[Proposal pending] advertising in free applications
 

what could an developer do to gain sponsorship for his application

supposing an open source application wanted to become sponsored by a company so that their application development was supported.

what are the options?
these are things which some websites do, the right level of advertising may be great (like allowing short text adverts with context to what the app is doing)


fixed logo on program


sponsor website link


splash screen


popup dialog on closing


you could even create a whole new variant application fully branded to the company.


what extra chances are there for a sponsor to interact with the user?
outside the application itself, there are other chances for a sponsor message to be available?

popup after app installation
sponsor gains facetime after an application is installed
must be able to detect an interactive installation and NOT install anything for an automated console installation.

custom application sections
you could add new functionality in an application for the sponsored elements

popup splash after bootup
when the desktop starts have a small popup window with link to website etc
popups are generally undesired

bootup experience
include a custom fully rendered short bootup video
(though must be opt in at installation firstrun phase)
i think it would have to be eyecatching and short, people should be proud of their open software on their device.


*bing bong* omweather and weather.com, making your day brighter *bee bahhh*

what other things are there you could offer a sponsor?

which of these would you as a user be comfortable with?

which are unacceptable, which would force you to uninstall an application, which would allow you to show how proud of the applications you are?

this is a brainstorm, but i cant work out how to discuss all that, someone might want to make one after reading this

Re: advertising in free applications
 

when the application loads and shows the screens shot of an application. what if removing that and placing a sponsor banner on it? and may be a link on the bottom of that banner.?

Re: advertising in free applications
 

I hate to say it but there's a big problem with this idea as a result of the fact that we're talking about A. a paid store or B. Open Source code.

I'm not sure how you could make it and be sure in any way that the ad code wont just be removed and the application redistributed sans ads. Otherwise the option is to just put a price on it.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

if you really feel that corporate sponsorship will help your efforts, please file an application with Microsoft.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

An advertisement in conjunction with running an application the 1st time would probably be acceptable to everyone. All the better if the ad is relative to the application. For example, Maemo Mapper having an add like that for a Bluetooth GPS receiver. I'd also make the ad viewable in the About popup. Another example is an IM application which beyond configuration of a Social Network may also be an add. Seeing the same ad every time we run an application would be too annoying like a web site that never changes. IMHO our screens are too small to give up pixels to an ad. A better model might be like Google Adwords that are retrieved because they relate to the content the user received or entered. They may not be reasonable to implement but it's worth considering.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

code177 entirely valid points, but this can apply to open and source applications alike.

why can't an app in the ovi store have sponsorship?
take an iphone example: stanley tools sponsor a spirit level application.

also, is the ovi store on all platforms your app runs in?

this is a general question and there is no problem exploring all the options.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

If the application is bad it may not be preferred. So it should be covered by the target userbase. I mean, this must be relevant in the context.

Ask telcos about branding ;)

In About box can be shown, in credits.

In the application name.

In your signature here.

Really, everywhere and nowhere, but if application is open source, expect a debranded version. Also, keep in mind you may want to not have people use your branding. See the Firefox/Iceweasel debacle. If it doesn't piss off the user I don't see such happening quickly though. This is a dilemma in advertising: you want to advertise and get user's attention while not pissing user of.

Hm, thats it for now from my side... not too creative/bright right now... :/

Re: advertising in free applications
 

To keep it simple: people will HATE you.


A patch will be made to remove the ad or an adblock-type add-on will be created (if the application is even worth it). Failing that the functions will be cloned.

Sabayon implemented an advertisement space in one of their GUI package managers, Spritz (see the bottom of this; I was furious back when I was using Sabayon and noticed this)

Stick with ads on your personal download homepage (also keep mind that people will expect it to be in the extras repository and thus don't count page views). Even then - adblock, eh?

Re: advertising in free applications
 

I find it kind of strange that ads haven't already been considered and implemented. Maybe because of the speed and processing power of the n900 all this is coming about.

In my opinion, simply put, ads would be a good way to help development for the platform. Let's face it, people have lives. Not everyone can devote their time to programming a free application (if they know how). Even if they do know how to program, why should they devote their time to create something that doesn't benefit them at all, and requires an exorbitant amount of time (development, bug fixes, adding features, etc.)?

I see this as a sad, but true rule. People need money. Money is motivation.

Some sponsorship could help people focus time on developing applications and worry less about strictly working their "other" job, especially in these hard times.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

Imagine if all 'open source' apps are like this.

Imagine if 'open source OSes' show ads while they boot or comes with ad-injecting mechanism.

They'd be worse than MS and Apple.