Simon Judge uses his own experience in selling applications to consumers to explore the ways in which you can distribute your first Symbian OS, UIQ-based application.

It is this experience that has allowed Simon to put together a list of issues to be considered before making your application available for consumers to purchase. The tutorial document goes into more detail, but here's a summary:

• Symbian Signing: most sales channels are more interested in Symbian Signed applications as an assurance of quality
• Demonstration version: end-users expect to be able to try a demo version and not having one may restrict sales
• Downloads and installations: consumers will probably have problems with download and installation rather than the application itself, selling via an intermediary with technical support avoids this significant burden
• Commission: sales channel commission structures vary by website and sales volumes
• Market exposure: don't just consider commission, market exposure is equally important
• Refunds: a clearly stated refund policy is a must
• Credit card chargebacks: chargebacks are debits from your account due to credit card companies reversing a transaction and you need to be clear on your responsibilities
• Software registration and preventing piracy: preventing the most determined hacker may inconvenience the less-technical end-user so using simple registration code schemes is advised
• Upgrades: you need to manage the end-user's expectation of free or discounted upgrades
• Support: don't underestimate the amount of technical support end-users expect
• Selling price: check similar applications when setting your selling price

Sales channels

The next section of the tutorial outlines the various routes to market. Simon Judge summarizes the Sony Ericsson options, including the Sony Ericsson Application Shop website open to all Symbian Signed applications and invitation-only applications that are pre-loaded on CDs/Memory Sticks or embedded directly on phones. Other channels are then discussed in the context of Symbian OS-based applications and Simon Judge includes lists of useful web links for:

• Network operators
• Software aggregators
• Online stores
• Selling via our own website
• Freeware

The full paper can be downloaded here: http://developer.sonyericsson.com/getDocument.do?docId=96228

The complete series of tutorials can be downloaded here: http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/tutorials/p_tutorials.jsp