Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#11

Post by FindMySocks »

beacham wrote: post #3
jklein11 wrote: post #2

Why not hybrid mobile?

I've always been a believer that if writing a new, innovative application, that using native code seems to be the most productive/efficient path. I do know that there are tradeoffs in any decision like this. I also know and accept that this is just an opinion.

It honestly depends on how complicated your app will be, and how talented you already are as a developer.

But in truth, you should probably be looking at making your Minimal Viable Product in whatever you are the most comfortable in. Because you'll want to get it out and in potential customers hands as fast as possible and prove that your idea really is as useful to people as you believe.

I'm also going to take a stab here and say that you're probably not a super experienced developer, because trying to launch and support an app across two different platforms in different languages almost simultaneously isn't an easy feat to manage.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#12

Post by jklein11 »

beacham wrote: post #3
jklein11 wrote: post #2

Why not hybrid mobile?

I've always been a believer that if writing a new, innovative application, that using native code seems to be the most productive/efficient path. I do know that there are tradeoffs in any decision like this. I also know and accept that this is just an opinion.

For the sake of discussion could you elaborate on why native code will be more efficient/productive?

Is it the additional layer of abstraction? Or is it an issue of the uncanny valley?

I understand that you may not want to discuss anything proprietary to your app, but I'm interested in understanding your thought process.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#13

Post by beacham »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #10

I'm going to be that guy. Sorry. Are you sure it's a new idea? Have you really searched the 2million+ apps out there to be sure? Truly new and original ideas are rare, most things you can do on a mobile have been tried at some point in the last 10 years. Check again, and learn from what others have done. Have you validated the idea? I don't mean asked your mates if they like it. I mean have you got someone to give yo…

First, thanks for your opinions and suggestions. That is all great advice. Sorry I did not specify- I had planned on this just being a side project, but I am excited about the possibilities just as any person should be. You're right, I only did minimal research so it's very possible that this is not a "new" idea in the most common sense of the word.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#14

Post by beacham »

al2o3cr wrote: post #5

The report summarized here (for Q2-2016): http://bgr.com/2016/07/20/ios-vs-android-developers-profits-... shows the Android store with twice as many downloads but half as much revenue. The importance of this is going to vary depending on specifics about your application - does it need a strong network effect to deliver value, or is it valuable for a solo user?

Thank you so much. This is EXACTLY the kind of information and suggestion that I had hoped to receive.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#15

Post by m_mueller »

wapz wrote: post #8
al2o3cr wrote: post #5

The report summarized here (for Q2-2016): http://bgr.com/2016/07/20/ios-vs-android-developers-profits-... shows the Android store with twice as many downloads but half as much revenue. The importance of this is going to vary depending on specifics about your application - does it need a strong network effect to deliver value, or is it valuable for a solo user?

I also agree with this idea. If you are going to be charging for your app and want to make a revenue stream off the start before expanding, I think iOS is the better choice. If it's going to be free and you are looking for a big user base then Android will be a better start. The other factor is Android is quite a bit easier for most to get into (but with fragmentation it is a pain to make quality apps) -- Java and an…

I have to disagree on Android being easier to get into. The standard libraries and tooling (especially emulators and profilers) are dumpster fires compared to Apple's offering. Just some examples: Non-Web Javascript integration is a third party library. HTTP requests are a third party library. Everything that needs native resources in the JVM goes through an interface called JNI that has a 512 entries limit in the reference table, often requiring you to do manual reference cleanup in your hot loops.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#16

Post by beacham »

jklein11 wrote: post #12
beacham wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always been a believer that if writing a new, innovative application, that using native code seems to be the most productive/efficient path. I do know that there are tradeoffs in any decision like this. I also know and accept that this is just an opinion.

For the sake of discussion could you elaborate on why native code will be more efficient/productive? Is it the additional layer of abstraction? Or is it an issue of the uncanny valley? I understand that you may not want to discuss anything proprietary to your app, but I'm interested in understanding your thought process.

Absolutely. Although, I'd like to say that most of the time people get into discussions like these, it ends in an "agree to disagree" conclusion because, in my opinion, the truth of the matter is it all comes down to tradeoffs and opinions.

I need to keep this short due to wife so I probably won't be able to get my full opinion across. From my experience, I believe that the additional layer of abstraction provides a faster and easier development experience upfront, but generally (not always) comes with an additional layer of bugs, troubleshooting, updates, etc. I read an article on here the other day about whether Xamarin was worth learning. I loved a comment that one user name eonil left:

What you have to deal with;

Xcode = iOS bugs + UIKit bugs

Xamarin = iOS bugs + UIKit bugs + different runtime, language, memory model abstractions + .NET bugs + P/Invoke bugs & overheads + GC inter-op bugs & overheads + C# bugs + slow followup of platform updates

Xamarin Forms = iOS bugs + UIKit bugs + different runtime, language, memory model abstractions + .NET bugs + P/Invoke bugs & overheads + GC inter-op bugs & overheads + C# bugs + slow followup of platform updates + extra UI abstraction layers + lack of fine level controls & features

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12948611

While I know this is specific to Xamarin and is only an opinion, I tend to think similarly about layers of abstraction over a language. Clearly there is abstraction all over the place that I couldn’t go without, but maybe I’m not just not yet ready to accept another one.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#17

Post by marcus_holmes »

beacham wrote: post #13
marcus_holmes wrote: post #10

I'm going to be that guy. Sorry. Are you sure it's a new idea? Have you really searched the 2million+ apps out there to be sure? Truly new and original ideas are rare, most things you can do on a mobile have been tried at some point in the last 10 years. Check again, and learn from what others have done. Have you validated the idea? I don't mean asked your mates if they like it. I mean have you got someone to give yo…

First, thanks for your opinions and suggestions. That is all great advice. Sorry I did not specify- I had planned on this just being a side project, but I am excited about the possibilities just as any person should be. You're right, I only did minimal research so it's very possible that this is not a "new" idea in the most common sense of the word.

Lots of really good businesses start as side projects :)

If you're solving a problem that you have, then it's likely that other people have the same problem.

What phone do you have? I'd develop for that first, so you're solving the problem you have. Get it to the point where you're happy using it, and use it every day (or every time the problem occurs). Only look at publishing it to others once you've reached that point where it's really solving your problem and you really do use it.

Re: It's 2017 and I have a great mobile app idea. Start with Android or iOS?

#18

Post by wapz »

m_mueller wrote: post #15
wapz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also agree with this idea. If you are going to be charging for your app and want to make a revenue stream off the start before expanding, I think iOS is the better choice. If it's going to be free and you are looking for a big user base then Android will be a better start. The other factor is Android is quite a bit easier for most to get into (but with fragmentation it is a pain to make quality apps) -- Java and an…

I have to disagree on Android being easier to get into. The standard libraries and tooling (especially emulators and profilers) are dumpster fires compared to Apple's offering. Just some examples: Non-Web Javascript integration is a third party library. HTTP requests are a third party library. Everything that needs native resources in the JVM goes through an interface called JNI that has a 512 entries limit in the re…

I think it really depends on what the op is looking to make. I made the generalization mostly based on the OS and languages (most universities starting from at least 15 years ago taught Java in at least a few classes whereas objective-c and swift are only iOS specific). I haven't had to deal with your specific examples but I suppose in your case iOS might be easier. I still believe overall Android is easier to get into for the "average" person.
Post reply on HN