Handango Changes How Top Selling Software is Calculated

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.sbsh.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2349' target='_blank'>http://www.sbsh.net/forums/index.ph...?showtopic=2349</a><br /><br /></div><i>"This post is really off-topic for the PocketBreeze forum but I just feel I have to say what I feel about Handango new "most popular" rating system that was activated a few hours ago. For those of you who don't know, Handango was planning to change their "most-popular" rating system in the last few months from the old system who rated the most popular software by the number of software-purchases to their new system based on software revenue. With the new system, based on revenue, there is simply no place for lower priced software , if you will check Handango's new best-selling list you will see the only two software titles that cost less then $15 among all the top 35 software titles are PocketBreeze ($12.95) and Pocket Plus ($14.94)."</i><br /><br />We had several people submit this today - on the surface, this seems like a strange move to me because it will distort the results towards higher-priced apps, not the ones that people are actually buying. I wonder what motivated Handango to make this change?

[Sven Johannsen]

I wonder what motivated Handango to make this change?

$$$ Not sure how, but I'm sure it's at the root.

[bigkingfun]

I'm sure they get a lot more traffic on the best-selling titles since the top 10 are featured front and centre. They're probably expecting that they'll start selling more of the higher priced titles. I know I often look at the best-sellers list when I'm on Handango to see if there's anything new and interesting.

This is probably just going to make me buy less from them. I tend to buy software under $15 as an impulse purchase and will often find things on the best seller list. If they're promoting higher priced titles, I'll be a lot less likely to make an impulse buy.

[smashcasi]

The Handango top 10 is a fairly coveted spot for Pocket PC software developers. It's displayed on many sites (including this one) and if a new PPC user starts looking for software it's one of the first things they'll see. While I'm sure the decision was based in part on driving sales towards the higher-priced products, I think it was also done to lessen exploitation of the old ranking system.

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

[Jorlin]

I wonder what motivated Handango to make this change?

$$$ Not sure how, but I'm sure it's at the root.

I totally agree...

If higher priced applications are on top of the list, people will tend to buy those thinking they buy quality...
Since handango gets up to 40% of the paid price... :devilboy: *suckers*


I recommend to buy directly from a developer or use pocketgear or other 'fair' shops.

[amitregev]

I must say I'm really frustrated with this change from Hadnango's side, I think the decision to promote software titles that gives higher revenue is wrong, and after almost two years of hard work and support we give our users this change that hearts us is really frustrating; I think this doesn't reflect a real popularity scale; I'm aware to the fact that selling a $70 software is much harder then selling a $15 software, but at the same time (these are only my thoughts of course), the popularity rating suppose to rate which software caused more people to decide to buy a certain software taking in to consideration it's functionalities, support and price.

If we will also take Hadnango's previous best selling list we could see no software title that costs less then $10 was on this list and still many software titles who cost $30 were on this list too, which means that even if there are many software titles who cost -$5 on Handango's catalog, people still identify good software with good support and buy these titles, not only based in price.

As some also mentioned on the post on our site, when I check for most popular car sales I won't see Mercedes on top of the list because their revenue is high; I will find cars which most people decided to buy due to a good combination of price and feature (quality at this case :) ).

I also think this change will heart the users in the first place. This change only puts more pressure on the developers to raise their prices for their software (as some already did) because this is what we need to do now to stay on top of the list - and then, get better promotion.

For example, when we decided to add additional tabs support to PocketBreeze we decided to sell all optional tabs that we have (and will come in the future) in separate and therefore keeping PocketBreeze price low for the users who want to use only PocketBreeze alone - I always believed it is best to give the user the right to decide. With Handango's new system this ideal is hearting us. Until today, 1/3 of PocketBreeze users also purchased ContactBreeze, which together could have been sold for $18 and then put us much higher on the list, but then we would heart all our other users who doesn't need the additional tab and just want to buy PocketBreeze alone.

As bigkingfun said, I also think this change will eventually heart Handango's sales the most because more and more users will move to new distributors especially newbie's that will find only software titles for +$30 rated as best selling title and will be intimated.

