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TechCrunch claims there are 1.4 billion Android users. 7.5% of that is 100 million people. How many apps and services would kill to be able to reach 100 million

by chasing 10y ago

TechCrunch claims there are 1.4 billion Android users. 7.5% of that is 100 million people. How many apps and services would kill to be able to reach 100 million people? And just because a lot of people wait to update until they get a new phone doesn't mean they don't care about that update. Or that handset manufacturers don't care about the update. Or that Google should stop making new versions of Android. Or whatever the author's point is...

chasing 10y ago
Replying to myself, I know. But a related point: So let's have fun with numbers... 1.4b Android users. 7.5% updated to the latest. That's ~105m. 500m iPhone users. 84% updated to the latest. That's ~425m. (I'm pulling these numbers from different sources, but they're probably of the right scale.) My only point is that there might be an argument that Android's deploying new versions on about 1/4 of the devices that Apple is, not 1/10. Which is an important distinction if your argument is that Google is failing at getting people to update their devices.
- gremy0 10y ago
  Yes but if you're going to be developing an app or service are you going to choose the latest version of Android and get 7.5% of the market or are you going to go down to lollipop and get 40% or down to kitkat and get 70%? It's webdev for IE all over again supporting balls old versions.
  - shaftway 10y ago
    Except it's not really. Releases are always additive, and (to my knowledge) have never removed anything (even when they really really should have). The only reason to target a newer version is if you need things that were actually added to the OS (like fingerprint scanning). And even there it's pretty easy to gate functionality. The vast majority of apps don't need to care in the slightest and with appcompat almost everything useful is available. It's not like you have to make completely separate apps for Lollipop and Marshmallow the way you used to for IE and everything else.
    - st3v3r 10y ago
      Not quite true. Handling WiFi changed in 5, and changed again in 6 (really only relevant if your app deals with changing the Wifi state, admittedly). 6 introduced Doze, which can require different implementations of things. There were a number of graphical things in 5 which, if you wanted them on earlier versions (and your Design department does, and you're going to do it, dammit), require fairly different implementations.
      - shaftway 10y ago
        Which things are these? And since generally there's a lot of effort to not break old apps, why wouldn't you just do it the pre-5 way? Also, just to check, we're talking about versions and not API level, right?
st3v3r 10y ago
1.4 billion Android users? Or 1.4 billion Android devices sold?

by chasing 10y ago

chasing 10y ago

Replying to myself, I know. But a related point: So let's have fun with numbers... 1.4b Android users. 7.5% updated to the latest. That's ~105m. 500m iPhone users. 84% updated to the latest. That's ~425m. (I'm pulling these numbers from different sources, but they're probably of the right scale.) My only point is that there might be an argument that Android's deploying new versions on about 1/4 of the devices that Apple is, not 1/10. Which is an important distinction if your argument is that Google is failing at getting people to update their devices.

gremy0 10y ago
Yes but if you're going to be developing an app or service are you going to choose the latest version of Android and get 7.5% of the market or are you going to go down to lollipop and get 40% or down to kitkat and get 70%? It's webdev for IE all over again supporting balls old versions.
- shaftway 10y ago
  Except it's not really. Releases are always additive, and (to my knowledge) have never removed anything (even when they really really should have). The only reason to target a newer version is if you need things that were actually added to the OS (like fingerprint scanning). And even there it's pretty easy to gate functionality. The vast majority of apps don't need to care in the slightest and with appcompat almost everything useful is available. It's not like you have to make completely separate apps for Lollipop and Marshmallow the way you used to for IE and everything else.
  - st3v3r 10y ago
    Not quite true. Handling WiFi changed in 5, and changed again in 6 (really only relevant if your app deals with changing the Wifi state, admittedly). 6 introduced Doze, which can require different implementations of things. There were a number of graphical things in 5 which, if you wanted them on earlier versions (and your Design department does, and you're going to do it, dammit), require fairly different implementations.
    - shaftway 10y ago
      Which things are these? And since generally there's a lot of effort to not break old apps, why wouldn't you just do it the pre-5 way? Also, just to check, we're talking about versions and not API level, right?

st3v3r 10y ago

1.4 billion Android users? Or 1.4 billion Android devices sold?