Comments on: Reverse Exodus: Why Devs Should Flock To Android

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:46:09 +0000

From a developers standpoint, I can choose roles or prosperity. I can choose freedom but starve. Over and over we here that the Google Market Place is joust doing a good job of selling paid apps and at the end of the day, what matters is that monthly pay check. Google needs to address the mindset of its users that seem much much less likely to be willing to pay even a buck for an app. And then, after using it for a while (or getting a few good laughs) want to return it. So Google has made (from a selling standpoint) a very consumer friendly site and very hostile developer site. Enough to keep me away from it.

Until Google figures that out, the faster moving snowball down the hill is, by far, the iPhone platform. So choose…

Rules and eat.
Freedom and starve.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:53:36 +0000

The other problem with android market is phone makers not wanting to upgrade phones to the most recent version. They really should make the most recent Android available on all phones.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:49:59 +0000

Seems like the biggest problems with Android market is you can get a refund 30 days after purchase. So it’s got to be a pretty good app to keep that long. Also it doesn’t track updates. I actually had to download a 3rd party app to know if updates are available for my installed applications. If they made the refund period like 2 days and provided some tools for managing apps then the android market would take off big time.

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:30:21 +0000

Gameloft reversed their decision. Read the article below.

http://www.macworld.com/article/144093/gameloft_android.html

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:45:47 +0000

I don’t like the Android Market at all. It is a pain to find things and they don’t have a search feature when using it from a PC. It is very ironic to me that Google can’t setup a search feature for the PC. I would really like to be able to search and browse for apps on my PC then type searches into my phone.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:37:19 +0000

So iPhone users buy more apps than Android users? Gee, could that have anything to do with the fact that Apple’s advertising stopped hyping the phone several months ago and now strictly promotes the app store? New iPhone buyers buy the phone because “there’s an app for that.” There may also be an Android app for that, but you’d never know it from the ads I see.

By: HotDawg

HotDawg — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:21:39 +0000

For well-crafted apps I use everyday (or did on iPhone) I am more than happy to pay. It’s nice to get free apps, and it’s great to be able to test them, but I’m perfectly willing to pay a competent dev for his/her work. Still, there aren’t many really slick Android apps yet. Waiting for the iPhone folks to jump the fence.

By: G

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:23:49 +0000

@vman81 & @ulvhamne

Same here no payed apps in canada…

By: Jim Catanzarite

Jim Catanzarite — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:57:05 +0000

You are all looking for logic here. Consumer behavior is far from logical and it’s almost impossible to change that. Apple’s genius is understanding that behavior and taking advantage of it. Google thinks like and engineering company, Apple thinks like a consumer products company. It would be a mistake to expect consumers to adopt to your system, even if it is superior, if it requires the consumer to alter their behavior. It won’t happen.

Google needs to fix the store. It needs an attractive and useable web interface for the store as well as a better on-phone experience. It needs to upgrade the look of the Android OS. It needs to make the entire user experience more intuitive; more average consumer friendly.

As the iPhone has shown, you don’t have to have the best capabilities to win in the market place, but you must make the capabilities you offer easy to use and easy to understand. That applies to the Android OS as well as the Android Market.

By: deezle

deezle — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:50:52 +0000

Everyone kinda sidestepped ken’s point.What will it take for manufacturers of android handsets to realize that with an ever growing market,our onboard storage is going to be more of an achille’s heel than it already is?Up the off-sd storage,snapdragons on all smartphones from here on out,auto focus,flash,etc….

By: a

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:23:13 +0000

@twrock Yes, but that will change when android really become mainstream.

By: ari-free

ari-free — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:31:58 +0000

another point: android is what a lot of developers will want for their own phone so they will develop for it. Most developers use pc’s and can’t develop for iPhone without a mac. On the other hand, you can also develop for android from a mac and many mac devs are porting their popular iPhone apps to Android.

By: ari-free

ari-free — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:04:12 +0000

Don’t always go by what’s easiest for consumers. The mac was easier than the PC but the PC won out. AOL was so mainstream that there was even a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie about it. It fizzled in the face of billions of http://www.something.com.

By: jose

jose — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:58:17 +0000

great post. Those devs that jumped ship bailed out too early.

@D9 I understand what you are trying to say but the smart phone market is nothing like the mp3 player market. I guess you are trying to imply that Google wont generate as much if not more revenue through their app store than apple will? Apps wont sell as much in the immediate future but the android marketplace along with android adaptation is like a snowball rolling down a mountain.. as they pick up steam they will get bigger and bigger. Once they surpass apple with market share I doubt apple will be able to keep up the pace.. They don’t have any options for consumers. What apple is doing reminds me of an old Henry Ford quote (paraphrasing) “You can have any car as long as its black” and where did that get Ford? ford ended up losing a giant chunk of market share because they refused to offer options to their consumers, and lets not get into the limited innovation that can happen in the app store as a result of apples strict policies.

Please do not compare the app store to the android market because it is an unfair comparison because the app stores install base includes i pods. Those type of comparisons aren’t even fair.

By: D9

D9 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:23:56 +0000

Not sure who felt it acceptable to ignore the consumer in this whole equation, but I can state that everyone I speak with who has an iPhone LOVES the App Store.

Just like the iTunes Store did for song downloads on iPods, so the App Store does for the iPhone…it keeps the mindshare. The problem for Android and even more so the business-concentric Microsoft (have you read some of the ridiculous statements coming from Redmond lately on this matter?!) is that like the iTunes Store, Apple now has heavy brand-recognition.

Any store working as well or even slightly better than the App Store will not be enough alone to overtake the iPhone market. Just ask SanDisk, Creative Zen and Microsoft Zune how well being just as good as the iPod has done for them.