I still hope Handango will find the right way to promote software titles on their site and not just according to revenue, maybe some kind of combination of all parameters will be the right thing to do.

I can say that from our side, from day one when we started, our main goal was to create good software and give the best support we can to our users (which is the reason I sleep 3 hours a day) at a fair price, and we have no plan to change the prices of our software as long as we can pay the rent with it :)

Maybe now that this issue was posted on major forums, if many users (and not developers) will email Handango they will decide to change this new rating system.

I really hope we will be able to continue selling our software at the same prices and keep the same level of massive promotion we usually do on Pocket PC community sites (which also supports the community I think).

[amitregev]

The Handango top 10 is a fairly coveted spot for Pocket PC software developers. It's displayed on many sites (including this one) and if a new PPC user starts looking for software it's one of the first things they'll see. While I'm sure the decision was based in part on driving sales towards the higher-priced products, I think it was also done to lessen exploitation of the old ranking system.

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I can agree with you on this point, and we both can see now which software titles stayed on the top list. But I think there are much simpler ways to limit this, for example, not counting product sales which are priced less then %50 of the product price (which is usually the upgrade price for a product) - this way you can pretty much solve this.

Currently, we really have no chance to hit again the top 8 best sellers after we were located there for a long time, with a software that cost $12.95 :( it really doesn't matter how much we will sell, I just don't think we have any chance competing with a $70 software.

Before this change we were located in #7-8, right after the change we dropped to #18, and if you will notice PocketBreeze and Pocket Plus are the only two software titles that cost less then $15 that still stayed in the top 35!! this only shows that we really have no chance out there anymore. Handango simply became a place that pushes high cost software.

Regarding the actual software you are talking about, I'm pretty sure you are talking on a certain software ($19.99) and there were much better ways to remove them from the list as I said above; at least now we can be sure as they dropped from the list (although this was not such a cheap software).

[surur]

If they really wanted to be fair they could have made a couple of bands e.g Best seller under $10, Best seller under $25, Best seller over $25.

Then the whole thing would still have some meaning.

Its obviously a cheap marketing trick. Maybe if we should loud enough they can still change it?

Surur

[alex_kac]

If they really wanted to be fair they could have made a couple of bands e.g Best seller under $10, Best seller under $25, Best seller over $25.

Then the whole thing would still have some meaning.

Its obviously a cheap marketing trick. Maybe if we should loud enough they can still change it?

Surur

This was announced back in July. Its been discussed before publicly at PocketNow. As said above they did this specifically to "fix" the issues surrounding people who get in their by discounting their sw heavily.

I personally don't like it because it prevents us from competing on price as one of our benefits. I think they could have done it better.

BTW, its NOT on pure revenue. Its weighted with revenue being the most important aspect. At least that's what they told me.

Frankly it matters less because the Handango home page no longer shows the Best Selling right up front - you have to click on it.

[amitregev]

If they really wanted to be fair they could have made a couple of bands e.g Best seller under $10, Best seller under $25, Best seller over $25.

Then the whole thing would still have some meaning.

Its obviously a cheap marketing trick. Maybe if we should loud enough they can still change it?

Surur

I think you are right.

This will be fair for both sides and there is no reason a $60 software will have to compete with a $15 software on the amount of sales because this is also impossible.

This will allow users to find good best-selling software that really works and give support according to prices (-$25 for day to day software and +$25 for professional software I would say) and can be easily added on their site with the current tabs design they created.

I hope we could get Handango to comment this post.

[DinarSoft]

Our titles got affected as well. After working very hard to get one of our titles to the best selling (and we did) we woke up to find that all of our effort now is useless.

Look at the best selling titles.
a 200$ SDK, would having this title in the best selling list convince users to buy it ?
5 medical titles, If I'm looking for medical titles I would look for them, having them in the best selling won't get me to buy any of them if I don't need them.

When we entered this market our main goal was always to sell for the lowest possible price, we had to increase our prices due to commission increases from re-sellers. Now we get this :(

Maybe HandAnGo did this thinking they can make more money selling more of the expensive titles.
They might be right, but the overall number of sales might decrease (there is always a budget that everyone has for buying software), or maybe no one is going to look at the best selling list anymore.
Or maybe developers will stop selling at reasonable prices anymore

[surur]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

[alex_kac]

If they really wanted to be fair they could have made a couple of bands e.g Best seller under $10, Best seller under $25, Best seller over $25.

