Just wanted to know if anyone had details on the situation regarding selling apps into China on iTunes? Also wanted to know if China does open up for our games, if developers are worried about seeing their games being copied and re-published quickly. Do games have to be categorized as entertainment on iTunes to even be considered in China? Infos and comments please! If Chinese developers (Fwish where are you?) could help out with info that would be grrrreat.
You've always been able to purchase apps on the Chinese iTunes. Just not games. Has to do with the iPod/iPhone not being approved as a gaming device by the government. Not sure why it raises the risk more than today. For the moment, yes. My money is on that changing fairly quickly. Can't imagine Apple being too happy that the biggest sellers can't be bought, or will have to have duplicate copies in Entertainment, clogging up the review system.
yes, only app not game are currently available in the china app store. We did not know exactly why or when, but in our case, we have decide to fully translated our games in 10 languages including the chinese simplified. So to guide you on your "yes or no" question, in our vision, we are ready in case of a change in the china app store.
When did this happen???? Edit: Hmmm, not all my games are there yet. They must be in the middle of putting everything in...
Eh Fwish, Your English is perfect when you are describing your own games! How come now when we need you to articulate properly the cat has got your (tongue) vocabulary!
Currently, China does NOT allow the "entertainment" or "games" category of iTunes. This is because the Ministry of Culture has determined that content to be incompatible with the focus of China and in violation of censorship protocols. Article to show Chinas Communist Party that controls all forms of media in the country: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/global/05yuan.html
Hi Little White Bear, I used these guys to translate for me and they did a great job. I had a Chinese friend read the translation and he was very impressed. Turn around was very quick! They are fluent in English (one of them actually is an American) making the whole process simple.( I suggested they post their services on Touch Arcade! ) I have no hesitation recommending Sino App! Here is the info sino.app sino-app.com shanghai, china [email protected] 86.152.1661.3820
PocketMonkey, Never underestimate the power of the US dollar! Check out the Chinese iTunes store! Green is the colour that makes anything possible!
Games have been missing until recently, but Entertainment has been there the whole time. Some devs have released alternate versions of their games for that very reason. Are you suggesting that what we're seeing on the Chinese App Store really isn't what they're seeing?
Thanks for the suggestion! However, I already have a working relationship with DYS Translations, and have been extremely happy with their services, so I'll most likely be sticking with them.
I don't know if games are up and running or for sale in China ! But I have been in the Chinese store many times and I can't remember the game section being listed so prominently. It looks real to me! Are you suggesting the western world sees something different? I think they are ready to go. Hopefully the devs will see revenue from China!
The last time I checked a few weeks back, the games section was not there, so this is recent. Bet the good sales numbers won't kick in until the iPhone debut on the 30th.
Forgive me for my ignorance on this matter, but how big will the iDevice market be in China, relatively speaking? I know the potential is there because of the large population, but to the best of my knowledge India is not a huge market for iDevice games, even though they too have a large population. From my understanding, this is mainly due to the pricing structure, and I wasn't sure if the Chinese market would share a similar fate. Can someone enlighten me on this matter, I'd greatly appreciate it!
It depends on which expert you ask. Some think it will be huge. Some think it will be very tiny, due to the fact that iPhones and clones have been available there through other means for a couple years now. From what I hear, the China App Store has had pretty small sales up to now. So, nobody knows for sure. For me, if China can bring me an extra $50 a day, I'd be satisfied.
I also think China might be a much smaller deal (at least in the short term) than people say. Hope to be proven wrong. But like Pharmx points out, there are a lot of countries with high populations (like India) where you're lucky to get one sale/month. Another problem may be culture. For example, the iPhone is apparently very popular in Russia. However, #1 apps only get daily downloads in the double digits. And that's because piracy is rampant. People don't think twice about it. Not sure how that translates to China, but my going theory is that it's going to be a blip for us. We'll see.
Too true. I've sold a whopping 115 copies of my games in India in the last year. Let's hope China will do better than that.
