software, funding, advertising, android-developmentThe idea of software (actually, any content) funded by advertisement is as follows. A user sees advertisement of X, the user buys X, the seller of X receives profit, the seller of X pays the software developer for advertisement.
In Android adware (software funded by advertisement), I see only advertisement of another Android free software. Hence Android software X_0 is not bought, but get money from advertising Android software X_1 which is not bought, but get money from advertising Android software X_2, and so on. I do not see where money comes into this scheme.
the first scenario you describe is more of a referral scheme in which the person only gets paid when the item is bought.
Advertising usually is charged when the advert is seen, of when the advert is clicked. depending on the service used. So an android app maximises it’s income by being able to show more adverts either because they get paid every time an advert is seen, or it increases the likelihood that they are clicked, also increasing their payment.
I am not 100% sure of the size of the money involved or what scale of operation would be required to fund an app in this way however.
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