Then the whole thing would still have some meaning.

Its obviously a cheap marketing trick. Maybe if we should loud enough they can still change it?

Surur

I think you are right.

This will be fair for both sides and there is no reason a $60 software will have to compete with a $15 software on the amount of sales because this is also impossible.

This will allow users to find good best-selling software that really works and give support according to prices (-$25 for day to day software and +$25 for professional software I would say) and can be easily added on their site with the current tabs design they created.

I hope we could get Handango to comment this post.

We did approach Handango with this idea, but they said it would make it too complex. There are many Handango decisions we disagree with and this is one of them.

[alex_kac]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

I disagree. If a user makes a program free or one cent - how is that fair? Its not a best selling app. Its a best given away app.

[DinarSoft]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

Actually this just happened recently (2 weeks ago)
A title was listed on HandAnGo for .01 $ and the next day it was #1 in the best selling, then the author changed the price to 20$.
However, the number of downloads was something like ~30. We kept woundring how come an application with 30 downloads make it to #1.
But now from this discssion we understand how.
The developer bought his own software (many many copies of it) which doesn't change the number of downloads (That's why he had a small number of downloads).
And because HandAnGo system takes time to reflect the changes many people saw this title being sold for 1 cent.

[amitregev]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

I disagree. If a user makes a program free or one cent - how is that fair? Its not a best selling app. Its a best given away app.

I agree with you, but, at the same time, if you will look at the old rating system, no software under $10 was listed in the top ten and most of the titles in the top ten were at the price range of $15-$30, which proves people know to identify good software and support and not only price.

[bigkingfun]

I disagree. If a user makes a program free or one cent - how is that fair? Its not a best selling app. Its a best given away app.

I can see this from both sides of the argument. If a program is sold for one cent, it is still being sold. The developer may not be making any money, but it is still selling. I don't agree with it if they buy a whole bunch of their own program to get it in the list, but if it is selling well enough to end users because of the price to make the list, I personally don't see anything wrong with that.

I think Handango needs to have controls in place to stop a developer from buying a whole bunch of their own title and then instantly raising the price, if that's what has been happening.

I also think maybe the term "best selling" is part of the problem. To me best selling means the title that has sold the most, not the title that has brought in the most revenue. Perhaps they should rename it "Top rated" or something similar.

[amitregev]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

Actually this just happened recently (2 weeks ago)
A title was listed on HandAnGo for .01 $ and the next day it was #1 in the best selling, then the author changed the price to 20$.
However, the number of downloads was something like ~30. We kept woundring how come an application with 30 downloads make it to #1.
But now from this discssion we understand how.
The developer bought his own software (many many copies of it) which doesn't change the number of downloads (That's why he had a small number of downloads).
And because HandAnGo system takes time to reflect the changes many people saw this title being sold for 1 cent.

Handango can identify these cases pretty easily and can also monitor product price changes manually, this way limiting such tricks.

Another smart step for a real "better place to do business in" will be to count only sales with a minimum price of %50-40 of the product price as real sales - this way limiting tricky "promotions".

[alex_kac]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

I disagree. If a user makes a program free or one cent - how is that fair? Its not a best selling app. Its a best given away app.

I agree with you, but, at the same time, if you will look at the old rating system, no software under $10 was listed in the top ten and most of the titles in the top ten were at the price range of $15-$30, which proves people know to identify good software and support and not only price.

I agree. Except that at times the list was rigged. And that's what handango is trying to fix. They are fixing it the wrong way...

[amitregev]

Check my previous post - this is the right way they should have solved these issue. (and of course I there are many other ways to do it)

[smashcasi]

Handango can identify these cases pretty easily and can also monitor product price changes manually, this way limiting such tricks.

Another smart step for a real "better place to do business in" will be to count only sales with a minimum price of %50-40 of the product price as real sales - this way limiting tricky "promotions".

