I agree that he did violate one of their terms of service, and, like you, I believe it is unfair and too extreme to ban him from ever submitting an app to the Google Play store again.
The author links to a few other people who have also been banned. It's amazing that Google does not provide some way for developers to get reinstated in the Google Play store. Google basically owns the Android app market space and a ban for life is too severe.
I don't want to reveal the apps that I make, but I can answer your questions. I did develop the apps. There are 4 main apps that bring in all of the revenue. The apps are gaming and entertainment categories. None of the apps were first to market, but most of them did provide a much better experience than what was available at the time.
1. Is this a drop in replacement if I'm on Mongo 2.4?
2. If I want to migrate back to Mongodb from TokuMX, what needs to be done?
3. How quickly does TokuMX integrate improvements from MongoDB?
4. Is anyone using this in their production deployment?
There was another company that tried this concept. I forget the name, but they are not hosting dinners in restaurants for a group of random people and turning a profit. I remember they said something along the lines of burden on the host was too much.
I know of this company through my wife and her sister. In the last year, my wife's sister has purchased over $1k worth of goods and my wife has spent close to $400 for our new baby. Zulily is taking mom's by storm.
I've tried multiple forms of marketing.
1. Admob - Got users to the app, but the app did not retain those users and it was quite expensive to even get them to the app. Over $1 per user for me.
2. Tried facebook ads. Just a complete failure for me.
3. I cross promote my apps within my own apps. That does ok. I'm not exactly sure the exact amount of traffic it drives, but it probably accounts for 5% of the user base on the apps i promote.
4. Facebook, Twitter Sharing. This probably accounts for 5 - 10% of new downloads within an app.
If you are just starting, I would suggest creating a few apps and seeing which ones catch on and then focusing your efforts on those. Create apps quickly to test an idea, and then iterate quickly when improving an app. As for the type of apps, I believe ones that have decent growth and retention are best. I don't like apps that just focus on growth, because it is not too sustainable long term.
The author links to a few other people who have also been banned. It's amazing that Google does not provide some way for developers to get reinstated in the Google Play store. Google basically owns the Android app market space and a ban for life is too severe.