SlideUP Launcher development takes an unusual Kickstarter turn

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Android will never have a dearth of app launchers and homescreen replacements. There are different kinds of different qualities, appealing to different tastes and different needs. SlideUP is yet another one of those vying for your attention, but admittedly, it is a curious one that, at the very least, deserves a second glance. Not only does it offer useful functionality, it seems to be trying out a slightly new way of development, at least as far as Android launchers go.

The basic interaction point of SlideUP is that strip at the bottom of every Android homescreen, usually devoted to app shortcuts. However, they are only that: app shortcuts. SlideUP literally extends those by providing a hidden panel that reveals itself when you swipe up from the relevant icon. Swiping up from the app launcher icon brings up your favorite set of apps while swiping up from the phone icon shows your chosen contacts. SlideUP calls this strip as “Smart Tape” and those “more than icons” as Tiles. At the moment, there are four tiles already provided, All Apps, Phone, Messages, and Camera but more are said to come, including Weather, Music Player, and Calendar. That, however, is where development takes a slightly unusual, and probably controversial turn.

SlideUP, at least for now, doesn’t offer those Tiles for free. Or rather, it doesn’t offer the slots for those tiles for free. Like in some games where you have limited inventory slots, you can get more space by paying up. In normal apps, this would be through in-app purchases, but since the launcher is still in Kickstarter mode, those IAPs are transformed into pledges. Not stretch goals mind you. Just plain backer tiers. A basic $5 pledge gives you the launcher with those four basic slots. $10 adds one more and $20 gets you two. For a whooping $500, you can ask for a tile of your own choosing.

This crossover of two different worlds, that of Android app development and Kickstarter, is quite unusual and may be taken both positively and negatively. If proven successful and popular, it could perhaps be used as a precursor for future app developers. On the other hand, it could also rub some in the wrong ways. SlideUP seems to already be quite done and the developer isn’t exactly forthcoming with what still needs to be done or to what ends the gathered money will be used to fund development. There also isn’t any mention of what will happen once the Kickstarter finishes, in particular if and how SlideUP will make an appearance in Google Play Store. There are, unfortunately, still some open questions and loose ends that SlideUP might need to address if it is to rake in more supporters to meet its $1,000 goal.

SOURCE: Kickstarter