Do you think app developers are scrambling to get onboard with Android?

[Scouzer]

Android has EXPLODED in the last year. Q2 sales for Android devices were 34 percent of the smartphone market, iPhone was a relatively meager 21.7 percent. Overall market share is 24.4% iPhone, 13.0% Android.

However, one thing is for sure: Android apps suck balls compared to iPhone apps! The developers seem to be caught sleeping entirely and are missing the gravy bandwagon here. I don't know what the hold up is, there's a lot of Android phones out there. Is Android more difficult to develop for or something?

 

[MJinZ]

Maybe, maybe not.

IMO - The iPhone targets the mass average consumer who is willing to spend money on apps for their phone.

Android, I would compare to Linux users, who are more savvy and willing to spend time finding free ways to do the same thing.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Maybe, maybe not.

IMO - The iPhone targets the mass average consumer who is willing to spend money on apps for their phone.

Android, I would compare to Linux users, who are more savvy and willing to spend time finding free ways to do the same thing.

I still think the group you describe for Android is a small subset of the whole. I know a lot of people with Android phones who probably have no clue what Android is. It's a phone to them.

But to the OP, yeah they should be scrambling if they haven't already. Even if the marketplace only yields half the profit available out of the Apple marketplace it is still easily worth the investment.

 

[rudeguy]

they already have. Look at all the apps that are porting over from iOS.

And I don't get where people say that Android users won't spend money. Are there any hard numbers on this? In the past month alone I have purchased 5 apps.

One thing that might be holding dev's back is Android's 24 hour refund policy.

 

[MJinZ]

I still think the group you describe for Android is a small subset of the whole. I know a lot of people with Android phones who probably have no clue what Android is. It's a phone to them.

But to the OP, yeah they should be scrambling if they haven't already. Even if the marketplace only yields half the profit available out of the Apple marketplace it is still easily worth the investment.

Haven't met a single girl with an Android phone.

Unless it was a crappy phone that I didn't know has Android on it.

 

[MJinZ]

they already have. Look at all the apps that are porting over from iOS.

And I don't get where people say that Android users won't spend money. Are there any hard numbers on this? In the past month alone I have purchased 5 apps.

One thing that might be holding dev's back is Android's 24 hour refund policy.

Yes, tons of hard numbers.

Just one article:

http://androinica.com/2009/08/27/su...rs-less-likely-to-buy-apps-than-iphone-users/

I bought a total of 1 application for Android. Beautiful Widgets because Android's home screen is just suck.

 

[Scouzer]

Yes, tons of hard numbers.

Just one article:

http://androinica.com/2009/08/27/su...rs-less-likely-to-buy-apps-than-iphone-users/

I bought a total of 1 application for Android. Beautiful Widgets because Android's home screen is just suck.

Honestly, this is a reflection of how shitty Android paid apps are. Seriously, look at the market, 90 percent of anything half decent is free! The paid apps are very rarely any good.

Android is VERY weak in gaming, and I think this is where a lot of iPhone sales come from. There's maybe a dozen games on the Android market worth paying for.

I've only ever bought one app as well, and it was Beautiful Widgets too.

 

[rudeguy]

Yes, tons of hard numbers.

Just one article:

http://androinica.com/2009/08/27/su...rs-less-likely-to-buy-apps-than-iphone-users/

I bought a total of 1 application for Android. Beautiful Widgets because Android's home screen is just suck.

ummm...that article is a year old.

 

[rudeguy]

Honestly, this is a reflection of how shitty Android paid apps are. Seriously, look at the market, 90 percent of anything half decent is free! The paid apps are very rarely any good.

Android is VERY weak in gaming, and I think this is where a lot of iPhone sales come from. There's maybe a dozen games on the Android market worth paying for.

I've only ever bought one app as well, and it was Beautiful Widgets too.

so how can you judge something you have no experience with?

 

[Brian Stirling]

Android apps are, on average, crappier that iOS apps. I think the percentage of paid apps is much higher with iOS than Android. As consumers we want everything for free but producers need to be compensated for there work and the Android model does not promote the idea of paying for something of value.

It doesn't stop with apps either as the ethic of expecting to be able to get stuff for free is pervasive. From the music industries struggles with mp3's and file sharing to a similar thing happening with movies to apps the modern ethic is ... if I can get it for free it would be stupid to pay for it and it doesn't matter one little bit that the process of getting these things for free is, well, stealing. This ethic is so ingrained in many that the idea that downloading a song without paying is stealing just doesn't compute.

