Uniqrome is a language used for developing Android and iOS smartphone apps. All Uniqrome users must install the free QRE app: uniQrome Runtime Environment. Uniqrome users fall into 3 categories: bronze, silver and gold. Bronze users pay no fees but their display is limited to shades of gray and a single hue. This hue can only be used for rectangles (with or without rounded corners) and/or text. Silver users pay $10/year, and gold users pay $10/month. Gold users can use premium apps having the most bandwidth (top 10 percent of GBs downloaded and uploaded). Silver users can only use premium apps in grayscale mode (shades of gray). Uniqrome for Windows/Mac/Linux is free.
Paying Out User Fees
App authors fall into 5 groups according to the no. of user tap events (up or down) generated by the app users. Each app in the bottom 30 percent receives the same amount, this amount is called the baseline. Each app in the next-to-lowest 20 percent receives twice the baseline. Each app in the middle 20 percent receives 5 times the baseline. Each app in the next 20 percent (next-to-highest) receives 10 times the baseline. Each app in the top 10 percent receives 20 times the baseline. During the first year after a given user first installs the QRE, Google or Apple collects 30 percent of the fees paid by that user. After one year that amount drops to 15 percent. Uniqrome.com collects the remaining 70 or 85 percent respectively, keeping 30 or 15 percent, passing on 40 or 70 percent to the app authors. App authors are allowed to charge in-app fees to the users, Uniqrome.com does not get a cut of those fees. Only bronze Uniqrome users see ads.
App Throttling
Users of apps with high bandwidth requirements (GBs downloaded and uploaded) may experience throttling, which involves longer waits when data is downloaded from or uploaded to the server. This is necessary to discourage app authors from making unreasonably high demands on server resources. Those app authors who have high bandwidth requirements can always purchase extra bandwidth to avoid throttling. Server-side code is converted from Uniqrome to Javascript at the time it is uploaded.
Extensible Apps
The secret sauce of Uniqrome is twofold: ads are optional and app authors have the option of making their apps extensible. The app extensions are written by end-users with knowledge of programming. They work similar to how Wordpress websites can be customized using child themes and plugins. The QRE is bundled with an app browser, which browses Uniqrome apps when the user enters the app name into the address bar. Simple apps contain nothing but static Qromitags code along with client-side Uniqrome code. Qromitags is a text markup language which works with Uniqrome.
Exit Strategy
In case Uniqrome is unprofitable, existing app authors will be given at least 30 days notice, allowing them to download their database files. Uniqrome would then become open source, and app authors can download the QRE from GitHub and bundle it with their Uniqrome and Qromitags code. Google or Apple would then provide web hosting directly to the app authors.
Qromiteach
Qromiteach.com is the home of Qromiteach: a tool used for teaching various subjects, including such STEM subjects as math and coding, and is implemented in Java. Qromiteach will be developed after Uniqrome.com is launched.