What are your thoughts on ad supported apps?

[twowheelz]

See if this pole thing will work. Or express your thoughts. Or have a great day.

[Ads]

[eckka]

One thing I can't understand is the need for advertising links in Live Wallpapers... In general I try to choose apps that don't have ads or else, after a bit of research, I buy the app and am done with the ads. I know it's part of the reality of Google but....

[claudermilk]

As long as they are not obtrusive, I really don't care. I have a number of apps that have little ads in them; since they don't impact the usability of the app, I don't mind them. A couple of apps with more obnoxious ads got uninstalled. I have yet to run across one of the apps shoving ads into your notifications, but those would either never get installed or immediately removed.

[dvdcatalyst]

See if this pole thing will work. Or express your thoughts. Or have a great day.

From a developer perspective I think that ads are getting more and more mandatory.

With the original Apple Appstore release, pricing of games and apps have dropped considerably, and with popular games like Angry Birds being ad-supported, it seems that many people expect everything to be free. It also doesn't help that there are quite a few (younger?) people who seem to think that because they have the latest/greatest phone and pay $50-$100/mo for their subscription that they are paying enough for their phone that they don't need to pay for apps, not realizing that the store is not run, and the apps not created by, their phone provider.

[Ben_J_H]

Im sorry I can't stand ads! I bought AB Space HD and the rest I use adblocker because there isn't a paid version I am always willing to pay but if they don't give me the option I have ad blocker

[ggrant3876]

I would rather pay for an app no matter the cost than to have to put up with ads.

[zigackly]

1. Root.
2. Install ad-free.
3. What ads?

[twowheelz]

Coming soon - Carbon

Some good news tonight for everyone waiting on the Carbon for Android Twitter client. Release is nigh! Developer Dots & Lines let loose tonight on Google+ for the first time since offering up a teaser video nearly four months ago, announcing that Carbon is aiming for release the week of July 22. And what's more -- it's going to be free.

That's not to say it's not going to be a full-featured Twitter client. We've been fortunate to use a couple early versions for a number of weeks now. And even with the odd bug and a number of features not yet active (hey, it's alpha testing after all) we're more than a little excited about this one. The design is top notch, the scrolling is to die for.

So why's it going to be free if it's so awesome? Dots & Lines is based in the UAE and had expected Google to allow paid apps from that country by now. That hasn't happened. Instead of waiting, we all get to benefit. (Here's to hoping there's a donation version, too. Perhaps an in-app option?) And it gets even better -- no pesky ads, either.

A statement from the devs.

Says Dots & Lines:

So, we finally decided to make it a free app. Yep, a premium free app. No Ads (we believe that Ads cripple the experience no matter how efficiently done, it's just wrong on an app that users use all day long). Going free, doesn't mean watering the app down, but a mean to get the app that we've been working on for a long time, designs that went through endless iterations and tweaking to be experienced out there by our eager friends who've been waiting for months.

Dots & Lines goes on to say that what hits Google Play the week of July 22 won't be a beta test, either. It'll be a full-blow version 1 build. Those of us with test builds (and we really can't wait for everyone else to get to try Carbon) should see an update in the next week or so, ahead of the public release. We're counting the days.

[LocoRon]

As a user, I absolutely loathe ads. So, I use ad-blocking software everywhere (ad-free on my Android devices, AdBlock Plus in FireFox on my PCs).

As a new developer, I fully understand the desire to be compensated for the time and energy that goes into developing these apps. I still don't like ads though, especially since the recent (ish?) study showing that ads in apps are actually a rather significant source of power drain. Not to mention they're a visual blight.

[treyatl2006]

I hate ads too. Some apps aren't too bad with ads but some are horrible. The only problem I have is when developers don't offer alternative pay apps that are ad free.. If I like an app good enough then I don't mind paying for it to avoid the ads. Also I hate when apps display ads in your notification even though you are not even playing the game.