Right. They could also determine the best selling based on number of unique customers, so someone buying repeatedly or buying in bulk would only be counted once.

As already noted, there are any number of solutions that would work more toward the developer's interests. I'm afraid that what it comes down to is that Handango doesn't want lower-priced applications to be listed prominently. They want the higher-priced applications in the spotlight because that is more in line with their interests.

What I find most disappointing is that no matter what Handango does, there is very little that developers can do besides take it. If a product is dependant on Handango for a significant part of its success, leaving the site isn't really an option. We can ask them to make changes and work towards driving more customers towards direct sales, but that's about it. It makes me wonder how long it will be before they decide they'd like another 10% of our revenue.

[alex_kac]

Handango can identify these cases pretty easily and can also monitor product price changes manually, this way limiting such tricks.

Another smart step for a real "better place to do business in" will be to count only sales with a minimum price of %50-40 of the product price as real sales - this way limiting tricky "promotions".

Right. They could also determine the best selling based on number of unique customers, so someone buying repeatedly or buying in bulk would only be counted once.

As already noted, there are any number of solutions that would work more toward the developer's interests. I'm afraid that what it comes down to is that Handango doesn't want lower-priced applications to be listed prominently. They want the higher-priced applications in the spotlight because that is more in line with their interests.

What I find most disappointing is that no matter what Handango does, there is very little that developers can do besides take it. If a product is dependant on Handango for a significant part of its success, leaving the site isn't really an option. We can ask them to make changes and work towards driving more customers towards direct sales, but that's about it. It makes me wonder how long it will be before they decide they'd like another 10% of our revenue.

Nobody has to leave Handango. But there are always options. It just depends on how much risk one is willing to take. And I've found my greatest success comes from the greatest risk. The choice is do you let Handango have the profit of sales that YOU drive to them as well as the ones they drive?

The truth is that in about 2 weeks this will be forgotten. Just like every other Handango change.

[JMac]

Under the old system, it was possible for developers to discount their products by 99% or to $0.01 and then buy hundreds of copies of their own software. So for a small entry fee an application could propel itself to the top 10 instantly, knocking out a legitimate best seller. We saw this as products that moved radically within the best seller's list overnight, or appeared in the top 10 having only a handful of sales. The new system should prevent that.

I think its quite fair to manipulate the Best Seller list by dropping prices, as long as this discount is available to everyone. If it is not then its just another scam, like fake Ebay feedback.

Surur

I disagree. If a user makes a program free or one cent - how is that fair? Its not a best selling app. Its a best given away app.

I agree with you, but, at the same time, if you will look at the old rating system, no software under $10 was listed in the top ten and most of the titles in the top ten were at the price range of $15-$30, which proves people know to identify good software and support and not only price.

I agree. Except that at times the list was rigged. And that's what handango is trying to fix. They are fixing it the wrong way...

But they won't fix it.

They never fixed it when a program that had 358 total downloads when it first hit the People's Choice Awards rankings as #1, and by the end of the contest won the Best Business Award with less than 500 downloads. Ahead of many truly useful and popular programs.

(And here I thought dead people only voted in Philadelphia and Chicago.....)

I do believe it all comes down to Handango's revenue, period.

[ipaq_wannabe]

i never had any bad service from handango *yet* *knock on wood*

but based on user comments from other user sites, handango is the one software house that they'd like to avoid...

unanimous answer - money and greed...

so, i think it would have to guess the same that the reason behind this change would be nothing more than $$$$

[amitregev]

As much as I know Handango support is good, especially when you take in consideration the amount of support they have to handle :) and they are also very trustable when it comes to handle credit issues.

I just hope someone at Handango will decide to re-think this decision and create a better "popular" software list then the current new system.

[dommasters]

Handango is the only company I can think of that lists best sellers in this way. Many of their lists are now meaningless because of this change and I would be surprised if 3rd parties continue to quote their charts. It is obviously a money grab - I frequently get emails encouraging me to raise prices.

As for them taking 40%. They take 50% off me yet I can't sell my apps in many of their channels as they're either too big (Handango In-Hand) or not certified (Symbian).