I don't see an easy way out of this particularly on the Android side. Sprint want's $30/month for there wifi tether option but devs see no harm in providing a work around by rooting that will give you wifi tether for free. You can bet Sprint isn't happy about that and as a Sprint customer I'm not happy about it either. Why should I as a customer be unhappy with others stealing wifi tethering, well the more demand is placed on the network the less bandwidth is available to me and the less pleasant my experience using the network is.

Brian

 

[Scouzer]

so how can you judge something you have no experience with?

Oh come on. If you saw half the junk on Android market, you'd know it's shit. Don't give me that crap.

 

[JD50]

Android apps are, on average, crappier that iOS apps. I think the percentage of paid apps is much higher with iOS than Android. As consumers we want everything for free but producers need to be compensated for there work and the Android model does not promote the idea of paying for something of value.

It doesn't stop with apps either as the ethic of expecting to be able to get stuff for free is pervasive. From the music industries struggles with mp3's and file sharing to a similar thing happening with movies to apps the modern ethic is ... if I can get it for free it would be stupid to pay for it and it doesn't matter one little bit that the process of getting these things for free is, well, stealing. This ethic is so ingrained in many that the idea that downloading a song without paying is stealing just doesn't compute.

I don't see an easy way out of this particularly on the Android side. Sprint want's $30/month for there wifi tether option but devs see no harm in providing a work around by rooting that will give you wifi tether for free. You can bet Sprint isn't happy about that and as a Sprint customer I'm not happy about it either. Why should I as a customer be unhappy with others stealing wifi tethering, well the more demand is placed on the network the less bandwidth is available to me and the less pleasant my experience using the network is.

Brian

Tethering is not stealing, you're using the bandwidth that you're already paying for.

Also, you're essentially blaming free software for the supposed rise in piracy, that's absurd.

 

[rudeguy]

Oh come on. If you saw half the junk on Android market, you'd know it's shit. Don't give me that crap.

I browse the Android market every day. You are saying there are no good paid apps yet you have never tried one.

I just bought a customizable car dock today. Its as pretty as I want to spend the time making it and VERY functional. The other day I bought Tasker and I couldn't be happier.

But then again I choose to focus on positive things and not look for negative things.

 

[JD50]

I browse the Android market every day. You are saying there are no good paid apps yet you have never tried one.

I just bought a customizable car dock today. Its as pretty as I want to spend the time making it and VERY functional. The other day I bought Tasker and I couldn't be happier.

But then again I choose to focus on positive things and not look for negative things.

Yea, I don't get the hate for Android apps. I've found a decent app for everything that I've wanted to do. If there's more than one then I read the comments and pick the app that people like better.

 

[theeedude]

Android apps are, on average, crappier that iOS apps. I think the percentage of paid apps is much higher with iOS than Android. As consumers we want everything for free but producers need to be compensated for there work and the Android model does not promote the idea of paying for something of value.

It doesn't stop with apps either as the ethic of expecting to be able to get stuff for free is pervasive. From the music industries struggles with mp3's and file sharing to a similar thing happening with movies to apps the modern ethic is ... if I can get it for free it would be stupid to pay for it and it doesn't matter one little bit that the process of getting these things for free is, well, stealing. This ethic is so ingrained in many that the idea that downloading a song without paying is stealing just doesn't compute.

I don't see an easy way out of this particularly on the Android side. Sprint want's $30/month for there wifi tether option but devs see no harm in providing a work around by rooting that will give you wifi tether for free. You can bet Sprint isn't happy about that and as a Sprint customer I'm not happy about it either. Why should I as a customer be unhappy with others stealing wifi tethering, well the more demand is placed on the network the less bandwidth is available to me and the less pleasant my experience using the network is.

Brian

The solution is to charge by megabyte, regardless of the device using the service. It's really none of the operator's business what I do with data once it reaches from its tower to my cellular modem. Can you imagine if your ISP said you could only connect one computer but not a wireless router to its modem, and had to pay it $30 for the privilege of connecting a router?

 

[rudeguy]

Yea, I don't get the hate for Android apps. I've found a decent app for everything that I've wanted to do. If there's more than one then I read the comments and pick the app that people like better.

Yep. Or sometimes I'll buy both and refund back the one I didn't like.

 

[charrison]

Of coruse they are. App quality is improving as well.

 

[MrX8503]

I think the android market place is improving, but I think they still need to work on aesthetics.

If you look at all of the android apps that are ported from the iPhone, for some reason they look worse or has less features. I had a discussion about this awhile back and I think it's attributed to the SDK. iPhone SDK is much more refined.

