Is there an exclusive app to OSX that doesn't exist on Windows? If you make it for Android or OSX, it will eventually be done on Windows/iOS because of the larger user base (more profits).
Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
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Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#32So he is asking, where are the apps that are available for Android, but not iPhone that meet the following criteria 1. Not made by Google or built-in 2. Popular and well made (no long tail) 3. Don't take advantage of things Android can do but iPhone can't (home screens, notifications, deep integration, background services, etc.) Suppose you had such an app, or were developing one. While Android has passed iOS in new…
Since the definition of 'Killer App' is an app that makes people buy it because it's not available on other devices, it doesn't make any sense to eliminate the ones that rely on Android-only features. That's what enables a Killer App.
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#33.Interesting shift from unappealing or irrelevant to iOS users to the only ones Android has are ones that Apple doesn't want.
It seems he thinks those are the same thing. Why would an alternative home screen or keyboard stop being a killer app or appealing to iOS users because Apple doesn't want or allow it?
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows paid for all these companies to create the games. They funded the development - that's the only reason why.
So, why doesn't Google fund those same players? There must be a value judgement there because I gotta assume Google thought of that as an option.
Why incentive do they have to do this? Android has surpassed the iPhone in numbers--it's just a matter of time before developers switch to building Android first, then iOS.
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#35It's not that hard to unsterstand. iPhone had a lead on the Android and a lot of people invested heavily in iPhone. Now that Android has caught up in terms of marketshare it will take awhile for these people to catch up on their Android investment. As Android outpaces iPhone in the market, the app situation may end up reversed.
The lead is important, but the real stat is "how many users buy apps?". Symbian has more users than both, but how many of those phones have 3rd party apps on them.
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#36The problem I have with this article is the premise that if an app either started or is just also on iOS, somehow that invalidates its presence on Android. The iPhone had a huge lead in time and customer base. Any mobile app developer who calls themselves a mobile app developer is at least going to think about an iPhone app. Of course nearly every Android app is going to have an iOS equivalent. Saying an app needs to…
The real question I have is "What thing do you want to do on your phone that Android can't?"
Anything involving low latency audio.
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#37Gruber seems to make the assertion that a platform only has worth based on its exclusive "killer apps". He goes wrong there and never really recovers. Android's strength is not its suite apps, it's its flexibility. It runs on an enormous range of hardware, and doesn't require that you buy into a single vendor's toolchain to use it. The core philosophical difference between the two platforms is "Steve Jobs decides wha…
But you have to admit, there's a cultural divide between Android and iOS. Android is extremely well suited for working, passing data seamlessly between applications, etc. It makes it easy to get things done in the same way you might interact with a desktop computer. iOS, however, takes a different tack, focusing on self-contained, bite-sized apps. You hop into something, use it, then leave. And when you're in that ap…
Absolutely, I'll admit that straight away. It's very much a different expectation of how you use it, and I think that's at the core of Gruber's complaint. He is very used to the iPhone paradigm, where you engage with those bite-sized pieces and then you stop and go do something else. His complaint seems to be that Android doesn't really have bite-sized pieces like that which flatly trump their iOS couterparts, but I think it misses the point because Android isn't just an ugly iPhone, it's a completely different approach to mobile computing.
He's effectively asking "Why isn't the Nexus One a better iPhone than my iPhone?" which...just completely misses the point. The iPhone does the iPhone experience extremely well, and I don't think you'll find many people who will seriously argue that the iPhone UX isn't amazingly polished, but the assumption that it's the only way to use a mobile phone is naturally going to lead you into some completely wrong conclusions. If your whole world is the iPhone, the concept of Android intents and what they mean for how you use your phone is going to be completely lost on you.
I think that "beautiful" apps start with the platform. Most people would agree that OS X has better aesthetic sense than Windows, and most would agree that iOS has better aesthetic sense than Android. Each platform establishes a baseline for what apps should look like, and apps tend to conform to that baseline for the sake of uniformity. On Windows, the worst-looking apps are the ones that diverge from the OS baseline (I'm looking at you, iTunes and anything that uses GTK+). Android's baseline is pretty low - it's highly utilitarian and very typical of Google, which is famous for doing all of its UI design based on how things test out, and while there are some apps that diverge and look good (Twitter, Tweetdeck), there are others that are just terribly bad (Fring, for example).
My hope is that Gingerbread raises that baseline, and sets a new visual target for developers to hit with their apps. We'll see.
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#38Gruber lives from the blood of iPhone users
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#39So he is asking, where are the apps that are available for Android, but not iPhone that meet the following criteria 1. Not made by Google or built-in 2. Popular and well made (no long tail) 3. Don't take advantage of things Android can do but iPhone can't (home screens, notifications, deep integration, background services, etc.) Suppose you had such an app, or were developing one. While Android has passed iOS in new…
In terms of deep integration, anyone know if an Android app can access the phone's text messages? I don't think an iPhone can, right?
Re: Where Are the Android Killer Apps?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, why doesn't Google fund those same players? There must be a value judgement there because I gotta assume Google thought of that as an option.
Why incentive do they have to do this? Android has surpassed the iPhone in numbers--it's just a matter of time before developers switch to building Android first, then iOS.
Symbian has more units than iPhone but the iPhone has more apps.
Number does not equal app sales.