Migrating paid apps in Android Market

Posted by on October 24, 2011 No comments

A great advantage of Android’s application market is that it is tightly linked to a user’s Google Account. Got a new android device? Sign in with your Google Account credentials on the new device, and all your apps, including paid apps will be automatically synced to the new device. (I’m saying device since Android is not just loaded on to phones, but on Tablets, TVs and who knows what else is in store!)

But the great advantage is also of great pain when the same user tries a new identity on the device. Great many amount of people change their online identities (read email addresses) for many reasons. And since the Google Account is primarily a GMail account, that’s where the catch is… All the apps for which you have paid your hard earned money will not come back to your new Google account.

Google doesn’t even provide any mechanism to link an old account to the new account and allow the paid apps to be installed… Only way is to link the device with both the Google accounts. There is no mechanism to migrate data from one account to another account – So much for the company who says has an engineering team dedicated to migrating data into & out of their products.

The only way is to re-purchase the app, unless the developer generously provides “out of the market” support. Recently I faced such a problem, but with support from the developer of one of the best apps of Android, I was able to migrate my Pro version of Titanium backup to my new account.

titanium-backup-pro-joel

Titanium Backup Pro

Thanks for your awesome product, Joel. Twice that awesomeness was your support.

Though the lack of the migration feature is an opportunity for developers to showcase their level of dedication to customer support, I really wish Google would build the feature and let all those developers spend their valuable time on upgrading the greatness of their apps.

Icon Ambulance

Posted by on August 26, 2011 No comments

From Vic Gundotra:

[..]

After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?

“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve.

“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

[..]

But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.

No doubt Steve is a legend.

You’re the ones

Posted by on August 26, 2011 No comments

At an internal meeting at Apple after the success of the iMac was just becoming evident:

Steve Jobs came out and the whole theater burst into applause, and the clapping went on for minutes, with people standing and cheering.

Steve let the applause go on for a little bit, then, with much effort, settled down the crowd. When things got quiet, the first thing he said was: “That’s an awful lot of applause considering that you guys are the ones who do all the work.”

Everyone leapt to their feet and applauded again for several minutes more, this time with Steve egging them on, applauding each other as a team.

That moment has since defined what I think about as leadership.

Indeed.

Hello world!

Posted by on July 26, 2011 No comments

Welcome to my new blog. I’ve thought for a while about restarting my blog, but I finally got around to it. I plan to write on topics that touch me daily, ranging from technology, design, open source & software to movies, supply chain & operations management.