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Android is for startups

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Re: Android is for startups

#131

Post by robbfitzsimmons »

jcromartie wrote: post #26
robbfitzsimmons wrote: post #10

As a primarily-iOS user / developer who also has an Android tablet (last year's Nexus 7), completely agree with both points made here. [The first being that Android development is better, and the second being that the vast majority Android apps currently suck compared to the iOS equivalent, making for a nice opportunity.] It's hard enough to peg a real user need and deliver on that need in a satisfying, sticky way. I…

> making for a nice opportunity You are assuming that there is demand for anything but free apps. I know that I personally would kill to pay for top-quality Android apps like I do on iOS, but I don't think I speak for the majority of Android users. Based on everything that I've seen, they just don't want to pay.

Completely agreed (and would also kill to pay); what I meant at the end of my comment that it's that it's a nice opportunity predicated on being a quality app right when the market starts to shift.

Which I think is what Will's betting on.

Re: Android is for startups

#132

Post by hrydgard »

jeena wrote: post #105
discostrings wrote: post #4

Being in the process of registering my LLC for an iOS Apple Developer account, I couldn't agree more. It's been over two months now of back-and-forth with Apple and Dun & Bradstreet, and the end is still not in sight. All I'd like them to do is take my $100 and give me the ability to test the free app I'm making on a device and then publish it, but apparently Apple feels a longer-than-two-month turnaround time is acc…

I have my own company and wanted to do the same. Sadly for Swedish companies you have to be a "Aktiebolaget", you need to be on the stockmarket, to be able to have your company name in the App store. My options waere to either invest about $8000 to become a AB or open a LLC in UK while living in Sweden. After half a year of trying and failing I just gave up and stopped developing for iOS. Now I just started developin…

Starting an AB does not mean that you're "on the stock market", it's just an LLC, you'll own all the shares yourself privately. You could also start an "Enskild firma" which doesn't cost much and requires no 50K SEK bound capital.

Re: Android is for startups

#133

Post by ryandrake »

domness wrote: post #95

Hmm, I think a lot of people are missing the whole point in this article. I do around 60% Ruby on Rails, 35% iOS and 5% Android dev. The idea around a "lean" startup being, that an MVP, or each new feature, or even testing a change to a previous feature is usually done in quick succession. This being testing with current users over a period of say, a week, and then from the results, changes can be made and the team h…

As a mobile app user, I don't want daily updates from your app as you "iterate" away and try to figure out what to build. I want to download the finished product that works.

I'm not your free beta testing service. If you want to test concepts, do proper market research.

Re: Android is for startups

#134

Post by BlackDeath3 »

xutopia wrote: post #106
ensmotko wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If $100 a year would allow me to develop iOS apps on my Linux laptop I'd be fine with that. But $100 a year + paying for overpriced apple hardware doesn't sound appealing.

And that is where the line divides. Android users are like you... they don't want to pay for software and go for cheaper hardware when they can.

To speak nothing of whether or not that is actually true, what is the problem with opting for cheaper hardware?

Re: Android is for startups

#135

Post by Nicholas_C »

slantyyz wrote: post #51
jcromartie wrote: post #21

I know that Android users are starved for slick apps that look good and work well, because I'm one of them (when using my Nexus 7). But as a developer I know that I can't make money from them. There is no way forward for (paid) Android apps that can make a living. You need to sell on iOS in order to make any sort of revenue. So if your startup is built on a free app, then by all means use Android to test your idea. B…

>> There is no way forward for (paid) Android apps that can make a living. You need to sell on iOS in order to make any sort of revenue. Yes, that is kind of sad. As someone who does pay for Android software, I imagine I'm in the minority. I've got extended family members who balk at the notion of paying even a dollar for software on Android. OTOH, I'm curious how many paid apps on the iOS App store actually hit the…

Not an Android user/developer so I'm completely ignorant on this topic, but is advertising revenue on Android apps not enough to make it worthwhile?

Re: Android is for startups

#136

Post by aryastark »

alex_c wrote: post #128
aryastark wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you need apple hardware and software It's worse than that, I'm afraid. You need the absolute latest of both. My perfectly fine Macbook from 2008 should be more than adequate for developing iOS apps. It's a core2 duo with 2GB of RAM. I mean, these aren't exactly the days of Pentium 60 vs. XT 8088. Yet the max OS I can upgrade to is Lion. And that's with going through Snow Leopard first. And who knows how much longer…

"5 years old" is a pretty far cry from "absolute latest". My 2008 Core2 Duo MacBook, upgraded to 5GB of RAM and an SSD, works like a champ for iPhone development. I don't understand this complaint.

at best you can run OS X Lion. That's it. Before you even get to that, though, you have to upgrade to Snow Leopard for silly arbitrary reasons.

OS X is currently on Mountain Lion, going to Mavericks real soon now. I would not count on Xcode running on Lion for any real length of time now. After that, you're 100% screwed.

Contrast that to Windows XP, where I can still run the latest iTunes and sync the latest iPhone 5 with. Can't do that in Leopard, either.

Re: Android is for startups

#137

Post by [deleted] »

ryandrake wrote: post #133
domness wrote: post #95

Hmm, I think a lot of people are missing the whole point in this article. I do around 60% Ruby on Rails, 35% iOS and 5% Android dev. The idea around a "lean" startup being, that an MVP, or each new feature, or even testing a change to a previous feature is usually done in quick succession. This being testing with current users over a period of say, a week, and then from the results, changes can be made and the team h…

As a mobile app user, I don't want daily updates from your app as you "iterate" away and try to figure out what to build. I want to download the finished product that works. I'm not your free beta testing service. If you want to test concepts, do proper market research.

[deleted]

Re: Android is for startups

#138

Post by domness »

ryandrake wrote: post #133
domness wrote: post #95

Hmm, I think a lot of people are missing the whole point in this article. I do around 60% Ruby on Rails, 35% iOS and 5% Android dev. The idea around a "lean" startup being, that an MVP, or each new feature, or even testing a change to a previous feature is usually done in quick succession. This being testing with current users over a period of say, a week, and then from the results, changes can be made and the team h…

As a mobile app user, I don't want daily updates from your app as you "iterate" away and try to figure out what to build. I want to download the finished product that works. I'm not your free beta testing service. If you want to test concepts, do proper market research.

Well then you wouldn't be the early adopter :) The idea is to test it against early adopters who don't mind about these quick changes and are less worried about bugs, because the idea/product is something that's good enough to help you in some way, shape or form.

May I ask, what's proper market research? Considering you can get so far with "proper market research", but it definitely doesn't tell the whole picture. People often don't know they have a problem until one is solved and a good way.

Re: Android is for startups

#139

Post by vmarsy »

winslow wrote: post #85
calbear81 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some evidence of that here: http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-index-market-q2-2013/ People on iOS are more willing to buy apps and do more in-app purchases but the gap doesn't seem that wide to bridge, especially as iOS users move to Android.

I think a lot of that comes from the iTunes gift cards that everybody seems to get for Christmas, Birthdays, etc. I purchased my first app with "real" money a month or two ago for android.

Even if it's true, I don't think developers care if the money they got at the end of the month comes from a gift card or a credit card.

Google Play gift cards exist too, I don't know if you can buy music with it though, if not it's logic that iTunes cards sells better.

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