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To be fair, for every reason a dev wants to quit on Android, there is another dev that wants to quit on iOS dev.

by nubela 15y ago

GuiA 15y ago
To be even more fair, the problem he details has been mentioned by a number of Android developers: "There's a big difference between generating revenue, and "making money" - It's not that they haven't generated income, but that income is offset by the additional support costs the platform has demanded. Where did your dollar go? We spent about 20% of our total man-hours last year dealing with Android in one way or another - porting, platform specific bug fixes, customer service, etc.[...] We spent thousands on various test hardware. These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android. Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable." This is a major problem (that actually encompasses several problems often mentioned with Android) that countless developers face, and that will not be addressed anytime soon.
- napoleoncomplex 15y ago
  The fragmentation is definitely an issue for game development on Android, but there are ways to avoid most of the pitfalls, if you plan accordingly. In the end, there's always the manifest file, so you don't appear on the market for devices which you deem are not worth the time to optimize for. Chris Pruett had a nice talk about various ways to go about it in Google I/O last year[1]. While fragmentation is to be expected because of the nature of Android, the revenue issue is one that is completely on Google, and by far the bigger issue. Ease of paying, ways of paying, ways of promoting your app (namely gifting), all of these things are just poor on the platform, and that's why the taste is bitter in the end. Fragmentation is something that developers can work around, while people having no way to pay for apps is completely out of developer's hands. (Not to mention the amount of markets where you can only publish free apps.) End of rant. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvaPyq_eBU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvaPyq_eBU
barredo 15y ago
The dev didn't even mention apple, ios, iphone or anything related. Please, don't make this another iOS vs Android thing.
- huggyface 15y ago
  Yet it obvious is. The single other platform that they support, to my knowledge, is iOS.
- tomjen3 15y ago
  Why? As the only alternative IOS is relevant on each discussion of Android and vice versa.

To be fair, for every reason a dev wants to quit on Android, there is another dev that wants to quit on iOS dev.

by nubela 15y ago

To be fair, for every reason a dev wants to quit on Android, there is another dev that wants to quit on iOS dev.

GuiA 15y ago

To be even more fair, the problem he details has been mentioned by a number of Android developers: "There's a big difference between generating revenue, and "making money" - It's not that they haven't generated income, but that income is offset by the additional support costs the platform has demanded. Where did your dollar go? We spent about 20% of our total man-hours last year dealing with Android in one way or another - porting, platform specific bug fixes, customer service, etc.[...] We spent thousands on various test hardware. These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android. Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable." This is a major problem (that actually encompasses several problems often mentioned with Android) that countless developers face, and that will not be addressed anytime soon.

napoleoncomplex 15y ago
The fragmentation is definitely an issue for game development on Android, but there are ways to avoid most of the pitfalls, if you plan accordingly. In the end, there's always the manifest file, so you don't appear on the market for devices which you deem are not worth the time to optimize for. Chris Pruett had a nice talk about various ways to go about it in Google I/O last year[1]. While fragmentation is to be expected because of the nature of Android, the revenue issue is one that is completely on Google, and by far the bigger issue. Ease of paying, ways of paying, ways of promoting your app (namely gifting), all of these things are just poor on the platform, and that's why the taste is bitter in the end. Fragmentation is something that developers can work around, while people having no way to pay for apps is completely out of developer's hands. (Not to mention the amount of markets where you can only publish free apps.) End of rant. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvaPyq_eBU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdvaPyq_eBU

barredo 15y ago

The dev didn't even mention apple, ios, iphone or anything related. Please, don't make this another iOS vs Android thing.

huggyface 15y ago
Yet it obvious is. The single other platform that they support, to my knowledge, is iOS.
tomjen3 15y ago
Why? As the only alternative IOS is relevant on each discussion of Android and vice versa.