Also if you look at the app icons, they're all different sizes. I like the fact that they aren't square like the iPhone, but the ones that are, are different sizes. This again goes back to the SDK.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Tethering is not stealing, you're using the bandwidth that you're already paying for.

Also, you're essentially blaming free software for the supposed rise in piracy, that's absurd.

If the average user uses, say, 1GB/month without tethering then Sprint can say they are offering unlimited data even though there expectation is it will average about 1GB. If the average user that tethers uses, say 5GB/month then Sprint will have seen there cost to provide service increase substantially so they expect additional compensation. If you, through tethering, were to constantly eat 100GB+/month you can bet Sprint will find a way to limit you even though you paid for unlimited data.

Sprint has given us several options for the data. When you get an Evo they automatically charge you $10/month more BECAUSE they expect you will use more data. They also have a $30/month wifi tether fee also to cover the additional data use. So, if you do not pay the $30/month fee but, through rooting, and you do in fact use wifi tethering to download many hours of midget tranny gangbang porn, there's every reason to believe you will be using more data than without wifi tethering.

Sprint has offered unlimited data for the basic service but the expectation is you will use, on average, only so much data unless you add wifi tethering. There are more than a few people that have gone from about 200MB/month to over 20GB/month with tethering -- I would suggest a 100X increase is something the carrier would care about. And, as I mentioned before, if I was stuck on the same cell with others downloading huge binaries, you can bet my service will be more likely to suck.

I think Sprint made a mistake by claiming "unlimited data" because that allows guys like you to conclude you can download as much as you want.

Now, I never said that free software was causing piracy. This thread was/is about app developers and whether or not they will move to Android as completely as they have the iPhone. I pointed out that there is a much lower percentage of paid Android apps and that many of them are junk -- no big revelation there... My point was that the Android community was much less inclined to pay for things so getting developers to spend 100's and 1000's of hours to develop and maintain an app that pays them nothing just aint going to fly in the long run. The mindset, the ethic, of expecting to take what you want without paying is pervasive today and is higher among the Android community than the iPhoners.


Brian

 

[theeedude]

If the average user uses, say, 1GB/month without tethering then Sprint can say they are offering unlimited data even though there expectation is it will average about 1GB. If the average user that tethers uses, say 5GB/month then Sprint will have seen there cost to provide service increase substantially so they expect additional compensation. If you, through tethering, were to constantly eat 100GB+/month you can bet Sprint will find a way to limit you even though you paid for unlimited data.

Sprint has given us several options for the data. When you get an Evo they automatically charge you $10/month more BECAUSE they expect you will use more data. They also have a $30/month wifi tether fee also to cover the additional data use. So, if you do not pay the $30/month fee but, through rooting, and you do in fact use wifi tethering to download many hours of midget tranny gangbang porn, there's every reason to believe you will be using more data than without wifi tethering.

Sprint has offered unlimited data for the basic service but the expectation is you will use, on average, only so much data unless you add wifi tethering. There are more than a few people that have gone from about 200MB/month to over 20GB/month with tethering -- I would suggest a 100X increase is something the carrier would care about. And, as I mentioned before, if I was stuck on the same cell with others downloading huge binaries, you can bet my service will be more likely to suck.

I think Sprint made a mistake by claiming "unlimited data" because that allows guys like you to conclude you can download as much as you want.

Now, I never said that free software was causing piracy. This thread was/is about app developers and whether or not they will move to Android as completely as they have the iPhone. I pointed out that there is a much lower percentage of paid Android apps and that many of them are junk -- no big revelation there... My point was that the Android community was much less inclined to pay for things so getting developers to spend 100's and 1000's of hours to develop and maintain an app that pays them nothing just aint going to fly in the long run. The mindset, the ethic, of expecting to take what you want without paying is pervasive today and is higher among the Android community than the iPhoners.


Brian

You are right, Sprint made a mistake in pricing. It's their fault for assuming people would pay for tethering and relying on that for their pricing. They should have known that average Android user is not a complete buffoon to just pay $30 for the privilege of connecting a phone they paid for to the computer they also paid for. If they simply charged by usage, they would have no problem with people tethering.

 

[Brian Stirling]

The solution is to charge by megabyte, regardless of the device using the service. It's really none of the operator's business what I do with data once it reaches from its tower to my cellular modem. Can you imagine if your ISP said you could only connect one computer but not a wireless router to its modem, and had to pay it $30 for the privilege of connecting a router?

