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'Web' is a bit ambiguous here. It could plausibly mean either writing http services predominantly used by native apps or client-side browser development, which

'Web' is a bit ambiguous here. It could plausibly mean either writing http services predominantly used by native apps or client-side browser development, which are really quite different. The original question was better, I think, because it was clearly restricted to which client platform people are targeting. I'm surprised that the ratios within purely client mobile platforms haven't really changed that much, apart from a few new marginal entrants. Given what I've seen from freelance offers and job ads, I'd have expected the iOS-Android ratio to have shifted further in favour Android than it has compared to two years ago, when it was basically all iOS.

GFischer 13y ago
What I often hear is that Android has the bigger installed base, but iOS converts a lot better. There's probably the matter of dogfooding... many developers in the US and Europe are huge Apple fanboys. That's my subjective opinion and I wonder if there's a way to validate it (mobile browsing metrics on Hacker News? :) )
- bennyg 13y ago
  Maybe I'm a bit biased as a more seasoned iOS dev, but I think that the entire development experience for iOS is a lot more fun than Android. This runs the gamut from using Xcode and contributing to the community, to launching apps and talking to users. Android, although open source, isn't easier or a whole heck of a lot of fun to program for. Not every Android class is documented (just yesterday I had to read the source code file for AnimatorPath because no top level documentation was available). One step of the myriad of steps to get push notifications working is to copy a string of characters between two colons of the URL bar in the browser. C'mon Google. If you want to make it better for developers, start by making it easier. Nobody really talks too much about how much "fun" it is to develop for their platform of choice. I think this is a huge factor - one that outweighs most of the objective reasons for using one daily.
- panacea 13y ago
  There's plenty of metrics to shop that iOS users use their devices as mini computers, despite Android market penetration. I personally would point to the fact that iOS is a app launcher first and foremost. Sure... Apple would love everyone to use the App Store, iTunes and first party apps... but they're the same pixel sized icons, can be buried in folders and their are numerous 3rd party replacements. Also, iOS Safari was the first real mobile web browser.
- _random_ 13y ago
  Android users in their mass are less willing to buy apps (pay for something they cannot touch and that is available for free via "alternative sources"). Especially in developing world, and that is a lot of the Android market share

GFischer 13y ago

What I often hear is that Android has the bigger installed base, but iOS converts a lot better. There's probably the matter of dogfooding... many developers in the US and Europe are huge Apple fanboys. That's my subjective opinion and I wonder if there's a way to validate it (mobile browsing metrics on Hacker News? :) )

bennyg 13y ago
Maybe I'm a bit biased as a more seasoned iOS dev, but I think that the entire development experience for iOS is a lot more fun than Android. This runs the gamut from using Xcode and contributing to the community, to launching apps and talking to users. Android, although open source, isn't easier or a whole heck of a lot of fun to program for. Not every Android class is documented (just yesterday I had to read the source code file for AnimatorPath because no top level documentation was available). One step of the myriad of steps to get push notifications working is to copy a string of characters between two colons of the URL bar in the browser. C'mon Google. If you want to make it better for developers, start by making it easier. Nobody really talks too much about how much "fun" it is to develop for their platform of choice. I think this is a huge factor - one that outweighs most of the objective reasons for using one daily.
panacea 13y ago
There's plenty of metrics to shop that iOS users use their devices as mini computers, despite Android market penetration. I personally would point to the fact that iOS is a app launcher first and foremost. Sure... Apple would love everyone to use the App Store, iTunes and first party apps... but they're the same pixel sized icons, can be buried in folders and their are numerous 3rd party replacements. Also, iOS Safari was the first real mobile web browser.
_random_ 13y ago
Android users in their mass are less willing to buy apps (pay for something they cannot touch and that is available for free via "alternative sources"). Especially in developing world, and that is a lot of the Android market share