 Broadcast Receivers
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10. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
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11. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
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12. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
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13. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
13

14. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
14

15. Surfacing your UI
 Launcher icons
 Status bar notification
 Widgets
 Quick Search Box
integration
 Live Folders
 Live Wallpapers
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16. Concurrent Applications
 Users can multitask
– Apps get paused, not closed
 Background services
– Invisible apps with no GUI
– Unobtrusive event notifications
– Listen to music and check
email simultaneously
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17. Intents
 Intents “link” activities, services, and
receivers together
 Intents consists of
– An action (i.e. ACTION_VIEW)
– Categories (i.e. CATEGORY_DEFAULT)
– A URI (i.e. content://contacts/people/123)
– “Extras” metadata
 Intents can also be to hard-coded class
names (com.foo.FooActivity)
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18. Inter-App Communication
 Apps can communicate with each other
by providing and consuming each
other’s Intents
Application Application
A “Intent” B
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19. Example: Inter-App Communication
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20. Speech Input
 Enables voice-to-text capability
 Invoke via IME or Intent
 English, Mandarin Chinese & Japanese
 Integrate with 3rd party speech
recognition service
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21. Example: Speech Input
21

22. Location and Mapping
 LocationManager
– Service determines location and bearing
– Register for periodic updates by time
– Register for proximity updates by distance
 Google Maps library
– Includes MapView
– Programmatic access to Google Maps API
– Handles user interaction to control Map
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23. Example: Location and Mapping
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24. Hardware and Sensors
 Camera
 Microphone
 Accelerometer
 Compass
 Example apps:
Layar, Google Goggles
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25. Native Development Kit (NDK)
 Used in conjunction with the SDK
 Performance-critical, C/C++ code
 Just launched NDK r3
– Support for OpenGL ES 2.0
– Compact, efficient binaries
 Typical uses:
– Games
– Re-use existing C/C++ code base
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26. Getting Started
developer.android.com
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27. Getting Started
1. Download the SDK
2. Install Eclipse and ADT
3. Look through tutorials and samples
4. Run them on the emulator or your
device
5. Write your app!
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28. Developer Community
 Android has a strong, active developer
base
– Google Groups
– Stack Overflow
– IRC office hours
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29. Publishing your app
(in Android Market)

30. Publishing Android Apps
1. Develop 2. Register 3. Publish
http://developer.android.com http://market.android.com/publish/
• Android SDK • Create profile • Sign &
& register upload .apk
• Development
resources • Developer • Deployment
Distribution options
• Developer
Agreement
Advocates • Marketing &
• Setup merchant promotions
account 30

31. Publishing Android Apps
 Upload at any time, as
many times as you want
 Publish whenever you are
ready
 Users have access to app
right away
 Update app at any time
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32. Registration
Basic Setup Distribution Countries
 Contact information  Launched in major
markets throughout
 One-time fee Americas, EMEA and
– no limit on number of
applications
JAPAC.
 Developer agreements
– Developer Distribution
Agreement
– Content Policy Guidelines

33. Targeting Options
 Device capabilities
– SDK level: Minimum and Maximum
– Screen size: Small, Normal, Large
 Location
– Target countr(ies)
– Operator(s) (if applicable)
– Matched to user’s service provider
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34. Selling Android Apps
“Seller” Requirements “Seller” Countries
 Checkout merchant  9 countries supported
account required – United States
– United Kingdom
 Developer collects 70% – Austria, France, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Spain
of application price – Japan
 Transaction fee is  4 currencies supported
equivalent to 30% of the – USD ($)
application price; goes to – GBP (£)
operating costs. – EUR (€)
– JPY (¥)

35. Buying Android Apps
“Buyer” Requirements “Buyer” Countries
 Google Checkout  Americas
account required – Canada, United States
 Methods of payment  APAC
– Credit & Debit cards – Japan, New Zealand
– Carrier billing (if available)
 EMEA
 Purchased apps are tied – Austria, France, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Spain,
to buyer’s Google
Switzerland, United
account, may be installed Kingdom
unlimited times
 24 hour refund period

36. Buying Android Apps
Prices are listed in Confirmation to Estimated price in Choice in payment
“Seller” currency buy “Buyer” currency method
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37. Other Options for Distributing Apps
 USB side-loading via
Android Debug Bridge
(adb)
– Useful in development and
debugging
 Download from website
– Useful for private
distribution
– Website may be access
controlled
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38. How to Increase Exposure
Market Ranking
 Relevance
 Downloads
 Ratings
 Retention
 and other factors…

39. Featuring and Promotion
Promotion
Banner
Getting
Featured
39

40. Partner Device Launches
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41. Events
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42. Questions?

43. AdSense for Mobile Applications SDK
 Monetize!
 Auto display highest paying ads
 Targeting
– Keyword, demographics, location
– Ad placement
 Control ad appearance and positioning
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44. Analytics Tracking for Mobile Apps
 Tracks install referrer
 Tracks Pageviews & Events
 Integrates with Google Analytics
dashboard
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45. Device Dashboard
Version % of Devices
1.5 (API Level 3) 34.1%
1.6 (API Level 4) 28.0%
2.1 (API Level 7) 37.2%
Other 0.7%
Note: This data is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed
Android Market within a 14-day period ending on May 17th 2010
http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html
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46. Copyrights and Trademarks
 Android, Google are registered
trademarks of Google Inc.
 All other trademarks and copyrights are
the property of their respective owners.
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