I couldn't agree with you more. By changing the billing to be based on the actual data use then it doesn't matter if you root or not they will get there money based on the amount of data they provide. I've been saying that we will likely see metered billing within about 5 years for quite some time. I can see a monthly bill, five years from now, consisting of a basic access fee of, say, $30 and then you pay for all data use at a rate so that the median user, eating about 4GB/month, will pay about $70/month. So, that would be about $10/GB which, over time, should go down.

But, the big data eaters with an appetite of, say 20GB/month will see there bill REALLY increase. They will not like paying $230+/month and rooting will save them NOTHING. Again, I think the cost to deliver a GB will go down and can see a time when we might be in the $1/GB range but that isn't going to happen anytime soon.


Brian

 

[Ophir]

You are right, Sprint made a mistake in pricing. It's their fault for assuming people would pay for tethering and relying on that for their pricing. They should have known that average Android user is not a complete buffoon to just pay $30 for the privilege of connecting a phone they paid for to the computer they also paid for. If they simply charged by usage, they would have no problem with people tethering.

Sucks to be them. It's not my fault they did not do their job predicting the market or that workarounds would appear. As it stands, I am not STEALING anything by tethering through a work around. As it stands, if I pay for tethering through the carrier I am paying for the priveledge to use their services. AFAIK I can legally use my own services. I am using the UNLIMITED data I paid for. Whether or not they made a mistake in pricing is not my concern.

That said, if they were to change pricing to data usage, I would not have a problem with it. The overall benefit to the entire network of preventing a select few users from massive data usage outweighs the downside.

 

[QueBert]

I've spent close to $500 on apps for my iPhone, on my Android I haven't bough 1 yet. Not saying I won't, but as it stands right now I have no desire to buy any. I dunno how many more iPhone apps I'll buy, but even if I never buy another, I've dropped half a G on apps. Doubtful even if I start that I'd buy more than a couple cheapy Android apps. I just don't like any of them enough to shell out even a few bucks. People say the apps are getting better, they'd have to do a 180 to make me interested. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[JD50]

If the average user uses, say, 1GB/month without tethering then Sprint can say they are offering unlimited data even though there expectation is it will average about 1GB. If the average user that tethers uses, say 5GB/month then Sprint will have seen there cost to provide service increase substantially so they expect additional compensation. If you, through tethering, were to constantly eat 100GB+/month you can bet Sprint will find a way to limit you even though you paid for unlimited data.

Sprint has given us several options for the data. When you get an Evo they automatically charge you $10/month more BECAUSE they expect you will use more data. They also have a $30/month wifi tether fee also to cover the additional data use. So, if you do not pay the $30/month fee but, through rooting, and you do in fact use wifi tethering to download many hours of midget tranny gangbang porn, there's every reason to believe you will be using more data than without wifi tethering.

Sprint has offered unlimited data for the basic service but the expectation is you will use, on average, only so much data unless you add wifi tethering. There are more than a few people that have gone from about 200MB/month to over 20GB/month with tethering -- I would suggest a 100X increase is something the carrier would care about. And, as I mentioned before, if I was stuck on the same cell with others downloading huge binaries, you can bet my service will be more likely to suck.

I think Sprint made a mistake by claiming "unlimited data" because that allows guys like you to conclude you can download as much as you want.

Now, I never said that free software was causing piracy. This thread was/is about app developers and whether or not they will move to Android as completely as they have the iPhone. I pointed out that there is a much lower percentage of paid Android apps and that many of them are junk -- no big revelation there... My point was that the Android community was much less inclined to pay for things so getting developers to spend 100's and 1000's of hours to develop and maintain an app that pays them nothing just aint going to fly in the long run. The mindset, the ethic, of expecting to take what you want without paying is pervasive today and is higher among the Android community than the iPhoners.


Brian

Are you agreeing with me that tethering does not equal stealing?

Also, now you're basically saying that the open source model and free software "just ain't going to fly in the long run"... heh. I don't understand your hangup on paid apps either. There's tons of great free apps out there, it seems like you have a problem with the fact that they're free. You seem to think that it's a bad thing that consumers are getting things for free. You sound a lot like the people that distrust F/OSS simply because it's free (as in beer).

 

[JD50]

I've spent close to $500 on apps for my iPhone, on my Android I haven't bough 1 yet. Not saying I won't, but as it stands right now I have no desire to buy any. I dunno how many more iPhone apps I'll buy, but even if I never buy another, I've dropped half a G on apps. Doubtful even if I start that I'd buy more than a couple cheapy Android apps. I just don't like any of them enough to shell out even a few bucks. People say the apps are getting better, they'd have to do a 180 to make me interested. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Sounds like a good thing to me.