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> This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It will a

> This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It will also, in a way, probably force developers to try out other marketplaces like the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Google Play store. People have been saying this for years, and it convinced me to make my Apps available on the android app store. The result, is a lot of messing around, and produced not much extra income. Until Android starts to make the same sorts of money, which may never happen, this will not change.

moultano 14y ago
What's your app?
- anthonyb 14y ago
  This is a fair question, and not downvotable imo, especially considering that john/megablast's profile is out of date. There's a history of people who produce Android versions of their software which aren't anywhere near as polished as the iOS one. If that's the case, then of course nobody's going to pay for it. If you have two versions which are more or less identical, that's different.
  - Steko 14y ago
    As you've framed it, it's a loaded question that assumes the author is a moron who somehow expects a half-assed port to produce equal returns. Reasonable people can presume he has an idea of the quality of his own Android app and managed his expectations accordingly and yet he was disappointed. This is not a new story nor does is contradict the vast majority of data points we have.
    - moultano 14y ago
      I was curious about it for a bunch of reasons. I'm curious if there's a high order pattern for apps that make more on ios than android and vice versa. I'm curious if as much promotion went into the android app as the ios app. I'm always interested in finding new quality android apps, and I enjoy promoting ones that I'm particularly happy with.
    - anthonyb 14y ago
      You're exaggerating my position, but yes, I've seen quite a few cases where developers have produced an Android app late and/or as an afterthought and, surprise, it hasn't done as well as the iOS version. Here's one from 6 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5066305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5066305
  - megablast 14y ago
    Oh, my Android apps are not as good as my iPhone apps, but they have about 70% of the functionality, and cost the lowest price you can set in the Android store, whereas the iPhone apps go for about $4 to $5.
blindhippo 14y ago
Everything I've read to date suggests the Android user base is very different to the iOS user base. From a developer perspective, despite the enormous market share Android offers, it's users are reluctant to spend any money on software. The iOS user base on the other hand seems to attract users willing to spend money. I seriously doubt Android will be a viable platform for developers until this culture changes.
- Steko 14y ago
  Just because the returns are lower doesn't mean it's not viable. There are plenty of Android success stories. Even Angry Birds makes more money on Android than on iOS last I heard. One of the big challenges on Android is Google doesn't have many credit cards for Apps so right there non-free apps are in trouble. Android may have double the iOS market share but if they only have half as many credit cards their effective market share for paid apps is 1/4 their true market share. That's before you even look at customer demographics, etc.
  - adabsurdo 14y ago
    What do you mean, "many credit cards for Apps"?
- jarek 14y ago
  An important category is apps which are not sold in the app store, and whose provider makes money in other ways, for example account subscriptions. 500px's is an example of such an app. I'm more than willing to believe Android users on average buy less apps than iOS users. But that just means different business models will succeed there.
  - chii 14y ago
    i m just backseat driving here, but the fact that paid apps sell less on android is damning evidence for devs to not migrate across (or target it as the primary platform). A subscription based model is more demanding to maintain, vs a pay-once-app. You at least don't need a server to maintain subscriptions. Ditto with In app purchases (which also require you to maintain a server to keep track of who has paid for what).
IheartApplesDix 14y ago
Why get an education and work hard, stand up for my principles and all that garbage when I can just go work the corner?

moultano 14y ago

What's your app?

anthonyb 14y ago
This is a fair question, and not downvotable imo, especially considering that john/megablast's profile is out of date. There's a history of people who produce Android versions of their software which aren't anywhere near as polished as the iOS one. If that's the case, then of course nobody's going to pay for it. If you have two versions which are more or less identical, that's different.
- Steko 14y ago
  As you've framed it, it's a loaded question that assumes the author is a moron who somehow expects a half-assed port to produce equal returns. Reasonable people can presume he has an idea of the quality of his own Android app and managed his expectations accordingly and yet he was disappointed. This is not a new story nor does is contradict the vast majority of data points we have.
  - moultano 14y ago
    I was curious about it for a bunch of reasons. I'm curious if there's a high order pattern for apps that make more on ios than android and vice versa. I'm curious if as much promotion went into the android app as the ios app. I'm always interested in finding new quality android apps, and I enjoy promoting ones that I'm particularly happy with.
  - anthonyb 14y ago
    You're exaggerating my position, but yes, I've seen quite a few cases where developers have produced an Android app late and/or as an afterthought and, surprise, it hasn't done as well as the iOS version. Here's one from 6 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5066305 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5066305
- megablast 14y ago
  Oh, my Android apps are not as good as my iPhone apps, but they have about 70% of the functionality, and cost the lowest price you can set in the Android store, whereas the iPhone apps go for about $4 to $5.

blindhippo 14y ago

Everything I've read to date suggests the Android user base is very different to the iOS user base. From a developer perspective, despite the enormous market share Android offers, it's users are reluctant to spend any money on software. The iOS user base on the other hand seems to attract users willing to spend money. I seriously doubt Android will be a viable platform for developers until this culture changes.

Steko 14y ago
Just because the returns are lower doesn't mean it's not viable. There are plenty of Android success stories. Even Angry Birds makes more money on Android than on iOS last I heard. One of the big challenges on Android is Google doesn't have many credit cards for Apps so right there non-free apps are in trouble. Android may have double the iOS market share but if they only have half as many credit cards their effective market share for paid apps is 1/4 their true market share. That's before you even look at customer demographics, etc.
- adabsurdo 14y ago
  What do you mean, "many credit cards for Apps"?
jarek 14y ago
An important category is apps which are not sold in the app store, and whose provider makes money in other ways, for example account subscriptions. 500px's is an example of such an app. I'm more than willing to believe Android users on average buy less apps than iOS users. But that just means different business models will succeed there.
- chii 14y ago
  i m just backseat driving here, but the fact that paid apps sell less on android is damning evidence for devs to not migrate across (or target it as the primary platform). A subscription based model is more demanding to maintain, vs a pay-once-app. You at least don't need a server to maintain subscriptions. Ditto with In app purchases (which also require you to maintain a server to keep track of who has paid for what).

IheartApplesDix 14y ago

Why get an education and work hard, stand up for my principles and all that garbage when I can just go work the corner?