I'm real tempted to become a $1 app supplier in defiance :devilboy: ....
Dom

PS When I started out Handango sold 97% of my output. They are now down to 23% and it seems to get lower every month :0) The more they take % wise the more effort I make in pursuing other options ... do the same !

[SquareBob]

I wonder what motivated Handango to make this change?

$$$ Not sure how, but I'm sure it's at the root.

In my opinion, most PPC developers are very naïve about how the real world operates. They are mainly a bunch of geeks and have no business sense whatsoever.

Handango is a business. Plain and simple. They are going to do whatever it takes to maximize their profits and minimize their expense.

Their new rating system is clearly designed to keep out the little guys and the new developers. In most cases, there are several apps out there which solve similar problems. Take the DVD rippers for example. I am sure Handango would rather have just one of them get all the money. That way they have less expense (less IT costs and don't have to deal with as many developers) and they make more money (because their fee schedule is the more the developer makes the more Handango takes).

Can you blame them for this? Sounds like a good business plan to me.

Let's put it another way.

Think of a software developer as a whore, Handango as the pimp, and the customers as the Johns.

It is the pimp's responsibility to find the John to use the Whore's service. As long as the pimp has plenty of whores to push around he will do whatever he can do to take advantage of the situation.

Most of the whores are afraid to stand up to the pimp because they are afraid the pimp will just go out and find another whore. This is probably true.

So, unless the whores (software developers) stand up to the pimps (Handango) nothing is going to change.

I own a business and am amazed at how little you little whores charge for your apps. I can't imagine most of you are making that much money doing it. Get a clue, increase your prices! I'll bet if you take the net revenue and divide it by the number of hours you spend developing and supporting the app, you are well under minimum wage.

I think the only people who are making out are the pimps and the johns. The pimps are making a ton of money, the johns are getting good software at really cheap prices, and the whores (SW developers) are getting the shaft.

The only thing that is going to get the pimps attention is drastic action by the whores. Perhaps the whores should stop using Handango as their E-Commerce engine. If the whore is found by the john, without the help of the pimp, then why should the pimp get any of the cash? Of course, if the whore is willing to give the pimp 40 - 50% of the cash then why would the pimp do anything different? Perhaps the whores should pick a week, like the second week of December and deactivate ALL their products. Of course, if only a few of the whores do this, then the pimps won't care because there are plenty of other whores out there.

The ONLY thing that will get Handango's attention is money. Handango is a business; they are out there to make as much money as possible.

Could Handango monitor their site and delist products who sell for a penny and then jump to $19.95? Of course they could. Would this be hard for them to do? Not at all. Would it be beneficial to the software developers? Absolutely! Would it be beneficial for Handango from a business point of view? Probably not! So, why should they do it?

[Albegor]

In my opinion, most PPC developers are very naïve about how the real world operates. They are mainly a bunch of geeks and have no business sense whatsoever.

Handango is a business. Plain and simple. They are going to do whatever it takes to maximize their profits and minimize their expense.


Doh! This post amazed me for its clarity and for the genial comparison of the two digital and natural business models so much that I think I'll print and stick it around somewhere to look at it every now and then to have a laugh, or a bitter smile if you prefer! :wink:

As a developer I had to learn the hard way that business is business is valid everywhere money is involved, especially in the frenetic IT world, but there are always soft spots where discussion and confrontation can take place between the bigger and the smaller, and you have to go through them with a business plan, not just with rants.
I'm not defending anyone here, since as a developer I understand that we always want more from a publisher who's eating a large piece of the pie and if you don't want to risk to search for alternatives I suggest to spend more time in talking with them about business and marketing instead of ranting in a public forum.
That without taking nothing out of the fundamental importance of discussing in a forum such as this one. :)

[alex_kac]

I have to agree. In my experience the majority of developers know nothing about business. Even for myself coming from a heritage of growing up around a family owned manufacturing business, it took a few years for everything I saw growing up to sink in as an adult. The fact is that business is all about risk taking. Safe business policy only keeps you stagnant. Taking risks is the only way to grow. Even if that means short term loss.

