5 Alternatives to the Google Play Store to Increase Downloads

 

As an Android developer, achieving downloads from the Google play store can feel like an impossible task.  With increasing competition, strict policy changes and an already difficult environment to make money, we are always looking for other ways to increase downloads and number of users.

We scoured the web to find the best alternative app marketplaces to market your app.  Here are our top 5 choices.

SlideMe

SlideME is unique because they recognize that not everyone can find what they are looking for in one app store.  They use an on-device application store that allows users to see apps directed specifically towards their interests, needs, geographical location, and even payment method.  According to their website, they are the number 1 alternative Android Application Marketplace for the world.  According to crunchbase, SlideMe has over 25,000 unique daily visitors.  Your newest users are waiting for you there!

Amazon App store for Android

A few months before Amazon released their Android powered tablet, Kindle Fire, they opened theAmazon App store for Android.  It originally opened just for US users, but this summer they expanded to the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.  Publishing your app in Amazon will open you up to those users using the Kindle Fire.  With the recent announcement of the newest Kindle, this could be a great way to increase your apps reach.

Android Pit

Whether your app is a game, for communications, entertainment, music, news, or any category, it has a home at the Android Pit App store.  The team at Android Pit has created a beautifully clean and easily navigable app store.  Complete with a 5 star rating scale and an easy to use interface, Android Pit is a great site to use.  In addition to the app store, Android Pit is a full scale website with a very nice developer community, wonderful app reviews and informative articles about Android news and industry reports.

App Brain

App Brain makes our list because of its amazing filtering features.  Not only are you able to filter by location, you can see which apps are popular amongst different groups of people.  There are standard groups like men and women, but also some interesting fields like people in their twenties, older people, and the latest apps reviewed by appbrain.  Not only is App Brain a great app store, it’s a fantastic resource for market statistics.

Android Zoom

The last, but certaintly not least app to make our list is AndroidZoom.  With over 200,000 followers on facebook and an amazing youtube channel, they feature many different apps in their video reviews.  Not only can you see the top 50 most viewed apps on the site, you are able to view theclimbers, apps that are moving up the list, as well as the fallers, the ones headed off the list.  These different views give your app many more opportunities to be seen by users, and therefore more likely to be downloaded.

 

 

Amazon Appstore

Amazon’s app store is probably the most well-known alternative to the Android Market. It’s included by default on the Kindle Fire . The big drawback to this app store is that it’s only available in the US.

If you are in the USA, the Amazon App Store is a great alternative to the Android Market. Not only is it chock-full of paid apps and free apps, it gives away a new paid app every day. Visit it each day to check out the new free app — these apps are only free for a 24-hour period.

GetJar

GetJar isn’t as well-known, but it’s available everywhere. GetJar also gives away paid apps for free.

Unlike Amazon’s app giveaways, GetJar’s paid app giveaways don’t expire. GetJar adds new paid apps to its free “Gold Apps” section every week.

AppBrain

AppBrain takes a different, more social approach to an app store. It sells itself as an app recommendation system. With its social features, you can friend people and view your friends’ favorite apps. You can also see the apps that are currently hot, site-wide.

AppBrain’s recommendation engine scans your device and, based on what you currently have installed, gives you personalized app recommendations.

SlideME

You may not have heard of SlideME, but it claims to be the top alternative app store worldwide. It’s preloaded on a variety of devices, particularly in regions where the Android Market isn’t available.

SlideME provides a large collection of both paid and free apps. When you buy an app on SlideME, SlideME gives a higher percentage of the revenue to the developer than Google does for the Android Market.

Opera App Store

If you’re a fan of the Opera web browser, you may be surprised to know that you already have Opera’s app store on your device. You’ll find a link to it on Opera Mobile’s default speed dial page.

Opera acquired its app store though a purchase of Handster in 2011. The store contains Android apps, in addition to apps for other platforms. You can access it through a browser on your device, or use a browser on your PC and download app APK files to your computer.

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There are many other app stores that aren’t included here. With so many alternatives, access to the Android Market is becoming less important with each passing day.

 

 

首选： amazon， Opera, GetJar.