[See how one can develop and deploy an application on iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian in just 1 week and have it published on top app stores]

This second article covers the steps to publish the app on the top stores: Apple App Store, Android Market, Nokia OVI store and Microsoft Windows phone Marketplace.

Mobile App Stores

With ELIPS Studio 3, I was able to develop an application in Flex that can run on Windows Mobile, iPhone, Symbian and Android - see my previous post.

Now, I would like to get it published on the top app stores.
Indeed, with the success of Apple and its iPhone App Store, Mobile Application Stores became a credible way for developers to monetize their apps, to a point that tens of stores are now available, new stores opening every day, week or month.

This post explains the process I had to go through to get my app on 4 of those stores, one by platform.

App Stores can be classified as follows:

• Platform/OS vendors centric, like Windows phone Marketplace and Android Market
• Handset makers centric, like Nokia OVI store or Samsung Apps
• Carrier/Operator centric, like Orange Application Shop or Vodafone 360
• Independent vendors, like Handster or GetJar just to name few

For a good market overview, be sure to check this interesting article from the Vision Mobile blog: Mobile App Stores: The Next Two Years, or read this great summary from the WIP wiki: the list of App Stores, as knwon in January 2010.

Now let us see the different steps I had to go through to have my ELIPS Studio app published on 4 app stores.

1. Account registration

The first step is to register to the different App Stores. The pricing model is generally based on a yearly fee. In order to publish paying content, tax and bank information are requested. The registration process can be done in one or few days depending on the vendor, so I recommended to do it early in the development process.

2. Testing

The testing strategies are more or less strict from one store to another, but it is obviously necessary to ensure that the application is succesfully installing and executing on the device before submitting it.

For Windows Mobile, make sure your app fullfills the requirements in the Submission Guidelines doc for succesfull submission. Note that it is possible to send a Waiver Request in case you fail to fulfill some of the requirements.

For Symbian, Symbian Signed Test Criteria must be fullfilled prior to submitting your application for Express Signed certification as discussed in the next chapter.

3. Certification and Signature

In order to be able to distribute my application on app stores, a level of certification is necessary. The application binary files need to be signed.

For iPhone, certificates can be obtained online once you are registered to the developer program. Signature occurs at application compilation using the Distribution Build mode. It is fully described in the iPhone developer program portal.

For Android, no certification authority is required, but application must be self-signed. This is taken care of in ELIPS Studio, just follow the Android Build configuration guidelines.

For publishing Symbian apps on Nokia OVI Store, you need to get a publisher ID certificate from TC trustcenter for a yearly fee. Signature of the ".sis" binary file can be achieved online using the Symbian Signed website.

In short:

1. Request a UID online for your app and use it in the project properties together with your certificate when compiling in ELIPS Studio. The build output is a ".sisx" file that you need to rename ".sis".
2. Create a zip archive with the ".sis" plus the ".pkg" and a Readme.txt containing a brief description of the app.
3. Buy online an Express Signed Content ID if you do not have any.
4. Go to the Express Signed Submission page to upload the zip archive. You shall get an Express Signed ".sis" file in return that you can then reference in the Symbian Horizon Directory.

Note that it is assumed your application passed the test criteria when submitting it for signature. Check full details in the Complete Guide To Symbian Signed.

For Windows Mobile, a certificate is assigned to you as part of the Windows Marketplace registration process. The signature is applied online when submitting an app (see next).

4. Distribution

Once you have the binary files correctly signed and tested, you can submit them online on the stores for distribution.
Unlike Windows Marketplace that charges at each application submission trial, other stores adopted an all-you-can-publish model where application submission is free of charge.

See the table below for publishing guidelines link and list of resources required as part of the submission process.

(*) Duration given based on the time taken for the free TweetMWC app to be approved. Duration may vary according to application type and pricing model.

5. Post sales

All stores propose online reporting tools so follow up the sales and try out different pricing model to increase your revenues. Advertisement revenues can also be a good alternative to the paying model.
For increasing the visibility of your app, talk to your friends, update your social networks, drop videos on YouTube and contact specialized websites.

6. Now it's up to you...

Alright, so with ELIPS Studio I was able to develop once and publish my app on the top stores.

Which means I am addressing, with a single tool, and a single code base, a market of 100s millions of phones and customers!

So try it out now and join the mobile app market opportunity!