The fact is that most developers come from an engineering or IT perspective where they had low amount of risk in their salary and benefits. Handango is feeding off the fear that those same developers have when they want to step out into the world on their own. They are in effect becoming the company that "employs" the developers with Handango promoting, selling, advertising, and making deals on your behalf. Of course at the same time they want to charge you for everything AND take a cut.

[amitregev]

The fact is that most developers come from an engineering or IT perspective where they had low amount of risk in their salary and benefits. Handango is feeding off the fear that those same developers have when they want to step out into the world on their own. They are in effect becoming the company that "employs" the developers with Handango promoting, selling, advertising, and making deals on your behalf. Of course at the same time they want to charge you for everything AND take a cut.

I don't think Handango are feeding fears in the developers; Handango is simply a publisher and being a publisher have always been the better side of the business. If you will take the music/movies/books industries you will see exactly the same behavior, so I see no fault in it. Handango, from their side, are doing something developers will never be able to do as a stand alone, and this is getting commercial publish agreements with companies like MS, Nokia, Sony and other major companies - and therefore, allowing even a stand-alone developer to reach a large customer base - and they should be granted for it.

I just think their last change in the rating system was a wrong decision, also on the business level that will cause them eventually to lose revenue and then heart developers too. I believe promoting more expensive software will cause new PPC users to leave Handango in favor of other sites that still promote low cost software too. Customers will then move to new smaller sites, and this of course will also heart developers, which prefer to sell their software in small amount of publishers as possible (less maintenance and tax issues...).

[alex_kac]

The fact is that most developers come from an engineering or IT perspective where they had low amount of risk in their salary and benefits. Handango is feeding off the fear that those same developers have when they want to step out into the world on their own. They are in effect becoming the company that "employs" the developers with Handango promoting, selling, advertising, and making deals on your behalf. Of course at the same time they want to charge you for everything AND take a cut.

I don't think Handango are feeding fears in the developers; Handango is simply a publisher and being a publisher have always been the better side of the business. If you will take the music/movies/books industries you will see exactly the same behavior, so I see no fault in it. Handango, from their side, are doing something developers will never be able to do as a stand alone, and this is getting commercial publish agreements with companies like MS, Nokia, Sony and other major companies - and therefore, allowing even a stand-alone developer to reach a large customer base - and they should be granted for it.


I disagree. From the beginning of my relationship with them over 4 years ago, they have constantly been pushing the fact that they can handle all the stuff that most developers aren't used to doing. Handango is NOT a publisher. A publisher means that its exclusive. For example if you buy a book from Tom Clancy - its published by one specific firm. Not many. Handango is a reseller. And no, I don't think Handango is doing wrong here because they are doing what any reseller would do, but they are capitalizing on the fear of the unknown in areas that most developers don't have any experience in. That's not wrong - but its important to note in the context of this discussion because what it means is that Handango can make many types of changes that are detrimental to the publishers (the developers) and many of those feel as if they have no choice but to follow it. That's where they feed on the fear.

[amitregev]

Just a short follow-up....

Today, exactly a month later since Handango changed their rating system - and since I posted my initial post on SBSH.net forums - World mate past both Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion and is now rated second "most-popular" software on Handango! (give it another day or two and it will become first of course...)

Now the main question - do you really think this is the most popular software for Pocket PC?? with 12K downloads! more popular then Pocket Informant - a software pre-installed on all HP 4700 devices!! with probably the largest user base in the Pocket PC market.

So, from today, a new user to the Pocket PC world that comes to Handango for the first time, the largest mobile software store, will try to learn what software is most popular....

(I want to add that I really have nothing against Worldmate and it is indeed a great software! - but I don't think it is more popular then software like Pocket Informant or Agenda Fusion).

[dommasters]

It's a con pure and simple. Still, if I were a new user and visited Handango along with other sites like Pocketgear, I would choose Pocketgear as it appears "cheaper" ....

I list my apps at:

www.pocketgear.com
www.pdassi.com
www.regnow.com
www.mobile2day.com
www.symbos.com
www.pocketpcmall.com
www.cnet.com
www.pocketpccity.com
www.mobihand.com
www.clickapps.com

and others. I think Handango are losing their market share so be sure to list at each and every site. Let me know any I haven't listed !