[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.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/22/a...os-armageddon/

This patent resulted in an uproar. You do not think it would cause one on an open source (and free) platform?

You are correct, it would not bother everyone.

However, the real issue is - give them an inch and they take a mile (for non-US: give them a centimeter and they take a kilometer). It doesn't take long for text ads to turn into flashing banner ads. then pop-ups. and then into video+audio ads. and then [finally?] intrusive ads.

I consider that garbage.

That might be fine for some target audiences, but not this one.

And lastly, Google is an ad "agency", yet even they haven't tried pulling this on their OS (Android).

By all means give it a try, I think we'd all like to see how far you get with this business model.

My suggestion for OSS developers, include a discrete donate button on your homepage under "contact info".

Re: advertising in free applications
 

Please god no, don't turn this into another ad-infested jailbroken iPhone!

Re: advertising in free applications
 

No thanks. I expect adware on my Windows computer; not on my tablet.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

look around the real world, everything is branded.
from the tape measure to the bottle opener and they run throughout your tv channels.

advertising is everywhere and it does depend on how its used and presented and whether the user gets a benefit from it.

if it was crass dating ads on an unrelated app, i totally agree.

But on the flip side, if a photo app was sponsored by Kodak and had a method to send images for real printing directly from your phone I doubt there would be an uproar because its in context.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

But it's so frustrating to see screens with "PLEASE CLICK THE AD 5 SECONDS LEFT" text on it and the screen full of advertisements. Also when you try to play a game and then an ad pops up in the upper part of the screen periodically and just distracts you and obscures you view.

This is all reality on the free jailbroken iPhone apps.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

joppu, yikes, i agree its not what is wanted and I would kill it with fire too.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

You are free to look for a sponsor, and to embed ads in your app.
I am free to take it or leave it.
You can earn money if your app is worthier than avoiding its ads and nags.
These are the rules I am willing to play with.

But please no ads/sponsors in the firmware or the OS. I don't want a device that I must say "thank you" to twice a day.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

I prefer an Ad supported app over a application you've to buy. Naturally it depends on how invasive the Ads are.
If somebody wants to survive just coding his apps, he has to find a way to monetize them. You either sell them on Ovi, or include ads, as far as I know. I imagine this thread was created to find alternatives and/or discuss about these two.
If no other solution is found, personally I prefer not too invasive ads as I said. To protect the application from removing them, there are many open source licenses, you can find the right one.
Open source doesn't have to mean 'gratis'.
Maybe someone will still remove the ads, but it'll be illegal (some people care, some not), and they'll have to find the patch/modded version/recompile after modifications.

Of course, if I find a similar application without ads, that's rapidly a change in my preferences. ;)

You can naturally add a "register field" where you insert a premium code that disables the ads. But crackers will just have to create a key generator.

Another thing I tought: maybe you can make it so that who's very annoyed and informs himself has the ability to remove the ads, for example with some strange terminal command. This way, the pissed/expert people will be able to have a ads free application, while the people that doesn't care or are just too "noob" will be struck with the ads. Maybe it would also be a bit educative... :)

Re: advertising in free applications
 

Without getting into a long ideological discussion, my position is I love free software, and I still don't want FOSS to exterminate proprietary software. I also think there's still a lot of unexplored space in the area of making a living off of FOSS, so I can see where lcuk is standing.

Ads can be really intrusive, but ads are only one way of obtaining sponsorship. I don't think having a dialog box explaining the sponsorship is the greatest idea either for a couple of reasons. No one will look at it and the sponsors are smart enough to know that, and I don't think sponsorship should result in changes in application functionality.

Maybe the application title could be something like "liqbase by Coca Cola"? That wouldn't bother me terribly. Or if you and a sponsor can find a design that both reflects the sponsor and what the application does, you could give them influence over launcher icon.

I've been doing various forms of FOSS advocacy for near a decade now and it's where I hang my hat. But I think people shouldn't get flamed for wanting to try to make a living producing innovative free software.

Re: advertising in free applications
 

OpenOffice.org does ;)

Re: [Proposal pending] advertising in free applications
 

as somebody else noted why not put it on some sleek way where your consumer dont get irritated and you can clearly show your message.
Well the world heading the way it is now every-thing's price climbing mountain and the economy I think it will be little help for all the developers who devote all that time and there skills to keep community happy and growing would consider some kind of monetary thank you or a donation or some sort which will keep them going.
P.S. I am not a developer just a consumer.
Not into learning either, too lazy to learn all the coding.