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an authorized carrier’s terms of service. There have been rare cases of programs being pulled because of user or carrier complaints, but as long as you use common sense, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

The next section covers updates to already published applications.

14.4Updating

Let’s say your app has been in the Market for a little while and you want to make a change. The simplest kind of change is to the program’s metadata, that is, the title, description, price, and all the other information you filled out in the previous section. To change this noncode information, simply select your program from the list on the Developer’s Console, make the change, and then click Save.

Do you have a new version of your code? No problem, you can upload it from this page too. Before you do that, however, take a moment to verify that you have changed the two version numbers in your AndroidManifest.xml file. Increment android:versionCode= by one every time you upload (for example, from 1 to 2), and bump the human-readable version number in android:versionName= by the appropriate amount (for example, from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 for a minor bug fix). Once the version number is correct and the package has been rebuilt and re-signed, select Upload Upgrade; then click Browse, find your new .apk file, and click Upload to send it to the server.

Here’s a tip: the value of android:versionName= can be anything. To save space in the limited application description field, some developers include the change description in the version name instead, as in android: versionName="1.0.1 (Fixed crash, improved performance)".

Regardless of the change, you must click the Publish button for your changes to be visible to Android Market users. If you click Save instead, changes will be kept in draft form until you finally commit and click Publish.

If possible, I suggest you perform frequent updates, every two weeks or so. This performs two functions:

•It makes users happy, because they think you are supporting them and listening to their suggestions.

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•It keeps your app near the top of the Recently Updated list in the Market. That’s one way for new users to discover your program and give it the chance it deserves.

14.5Closing Thoughts

Here are a few final tips about the Market that I learned the hard way by publishing my own programs there:

•You can make a paid app free, but you can’t made a free app paid. If there’s any chance you might want to have a free (light) version and a paid (pro) version of your program, then create them both up front. Never take anything away that you put in the free version, or you risk a firestorm of protests.

•In the current version of the Market, you won’t be able to buy your own paid application. I hope that will be fixed in a future version.

•Read all the comments left by users, but don’t hesitate to report especially rude or vulgar ones as spam. Keep your comment area clean for useful feedback, both positive and negative.

•Don’t get discouraged. People can be cruel, especially when posting anonymous comments. A thick skin and a sense of humor are invaluable tools of the trade.