It has been a very long time I didn't write article in English since almost of my blog post are for local but for this issue, I think it supposes to be for global :)
Till now we, Hua Lampong, submitted a lot of Qt applications to Ovi Store so I think it is time to share my concerns on Ovi Store publicly. What's good and what is the weakness including suggestion how to improve. (However please note that this article was written personally not in the name of Hua Lampong)
First of all, I must say that "I love this store quite much". This is the store I gained most money compare to any other App Store (surprise?). So I think it's better to share about its strong point first =P
Here are the strong points:
"Operator Billing": This is the strong'est' point at all. User could buy things on Ovi Store easily without credit card!! What does it mean? It means any user in the world could spend money to buy license application!!
"1 Euro to register for life-time": I must admit that the price to join Ovi Store Publisher is VERY sexy. Affordable for everyone :)
Concern on its weak points:
"No update notification": User will not be able to know there is new update available on Ovi Store. Honestly I have never updated any application I downloaded from Ovi Store... This is the very weak point. If there is new version that add new features or may be just fix the bug, user should know to update the application, shouldn't they?
And the biggest concern is:
Ovi Store always has problem with Qt application installaion. Many users could download it but fail at installation. Some of them face the "Freeze at Preparing Installation problem", some just got "Installation Failed". I could say that it is Ovi Store client problem with Smart Installer since when I tried to install it manually using sis file without Smart Installer and everything works just fine!
Moreover, the funniest part is although user couldn't finish installation but they still be able to give star to the application review and sure ... those who couldn't get application installed always give "1 star"!!
So please Ovi Store PLEASE! please fix this issue as soon as possible. Being ranked 1 star because of application quality is fine but being ranked because of Ovi Store's fault is totally not fair for developer like us.
Last two questions I wanna raise to Ovi Store Publisher team are:
1. Do you have any plan to fix this issue?
2. Do you have any policy to remove those 1-star ranking from the one who couldn't download or install it?
Hope this little voice reach you and make Ovi Store better :)