Google just terminated our start-up Google Play Publisher Account on Christmas day
An open letter from an Android developer to the Android Community and specially to Purnima Kochikar, director of Google Play, Apps & Games at Google.
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(Translations of this Open Letter: Russian, (Spanish coming soon))
TL;DR; Who watches the watchmen at Google Play?
- December 24th. Received Google Play account termination email. It mentions it is due to prior violations of “associated accounts” outlined in previous emails.
- Never received any communication prior the termination regarding any infringement not solved or previous emails regarding to an “associated account”.
- December 24th. I appealed for human assistance by suggested text form because Google Play lacks of a proper Developer Customer service by phone or assigned account manager.
- December 25th. I received 24 hours exactly after the termination communication an email telling me that my appeal has been rejected. (Most probably rejected by a bot)
- Result: A ten years long Android career and a successful start-up killed for Christmas.
An introduction
I have been developing Android apps for nearly 10 years and I have personally lived the evolution of the whole Android ecosystem, since Android 1.5 to Android 9.0, from “Android Market” to “Google Play”.
I started developing apps as a hobby, later on I joined a major company as developer and finally 4 years ago I decided to follow my own path and co-founded a start-up with a colleague. Android has given me all, a career path, economic independence and best of all, the privilege of making a living doing what I would do just for fun.
While it is undeniable that Google Play has flourished to become the greatest App, Games and Media distribution platform of all times and has devoted all the effort to provide the best experience to more than 2 billion users, it has failed in one simple and plain key point:
Developer customer support
