Firefox OS

Payments & monetization in

applications

Szmozsánszky István (Flaki) - @slsoftworks
Android vs Firefox OS Konferencia - Óbudai Egyetem, 2014.09.27.

Mibõl éljen az appfejlesztõ?

What should earn the bread
of an app developer?

Well, not app development. :)
(95% of the time)

A mai mobil app fejlesztés
olyan mint a rock&roll:
megélni nem lehet belõle -
de legalább menõ!

Application development nowadays is like Rock & Roll -
it's cool, but you can't really get a living out of it.

Winning the
App Lottery

App development is a lot like playing the lottery – as long as there is a chance to win big, people will play.

The vast majority of app developers struggle to make a living.
7 out of 10 don’t earn enough to sustain full-time development.
Vision Mobile - Winning the App Lottery

Why bother?!

Firefox OS is different

On Firefox OS there are

  • No walled gardens for Open WebApps
  • You bought it - you have it. Forever.
  • And on every device (that supports Open WebApps)
  • Firefox OS is young! Be there early!
  • Familiar: It's just the web. 

How can I monetize
my apps then?

  • Paid
  • Ad-supported
  • Freemium
  • Donations

It depends: Packaged or Hosted App?

Paid Apps

This is the INTERNET

  • Bring your own solution!
  • Subscription or one time payment?
  • Use the services the web could offer!
  • PayPal checkout? Stripe payments? No problem!
  • You could use the Firefox Marketplace
  • ...or build your own marketplace entirely!

Bring your own solution

(function() {
    installPrompt = mozmarket.receipts.Prompter({
        storeURL: "https://marketplace-dev.allizom.org/en-US/app/private-yacht/",
        supportHTML: '<a href="mailto:kumar.mcmillan@gmail.com">email kumar.mcmillan@gmail.com</a>',
        verify: true,
        verifierOptions: {onlog: mozmarket.receipts.Verifier.consoleLogger}
    });
})();

Gotchas

  • Securing your app's code might be a challenge.
  • Itt will be hard to get paying customers in some areas.

Freemium Apps

Free to use App
with paid bonus features

// First, let's test with some fake products.
fxpay.configure({fakeProducts: true});
 
fxpay.getProducts(function(error, products) {
  if (error) {
    console.error(error);
  } else {
    products.forEach(function(product) {
      addBuyButtonForProduct(product);
    });
  }
});
// Restore product on app initialization
fxpay.init({
  onerror: function(error) {
    console.error('init error:', error);
  },
  onrestore: function(error, product) {
    if (error) {
      console.error('onrestore error:', error);
    } else {
      console.log(product.name + ' restored');
    }
  }
});

Gotchas

  • Even harder to secure your bonus features
  • More attack vectors, Apple should know this
  • Privileged apps only, experimental

Ad-supported Apps

Embedded ads

  • Keep your app/content free, and still earn a few bucks
  • This is just the web - all techniques should work all right
  • Create a text ad - in 2 minutes

Gotchas

  • Restrictions on embedding (CSP, privileged apps communication etc.) might give you a headache
  • Privacy compromise - depending on the ad library you use.
  • Requires data connection on the end user's device!
  • You will inconvenience (and/or annoy) your users:
    20M daily users of AdBlock+ only on Firefox Desktop

Donations!

If you like it – support it!

Users tend to support
awesome software they like.

  • Step 1: Create awesome software! (le Mostest Importantest!)
  • Step 2: Embed a donate button (PayPal?)
  • Social micropayments? (Flattr?)
  • Gather community support! (Indiegogo?)

Gotchas

  • Difficulty Level: rock & roll
    (shouldn't expect to make a living out of this)

Firefox Marketplace

Sell your apps to
the local community!

Thank you!

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