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Android's success was that its foundations was something the community knew. Java was either #1 or #2 of most popular language and their was a vast mind share t

by baldfat 10y ago

Android's success was that its foundations was something the community knew. Java was either #1 or #2 of most popular language and their was a vast mind share that could be utilized. A new language for a new mobile platform would have been disastrous. Could you imagine someone saying her is our phone everyone learn it and make great apps for launch in 6 months?

mseebach 10y ago
You mean, like Objective-C was disastrous for the iPhone?
- goldbrick 10y ago
  Umm, Objective-C wasn't a new language for the iPhone.
- allemagne 10y ago
  Apple had the luxury of being the first to sell smartphones, they could do it in whatever language they wanted. Android could never have tried to do the same thing.
  - hammock 10y ago
    Apple were not the first smartphones. Without even nitpicking on Palm, etc, you're forgetting Blackberry.
    - dekhn 10y ago
      I wouldn't call the blackberries smartphones. They were feature phones where one of the features was a proprietary email system.
      - scholia 10y ago
        There were touch-screen smartphones with no keyboards before the iPhone... http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/O2-Unveils-Xda-Orbit-Smartphone http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/O2-Unveils-Xda-Orbit-Smar...
      - hammock 10y ago
        Blackberry had a real OS, push email and third party apps. Everything the first iPhone had when it comes to "smart"
  - nikanj 10y ago
    Erm, Nokia?
  - Sharlin 10y ago
    Nokia's smartphone line was already several generations old when Apple introduced the first iPhone... The Symbian OS had a 67% market share in smartphones in 2006. The first version of the Communicator with 3rd party software ecosystem, the 9210, was released in 2001!
- baldfat 10y ago
  Objective-C 1983 creation date :) Came with Steve Jobs from NeXT and was used in OS X way before 2007 iPhone debut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective-C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective-C
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
fauigerzigerk 10y ago
Yes I can absolutely imagine that. I believe such a decision would have been welcomed enthusiastically. Early adopters of a new hardware/OS platform are extremely easy to win over with an exciting new language. Others would have followed in good time. Don't you see all those "why we switched from language A to language B" stories that seem to come up every other day? No need to read them. The content is not important. All they ever mean to say is "we were so bored with that old language and now we're thrilled to try something new!"

by baldfat 10y ago

mseebach 10y ago

You mean, like Objective-C was disastrous for the iPhone?

goldbrick 10y ago
Umm, Objective-C wasn't a new language for the iPhone.
allemagne 10y ago
Apple had the luxury of being the first to sell smartphones, they could do it in whatever language they wanted. Android could never have tried to do the same thing.
- hammock 10y ago
  Apple were not the first smartphones. Without even nitpicking on Palm, etc, you're forgetting Blackberry.
  - dekhn 10y ago
    I wouldn't call the blackberries smartphones. They were feature phones where one of the features was a proprietary email system.
    - scholia 10y ago
      There were touch-screen smartphones with no keyboards before the iPhone... http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/O2-Unveils-Xda-Orbit-Smartphone http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/O2-Unveils-Xda-Orbit-Smar...
    - hammock 10y ago
      Blackberry had a real OS, push email and third party apps. Everything the first iPhone had when it comes to "smart"
- nikanj 10y ago
  Erm, Nokia?
- Sharlin 10y ago
  Nokia's smartphone line was already several generations old when Apple introduced the first iPhone... The Symbian OS had a 67% market share in smartphones in 2006. The first version of the Communicator with 3rd party software ecosystem, the 9210, was released in 2001!
baldfat 10y ago
Objective-C 1983 creation date :) Came with Steve Jobs from NeXT and was used in OS X way before 2007 iPhone debut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective-C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective-C
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

fauigerzigerk 10y ago

Yes I can absolutely imagine that. I believe such a decision would have been welcomed enthusiastically. Early adopters of a new hardware/OS platform are extremely easy to win over with an exciting new language. Others would have followed in good time. Don't you see all those "why we switched from language A to language B" stories that seem to come up every other day? No need to read them. The content is not important. All they ever mean to say is "we were so bored with that old language and now we're thrilled to try something new!"