Handango Software Store Problems

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformHome.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/...11&platformId=2</a><br /><br /></div>We're having some problems with our Handango software store, or rather a link to it - if you use the Top 10 Software links on the right column, you'll be taken to a blank screen after you check out. This is because that list links to our old store and we're waiting for updated XML code that will point to our new store. So if you want to shop for Handango software (thanks for supporting our work here!) please use the link on the left hand side of the site - it goes to <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformHome.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2">our new store</a>.

[The PocketTV Team]

And that's not the only problem with Handango:

A couple of days ago, handango changed the procedure used by developers to update their software (they added an option allowing developers to release their updates for a fee to existing customers, i.e. cheaper than the full version).

But by doing this, they managed to break several things:

If you have a freeware and want to update it, you cannot update the version number anymore, and you cannot upload a CAB update for OTA (Over The Air) download.

Also, apparently, when Handango released their new portal a couple of month ago, they have apparently broken the "mobile" version of their portal. If you try to access handango from a WiFi-connected Pocket PC (using PIE), you will not get the handango-mobile portal, but the regular portal, which does not let you download CAB file (only setup-files, that are useless on a Pocket PC).

I thought maybe it was a problem with the browser detection, so I tried entering http://mobile.handango.com to force my way to the mobile portal, no success either.

Another very ennoying thing with the Handango mobile portal (when it was working) is that it was listing only a fraction of the catalog. Their listing was limited to some type of registration models (not to the fact that the developer had provided a CAB file). For example, if you had a challenge-based registration (like we have, and like lots of application have to reduce piracy, i.e. using a device-specific code to obtain the key), they Handango would refuse to list your application on their mobile catalog (which is also the catalog they sell to mobile operators).

I just can't understand why Handango is doing that, as it can only reduce the number of sales, i.e. the profit they make.

[Albegor]

I just can't understand why Handango is doing that, as it can only reduce the number of sales, i.e. the profit they make.

If you're doing business with them I think it's just a matter of asking them a polite question about the issues you mentioned here, since in my experience they reply as much politely, althought not always as promptly as I'd like.
I'll have to ask them by myself since you pointed out some interesting issues. :wink:

[The PocketTV Team]

I just can't understand why Handango is doing that, as it can only reduce the number of sales, i.e. the profit they make.

If you're doing business with them I think it's just a matter of asking them a polite question about the issues you mentioned here, since in my experience they reply as much politely, althought not always as promptly as I'd like.
I'll have to ask them by myself since you pointed out some interesting issues. :wink:
Of course I asked then, I asked them, many times!

In some cases they even seem to have understood what I was talking about.

But I was always told that it's the way their policy is, and they don't intend to change it.

The last email that I wrote to them reads:


Handango person wrote
> Your products are not appearing on PPC OTA clients
> because you have author standard registration.

i know, that's the entire point!

> If you would like to
> create a custom version of your applications with the registration
> model of commercial, pool, or static, I could submit for testing to
> appear on our PPC OTA sites.

we don't want to do that because commercial, pool, or static registration are *very* easy to pirate (lots of cracks available on warez websites), and we don't want to encourage software piracy.

i don't think handango should either (encourage software piracy), but by requiring the developers to use easiely pirated registration schemes in order to be in the OTA catalog, that's exactly what handango is doing! handango is encouraging piracy!

i just hope the people who made this policy are fully aware of that.

some developers, like us, who are serious about fighting piracy are penalized by handango. that does not look right.

and we have no plan to change our registration method for our products (which are good sellers at handango, by the way).

i hope you will forward my comments to the people who are in charge of those policy.


No answer from them, naturally!

[Albegor]

No answer from them, naturally!

I wouldn't have replied either, to be honest, because your email was pretty harsh and did not leave any point of discussion open IMHO. :wink:
The piracy issue is a really difficult one to discuss with anyone involved in this business and some more experienced developers told me to concentrate on providing the user of my software a better experience than hoping to fight piracy since who wants to pay will do that and who doesn't ever won't...
I don't know if that's completely true because I think there's some kind of "education to the respect for the work of the developer" in between...

If there aren't tech problems behind their policy with OTA distribution it probably means they do sell more that way and if you don't agree (me neither at this time) you shouldn't use it.

[The PocketTV Team]

> I wouldn't have replied either, to be honest, because your email was pretty harsh and did not leave any point of discussion open IMHO.

Well, I was much nicer at the beginning, but after receiving "that's our policy and it will not change" answers too many time, I'm starting to get a bit upset by Handango.


> The piracy issue is a really difficult one to discuss with anyone involved in this business and some more experienced developers told me to concentrate on providing the user of my software a better experience than hoping to fight piracy since who wants to pay will do that and who doesn't ever won't...

That's why we provide a free version of PocketTV (Classic), but still we require registration with challenge, this time it's not to prevent piracy, it's to track the use of this free version. This allows us to not register versions that we know have problems on some devices, or have been found to have serious bugs.

Again, Handango refuses to distribute this one OTA. We have much less problems with PocketGear, they allow all their apps to be distributed OTA, and they don't have the same stupid policies as Handango.

> I don't know if that's completely true because I think there's some kind of "education to the respect for the work of the developer" in between...

Also, very often, Handango people do not understand what we are talking about. I am sure only one or two people at Handango understand why in some cases, challenge registration is a needed solution (e.g. that's the only way to control what version we want to enable).

> If there aren't tech problems behind their policy with OTA distribution it probably means they do sell more that way and if you don't agree (me neither at this time) you shouldn't use it.

No: They just THINK they sell more that way.

But the fact is that Handango NEVER tried to open their OTA catalog to applications using other registration models. So how can they know they sell more with their current policy ?

I suggested that at least Handango try changing the policy for, say, 6 month, and check is the selling statistics is any worse (no way it will be worse if you add more titles on the catalog), and if they log significantly more user complaints.

[Albegor]

I still doubt that OTA distribution could make a big difference in sales in the current Pocket PC market. The Smartphone one however might be a totally different thing... 8)
So if we'd like to see Handango including this registration model in their OTA distribution channels I'd suggest we should focus in mentioning them that their competitor Pocketgear is doing that without problems.
I can assure this is the way to approach them since they don't like to stay behind the competition, especially now that Pocketgear is getting bigger. :wink:
I'll try asking them next week and I'll report here what they'll tell me, but still I doubt they're interested in giving this "feature" a high priority on their todo list, at least for the Pocket PC market... it's all about sales in the end. :roll:

[Albegor]

For as much as I've been able to get to know, Handango DOES support Dynamic Registration for their OTA catalog, although there are a few partners such as Sprint that do not allow this registration model for their OTA channels.
Also consider that their InHand client doesn't allow for this model either due to the fact that customers do not necessarily have to enter an email address and there is not an efficient way to send them registration codes.
Hope this will make the issue a bit clearer, although I still have to fully test the OTA distribution opportunity for my software. :wink: