You got your Android app into Google Play, and now you’re ready to distribute it far and wide to every app store you can find. Free money, right? Not quite.

It’s best to know what you’re getting yourself into. Releasing an Android app to a new app store may seem like double the profit for an app that’s already been developed. Unfortunately, there are costs associated with getting an app into each new market. These costs may include direct payments and development time. Even if you’re able to do everything yourself, each hour spent on these tasks has an opportunity cost.

Known costs

Many developers are familiar with account fees for app stores — like the Apple App Store, there are fees for some Android markets. Amazon copied the model of Apple directly, charging $99 per year, but they give you the first year free. Google is far cheaper — just a one-time fee of $25, and you’re good for life. While a few app stores charge a testing fee per release, many are free for developers.

What about development costs to prepare an app for a new app market?

Each app store can impose its own restrictions, which can range from missing software (e.g., Google Maps) to missing hardware (the camera, GPS, etc.) and beyond. Sometimes big changes need to be made, and some apps may not be compatible with the target Android app market.

Additionally, many app stores require that all apps link only to apps within the same app store. For example, an app on the Amazon Appstore can’t link to another app on Google Play.

Particularly for your first app to port to other app stores, you will need to investigate the limitations and provide workarounds. For example, it might be necessary to:

  • Change all links to link to the target app market.
  • Remove certain features that aren’t applicable to the target platforms.
  • Switch from Google-centric apps like Maps to achieve similar functionality on other platforms.

Incidental costs

After you sign up for the market and crank through the necessary changes, everything is good now, right? Unfortunately, there may be additional costs before the app can be released.

First of all, the required graphics differ by app store. Developers and publishers may not realize this until they go to deploy, at which point some rework will be needed for the icon and the promotional graphics.

The testing process is even more time-consuming. Unlike Google Play, submission to a curated market such as the Amazon Appstore or the Nook Store requires approval from the testing team. This can be an interactive process during which you are required to make changes and resubmit an updated version of your app. The overall process can involve weeks of waiting, in addition to the development time to make changes. (Read the TechRepublic post Getting your Android app on the Nook Apps store.)

Hidden costs

A number of the costs are harder to quantify and identify. For example, what is the cost of the app release being delayed a week or two while you are in testing limbo?

Beyond the initial release, there can be long-term costs that build up. Maintaining the tweaks and changes for each app store can add a bit of effort, depending on how they are set up.

Even harder to identify are the costs of choices made to satisfy app store requirements. If you decide not to pursue some features because they won’t be available in all app stores, the overall success of the app on Google Play could be affected. This kind of thing tends to creep up over time.

Don’t give up just yet

Knowing these costs and challenges related to releasing apps to different Android app stores, you may be tempted to conclude that it’s not worth pursuing. Each developer must make that decision for him or herself.

However, it’s worth noting that my success on Google’s market was surpassed quite a while ago by success on other app markets. I wouldn’t want to be without the income my apps have earned in these other app stores.

I hope that understanding what costs are involved in distributing Android apps to multiple markets will help you plan accordingly.