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2009 seems like yesterday, it's crazy how different the world was merely 5 years ago. Since then, Android has certainly grown into an viable competitor to the

2009 seems like yesterday, it's crazy how different the world was merely 5 years ago. Since then, Android has certainly grown into an viable competitor to the iPhone, though it's still far behind in many ways, particularly developer adoption and the high end of the market (which is by far more profitable). Apple has also gotten a bit better and faster in app approval from what my friends say. Still, the iPhone is a lot less hackable than especially the nexus phones. It's still bewilderingly hard to test an app with real people (I'm writing my first iOS app right now and so wish I could just email an apk to even 5 friends). I know many get around this surreptitiously using the "enterprise" program (my hunch is Apple knows but quietly lets it slide knowing that a lot of the best developers do this). Compared with rooting an android, jail breaking an iPhone seems more risky and less effective. And Apple seems to have succumbed to carriers wrt banning tethering apps not only from the app store, but also in code (from what I hear, haven't had the chance to see if it's possible yet). However, there are a lot of reasons startups still start with iOS and leave android as a second thought: 1. iOS users actually buy apps, use them, and spend money in them which is extremely rare amongst android users 2. A lot more iOS users have the latest OS and enough also the latest hardware, which means you can do the coolest stuff the platform allows and (at least initially) not have to worry about deprecating well for legacy devices/OS. 3. the devices themselves are (as pg wrote) just too much better designed compared to to even the best android phones. I have a nexus 5 and iPhone 5s and slowly over time I pretty much only use the iPhone except when developing for android. It's little things that cause this behavior, like being able to plug in the iPhone's power cord in the dark (since it's symmetric). It's still too early to decide whether Apple's tight control is purely a good or bad thing. You could make a decent case either way.

threeseed 13y ago
> It's still bewilderingly hard to test an app with real people. Pretty simple with TestFlight. Companies who have iOS apps deal with this every single day.
- argumentum 13y ago
  Doesn't test flight still require you to add those devices somehow, like I couldn't just email something I just hacked together to anyone (and tell them to enable the developer mode).
SomeCallMeTim 13y ago
>iOS users actually buy apps, use them, and spend money in them which is extremely rare amongst android users So do Android users. Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead even in revenues. [1] Android tablets are behind the curve still, but for the first time Android tablets are outselling iPads -- Android tablets took 62% of the market in 2013. [2] It will take a while for that lead to actually cause Android tablet revenues to exceed iPad revenues, but it seems inevitable. So in eventually the Android tablet revenue numbers will match or exceed the iPad's as well. >the devices themselves are (as pg wrote) just too much better designed compared to to even the best android phones iPhones are nice, but they totally don't trump the features if that's what you care about. I have the Nexus 5 and I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone; the screen size alone makes a huge difference to me. The Lightning connector is elegant. But I can buy a micro-USB cable for a dollar; a Lightning cable is at least $9. I can have extra cables everywhere I need one for next to nothing. And yes, getting the polarity wrong sucks, but having a standardized cable that works on ALL the devices I need to charge is even better. It depends on what you care about. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android-apps-closing-rapidly-the-revenue-gap-with-ios-apps/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android... [2] http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-sold-in-2013-android-grabs-top-spot-from-ipad-with-62-share/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-sold-i...
- codr 13y ago
  > "Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead even in revenues. [1]" From the Forbes article: "A year ago, that lead shrunk to iPhone users being 50% more valuable – and right now, if the app is designed specifically for Android and some segmentation is considered, the revenue generation potential is the same." That's a big if, and a qualifier to boot.. I don't think what that article is saying (potential for revenue can be the same in some cases) is the same as "dead even in revenues".
- argumentum 13y ago
  Often good design is what you leave out just as much as what you put in to a product. The biggest reason I resisted the iPhone at first was its late adoption of 4g. At the time I had a galaxy nexus, one of the earlier phones with 4g, but I ended up getting a 4s as well for my startup. Even without 4g, I noticed slowly moving over to the iPhone, because at the time batteries were not good enough for the 4g radio. Even if the speeds were much faster, if I wasn't diligent with charging (which I'm not) I rarely had the opportunity to use 4g (or the phone at all actually). This was by design on Apple's part, as clearly it wasn't technical inability. I agree that screen size is crucial, but I have an iPad for reading etc. If I had to choose only one device, then screen size would be a bigger deal. Regarding profit/revenue, what about articles like these (also from last year): http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/31/android-in-app-downloads/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/31/android-in-app-downloads/ http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/27/apples-ios-brings-developers-5x-more-revenue-per-download-than-android http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/27/apples-ios-brings-... I find this understanding of the numbers far more prevalent then what your article described.

threeseed 13y ago

> It's still bewilderingly hard to test an app with real people. Pretty simple with TestFlight. Companies who have iOS apps deal with this every single day.

argumentum 13y ago
Doesn't test flight still require you to add those devices somehow, like I couldn't just email something I just hacked together to anyone (and tell them to enable the developer mode).

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago

>iOS users actually buy apps, use them, and spend money in them which is extremely rare amongst android users So do Android users. Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead even in revenues. [1] Android tablets are behind the curve still, but for the first time Android tablets are outselling iPads -- Android tablets took 62% of the market in 2013. [2] It will take a while for that lead to actually cause Android tablet revenues to exceed iPad revenues, but it seems inevitable. So in eventually the Android tablet revenue numbers will match or exceed the iPad's as well. >the devices themselves are (as pg wrote) just too much better designed compared to to even the best android phones iPhones are nice, but they totally don't trump the features if that's what you care about. I have the Nexus 5 and I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone; the screen size alone makes a huge difference to me. The Lightning connector is elegant. But I can buy a micro-USB cable for a dollar; a Lightning cable is at least $9. I can have extra cables everywhere I need one for next to nothing. And yes, getting the polarity wrong sucks, but having a standardized cable that works on ALL the devices I need to charge is even better. It depends on what you care about. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android-apps-closing-rapidly-the-revenue-gap-with-ios-apps/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokuittinen/2013/03/27/android... [2] http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-sold-in-2013-android-grabs-top-spot-from-ipad-with-62-share/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/03/gartner-195m-tablets-sold-i...

codr 13y ago
> "Over a year ago iOS and Android phone apps were dead even in revenues. [1]" From the Forbes article: "A year ago, that lead shrunk to iPhone users being 50% more valuable – and right now, if the app is designed specifically for Android and some segmentation is considered, the revenue generation potential is the same." That's a big if, and a qualifier to boot.. I don't think what that article is saying (potential for revenue can be the same in some cases) is the same as "dead even in revenues".
argumentum 13y ago
Often good design is what you leave out just as much as what you put in to a product. The biggest reason I resisted the iPhone at first was its late adoption of 4g. At the time I had a galaxy nexus, one of the earlier phones with 4g, but I ended up getting a 4s as well for my startup. Even without 4g, I noticed slowly moving over to the iPhone, because at the time batteries were not good enough for the 4g radio. Even if the speeds were much faster, if I wasn't diligent with charging (which I'm not) I rarely had the opportunity to use 4g (or the phone at all actually). This was by design on Apple's part, as clearly it wasn't technical inability. I agree that screen size is crucial, but I have an iPad for reading etc. If I had to choose only one device, then screen size would be a bigger deal. Regarding profit/revenue, what about articles like these (also from last year): http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/31/android-in-app-downloads/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/31/android-in-app-downloads/ http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/27/apples-ios-brings-developers-5x-more-revenue-per-download-than-android http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/27/apples-ios-brings-... I find this understanding of the numbers far more prevalent then what your article described.