Comments on: Android’s Growth Rate and How It Actually Hurts The App Market

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 17:50:40 +0000

I think all the Android devs here are barking up the wrong tree as to attempting to explain away the fragmentation issues inherent in Android. You can build a non-hardware-specific app that will work on all devices but that’s extremely limiting. If that’s what your app is supposed to do then sure but why should I suffer a penalty in reaching an audience for developing a robust app that takes advantage of hardware necessary for the app’s purpose?

Most people have the fragmentation issue confused. For one, iOS 4.3 not being compatible with a handset manufactured in 2008 is not an example of fragmentation – that’s a red herring used primarily by Android fanatics to explain away the fragmentation issue. Additionally, jailbroken devices are not officially supported so that’s hardly Apple’s fault or concern and they do not market the platform as open so that’s different than the standard set by Google by allowing all sorts of custom ROMs and builds. There are brand new Android handsets being shipped with outdated OS versions, on a variety of different devices with random quality and materials with differing specs, and different types of skins and different UI/UX. More importantly, those handsets lack an upgrade path until the carriers and/or OEMs get around to it. That’s fragmentation.

As a specific example, a dev here said that a phone will adapt the app to its resolution, essentially stretching or squashing the app interface to fit. Or better yet (as I saw myself on an EVO), black bars hug the UI like a widescreen movie when there is more physical space than the app can handle. This is just a crappy user experience no matter how you slice it. The dev can create higher res versions but that’s the rub — they have to do it for very screen size if they want it to be universal.

On the flip side, unlike the author, I believe Apple will increase the physical screen size of the iPhone in future iterations so that will need to be dealt with on the iOS side as well. However, given the explanation of fragmentation in my previous paragraph, it is decidedly not the same thing and nowhere near the same effect or extreme multitude of simultaneous versions like on the Android side.

Lastly, I want to say that Thorren is absolutely right about user usage and expectations. I would go one further and say that a very large majority are the simple type of user. Given this, is the open flexibility and comparatively dizzying amount of choice really right for such a user? They would hardly care for it if they never really knew. A consistent experience is best for this type (or any type that values getting a task done versus fussing and administering their device).

By: ahhchuu

ahhchuu — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:08:26 +0000

Am I the only one here wondering why people keep saying open source == free? Because, that is not true…

Also, cheers to Thorren. You are a very level headed person. And that is coming from an Android users/developer. Keep on enjoying your iPhone.

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Android Fragmentation in Cold Hard Numbers — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:08:13 +0000

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Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:02:55 +0000

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Page not found — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:00:04 +0000

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By: iPhone4-Apps sind iPad-kompatibel und umgekehrt

iPhone4-Apps sind iPad-kompatibel und umgekehrt — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:01:26 +0000

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By: ben

ben — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:56:55 +0000

As an Android developer i must say that there is no issues if you don’t plan to use any device specific feature …

I’m only concern about the upgrade rate, which depends on telcos

By: Hillel Fuld

Hillel Fuld — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:29:55 +0000

Just a quick thank you to all of you for commenting, happy to see the post evoked such emotion and debate…

By: DaveMTL

DaveMTL — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:00:34 +0000

As others have mentioned, both OSs are very good. The thing that worries me is that a buddy of mine bought a Sony phone recently and mentioned he had Android 1.6 on it… My reply was “what? aren’t they at 2.1 or 2.2?”. Apparently it has a GUI layer custom to that phone. Sony will eventually upgrade to 2.2. Am I the only one who sees danger in that? That is what I hated of the past. It appears telcos may be starting to “customize” as well (see Rogers Social thing). Same phone but “customized” for a given telco. Hardware aside, the OS should be uniform and upgradeable. Just a thought.

By: AdamC

AdamC — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:32:14 +0000

The issue I believe is android users expect open apps in other words free apps.

So where do the developers stand financially?

One more thing, good luck to the developers.